Photo Album, Mobile Phones and Golden Week

So it's been awhile since I updated, and today I finally got around to fixing the photo album! It should work fine now, the larger versions weren't being uploaded earlier on but they should view correctly now.

In the past week or so not much has happened. I finally got my 'Alien Registration ID' which allows me to do numerous things... the first of which I got around to was purchasing a mobile phone :D It's been tough living without one for a month! I'm with the popular Japanese compeny AU, on a plan. The phone itself isn't top of the range for Japan, but compared to the phones in Australia it's pretty fantastic. Here's a link!

I wish I had more to say, but school is becoming more and more of a routine rather than a new experience... so it's a bit hard to think of new things to talk about! Since I got a mobile phone though, lots of people have been asking to exchange numbers and e-mails. A lot of times it's someone I've only just met, too. The way it's done here is much better than Australia, too. Basically you create your 'Profile' on your phone, which includes your number, e-mail, birthday, photo, blood typ (!), address etc... and you can send that profile to friends via Infra-Red, after which it then goes into their phone books. Reminds me of the whole Digimon battling fad with people standing around pointing their phones at each other haha.

Anyway, today marks the start of 'Golden Week'. A string of holidays in a row. Basically I get 7 days off school, but still have to go on the 1st and 2nd of May. Should be good, since I need the rest. I just hope I can get my friends from school to do something during that time. This weekend has been painfully boring, since everyone I contacted was busy with something or other. Anyways, I should be off!

Photo Album!

New photo album up with more photos! Hopefully I'll add to this when I eventually get a new camera. The webspace is courtesy of my good friend Craig, by the way! Many thanks to him. To find the gallery, just click the link in the sidebar. It's been updated to the new one.

EDIT: Photos are annoying. Program all in Japanese, need to go so will fix tomorrow afternoon if possible..

Not much else to report on, since everything is going pretty well! School is amazingly enjoyable and I love my friends and all the other random people I meet that make my days what they are. Today during my self-study period in the Library a class of 3rd years came in... the students were talking about me so the teacher got me to do an impromptu self-introduction. After that, some of the girls sitting near me started talking to me and eventually asked me to take photos with each of them on their cell phones haha. I've never taken so many pictures with people at once, it was really odd.

Actually, what was more odd was that the first thing they asked when they talked to me was 'Do you have a girlfriend?'; that seems to be a conversation starter in Japan, or at least from my experience at school it is.

Another event that made today that little bit more interesting, was my friend Misuzu Oda searching for the word 'bi' accidentally in my electronic dictionary (She meant to find 'bill'), after reading the Japanese translation she freaked out... a lot. It surprised me since that word is pretty casual and normal in Australia, people chuck it around a lot in fact. But here her and Azusa were freaking out as if it were something really unusual. There's cultural difference for you!

This computer is being a little odd today, and I keep getting 'Generic Host Process for Win32' errors that stop the internet from working till I restart... I hope it sorts itself out - I have no idea what to do, computers entirely in Japanese confuse me. So anyway, I'm keeping this short so I don't lose it all to that said error... If anyone has any idea what this error means or how to fix it - do share! I'm sure the family has less of a clue than I do...

Tomorrow is my mum and sister's birthdays! An early happy birthday to them!

Photos

I've uploaded some photos from my trip here. There's only 30MB of space, so I can't fit all the photos on there. Hopefully something less temporary will be worked out soon, but until then this will have to do I guess. I'd love to update new entries with photos, but this is impossible right now since I don't have a camera...

Today is not so good, so I won't elaborate on it any more :D!

Thursday the 19th (I Blame Lack of Inspiration)

It's been almost a week since I updated so I thought I'd better get around to doing it sooner, rather than later. This week seemed to fly by; I'm more than a little surprised at how quickly actually. So I guess I should try to recall some major events and summarise them. The biggest thing that happened this week wasn't too good; I noticed my camera had gone missing. After scouring the house for it and trying to remember when I last had it I came up with very few leads... it's possible I lost it or it got pinched at school, but it's hard to tell. I'm going to the police station tomorrow with my head teacher to file for a police report which I need to claim it on insurance...

Anyway, on the weekend I went to Shijo with my host brother Hiroki. Shijo is a very busy, and very big shopping street in Kyoto with tonnes of department stores, restaurants and the like. Essentially it's shopping heaven. We visited Daimaru and some other stores but I didn't buy much at all. I'm being careful about spending much money at all at the moment, since I need to buy a mobile phone next week when I pick up my Alien Registation Card.

This week has been great for me, although there were down points where I just missed things in Australia. I guess the food is one of the major things. What I would give for some salty chips and tomato sauce right now! Or at least some cereal! I haven't even eaten tomato sauce since I came here, and while Japan has tonnes of salty foods, they don't put much salt on potatoes... why!? Haha. The food has been easier to get used to than I first thought though. I still don't like natto, and miso is a bit too salty for my liking (Miso Soup is fine) but the other night I ate a whole squid for dinner, something I could never ever see myself doing in the past. It was good - squid and octopus are my new favourite seafoods.

I'm feeling more and more at home in Kyoto every day I think. Especially since I've started to get closer to my friends at school. At the moment most of my joy on school days comes from them. During home room and most classes I sit next to a girl named Oda and Azusa (Who I mentioned earlier on) sits infront of Oda - they're probably two of the more funny people I've met at school so far.

The last few periods of school today were pretty uninteresting though. Everyone went for a health/body check which I didn't need to attend, so I had to stay in the classroom - by myself! After 40 minutes or so Hiroki turned up and we eventually went home at about 2:00 though, so it was an early finish for me.

I think I've become somewhat famous at school. People I don't know call out my name and wave, it's the oddest thing ever. I love Japan. Haha.

Friday the 13th

I didn’t realise it was Friday the 13th until I sat down to write this blog and checked the date. My day was actually great, so I guess Friday the 13th hasn’t got any power over here in Japan. Lucky, that! So I started school on Tuesday and today was the last day of my first school week. So far, it’s been a mixed bag for sure, but I don’t have any real complaints to voice.

The first morning my nerves were all over the place. I was excited about meeting new friends and whatnot, but I was also worried that it just wouldn’t happen. It turned out to be a much better day than I had imagined, though. First up I met the teacher who will be looking after me at the school, Yoshimi-sensei. She’s incredibly nice and has good English skills, which is always a good thing this early on. After sorting through a few housekeeping matters I went off to my homeroom to meet my classmates. I have to say I am very lucky. I have a great homeroom, and all the other students are fantastic.

On the first day alone I was able to make a few friends. Most notable are; Yuji, probably one of the nicest guys I’ve met here and his English is pretty stunning; Koba, Yuji’s friend and also exceptionally nice, both of them have helped me out a heap since I started at school; and Azusa, a kind of quiet girl who just gives off a nice vibe, plus, she’s learning guitar! Winner! Of course, being the only male foreign student in the entire school I have been getting a heap of attention for the past few days. At first the attention was great (Ego boost!), but it does get a bit tiring. It makes for good stories though, I guess.

Anyway, I’ve digressed a bit, so I’ll try and get back on track. After Long Home Room we got to go home, as normal lessons haven’t started up again yet. The next day I once again met Yoshimi-sensei and then a fellow foreign student, a 15 year old girl from the USA named Ellen. Yoshimi-sensei showed us to the library, where we’d be having some Japanese tutorial lessons with some volunteers from a nearby University. The first lesson was a bit of a bludge and we mostly just talked (In Japanese of course) for the whole time, I also got to meet yet another foreign student, a half Japanese/German girl from Germany named Miyako.

After the tutorial lesson finished, I went back to my homeroom to eat lunch. Unfortunately, the rest of the class was out getting health checks and preparing for a special assembly, which introduces the different clubs to the freshman students. Lunch was a bit lonely, obviously. After I’d eaten, I met up with Hiroki and we went to the assembly to see the different clubs that I could choose from. The assembly was pretty entertaining, although a bit long. At the moment I’m thinking I will join the English club, in hope that I can help out a bit and make some new friends outside of my classes.

Day three started with another Japanese tutorial and then regular classes. Classes are tough. It’s hard to understand anything in any of the classes (Besides Oral Communication and English, which are both English based), especially Maths and Japanese (Think our Australian English classes, just Japanese). Hopefully it gets easier as time goes on to understand what’s going on though. I also had PE, which was Soccer, and much more fun than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed myself.

Today was better than the past two days, for certain. The first lesson was English, and the teacher, Okubo-sensei, had me introduce myself a bit in English to the class. After I’d ranted a bit about my background, she gave the class a chance to ask me questions in English and one of the first questions asked was “Do you have a girlfriend?”, I totally saw that one coming (Funnily enough, the same girl asked me later in the day what kind of girls I like haha). When there were no questions left to be asked, the teacher had me help out as an ALT with some exercises and then the class was soon over.

The rest of the day saw me joining in Japanese class, Home Economics, Maths and finally Chinese. Yes, Chinese. I have no idea why, but the way my timetable was made I am in a Chinese class. It was actually a lot of fun, and the teacher was interesting to say the least. I imagine it would be hard to learn another language in one that I can’t even fully understand yet though, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay in the class for long. It’s one of the many things I have to talk to Yoshimi-sensei about on Monday.

So that’s my week in a nutshell. A very condensed version of events, if I went into too much detail I could probably go on forever. So far school is good, I just hope that my Japanese skill can progress to a point where conversation is easier than now. I guess I should study more and harder, just living here isn’t going to make me a fluent speaker at all. I have to do a spot of shopping this weekend so I think it would be a good time to pick up some Japanese learning textbooks and whatnot.

Day Five of Arrival Orientation (The One with the Sad Goodbyes)

The day we had been waiting for had finally come. After breakfast at the usual cafeteria we left the building just in time to see the salmon leaving the Center in busses (There were so many buses! There must have been a row of around 10 at least). We started waving goodbye to each bus that drove past and some of the reactions were great. We all agreed that it was good to be leaving at the same time as the salmon, the place would feel empty without them.

We were all being shipped off to our host families in different parts of Japan. Those of us taking the Shinkansen (Alistair, Sununtha, Elina, Kor-anchan, Carissa, Kwan and Jessica) all met at around 9:00 in the original 4th level classroom… with all our bags. This meant, of course, lugging them up the stairs again. After saying goodbye to everyone that was staying behind and taking last minute photos, we headed off to the train station, bags in tow. We had to catch a few trains before getting to the station where we could catch the Shinkansen. By the time we’d arrived we were all exhausted, the bags were heavy, my arm felt like it was going to fall off any minute and we hadn’t had the pleasure of sitting down on any of the trains prior!

Finally we were in our designated seats in the Shinkansen, though, and it was very comfortable. Best train ride I’ve ever been on, that’s for sure. The trip itself wasn’t too exciting though. Everyone was really tired and the scenery was nothing to write home about – the weather that day was way too cloudy and the visibility was really low. Saying goodbye to people as their stops came was sad, and nerve racking since every time we stopped I knew it was one closer to Kyoto! When we finally arrived at Kyoto Station I could already see Junko (My host mother) and Fumiaki (My younger host brother) standing on the platform with a bright sign that said ‘Kaspar Spencer’. I was excited, but just so tired that I guess I didn’t feel all that nervous anymore.

After we’d waved goodbye to the other students from the platform and the train had moved on, we quickly made our way to a taxi and off to the home where I’d be staying for at least the next 6 months. By this time the nerves had returned and it was all a bit awkward since no one really knew what to say. By the time we’d reached the house things were lightening up though. After we got inside, settled a few house-keeping issues and whatnot, I headed to my room to relax a bit and ended up falling asleep almost right away! Yes, I was that tired… haha. I got woken up at about 6 though, since some family friends were coming over for dinner that night.

Dinner was lively, if not a little awkward. The older brother, Hiroki, was absent since he was working and the same goes for the father (Who hasn’t been around for one dinner yet, he seems to work long, hard hours). As such it was just Junko, Fumiaki and Junko’s friend, as well as her daughters (One about 14 I’d say, the other much younger). Trying to think back I can’t even remember what dinner was that night, I was just so tired it’s all a blur. I’m sure it was great though, since every dinner I’ve had since I’ve come here has been awesome, I’ve tried so many new foods in just the two weeks I’ve stayed with the Tomori family!

So that was the end of the week long orientation with PIEE. After writing this much for just those few days I still have two weeks of living with my host family that has gone unmentioned! It would simply take way too long to write out every little detail of my time here so far, so I guess most of it will have to be told in pictures. I will go over some things though.

The family itself; very friendly! They were very welcoming at first and now I feel like I’m really starting to become more and more of a family member. I’ve met a few of Fumiaki and Hiroki’s friends and they’re very interesting. My first time going to karaoke in Japan is definitely unforgettable! I’ve seen quite a bit of the surrounding city nearby the house, and so far I definitely like Kyoto. Where I’m staying has that city feel (Nowhere near Tokyo calibre, of course) and a certain charm to it. I’ve visited both the 金閣寺 (Golden Temple) and 哲学の道 (Philosopher’s Path) the latter of which I walked when the sakura were at their peak; quite the sight indeed! Even still there are heaps more touristy things to get around to over the course of my stay. Kyoto is just full of them, really.

The only real big downside so far has been the lack of internet connection! I have been disconnected for the past few weeks and as such unable to update this blog, unable to check & respond to email and unable to check myspace! Horror, horror! I did visit an internet café briefly just over a week ago but even then, myspace was blocked and the keyboard was just too annoying to think about updating the blog. I hopped on MSN for a brief hour or so though, which was definitely a relief for the addict in me. By the time I post this though, the internet will have been installed in the house (10th of April), unfortunately the same time I’m due to start school. Fingers crossed I have enough free time to regularly update.

Day Four of Arrival Orientation (The One with the Salmon)

Day Four started the same as all those that had come before it. Wake up at 6:30, down to breakfast by about 7:30 and then back to the classroom for a quiz on the PIEE rules and regulations. Stuff we’d read over a million times before, but had to have drilled into us once more in a painful 1 hour and a half long quiz. Not so much a quiz, though, since every answer was read out and explained to us in depth again and again.

Next on the schedule for Friday (Our last full day at the youth center!) was a lesson on Japanese manners including bowing, how to enter someone’s house, table manners and the usual fare. This was at least more fun than the previous quiz, since it was more interactive and hands-on. After the explanation was over and done with we had a game where each group had a bowl full of smarties and they had to transfer them over to an empty bowl using chopsticks, each person in the group was to transfer 5 over and then hand the baton to the next person. It was a lot harder than it sounds! The shape of smarties meant they kept slipping out of the chopsticks unless you got them on a really good angle. Regardless, Ao (The team I was in) won! Our prize was that we each got a pair of chopsticks (Made in China).

After manners we got a short break and then came back for a lesson in calligraphy. Some volunteers and the staff helped us translate our names into kanji characters so we could have a go at writing them in calligraphy. My attempts were pretty lacklustre. I say it’s due to my lack of artistic talent :D! Afterwards we all lined up on the stairs outside and took a photo. I really like this one, despite some people hiding in the back.

Calligraphy, manners and rules out of the way we could finally go and get something to eat! After our last lunch in the youth center we went back to the room to have a bit of a presentation with two students who had been in Japan for 7 months so far, as well as Japanese host families and Kana. The staff had questions written up which they asked them and they answered to the best of their ability, it was interesting to get some insight into life as an exchange student/host family from those who had actually lived it. It gave some more reality to the fact that the next day we’d all be saying goodbye and going our separate ways, something we hadn’t thought about for awhile.

After the presentation was over we were able to prepare for our presentations on our countries. Since there were so many Australian students, we split into 2 groups and I ended up working with Craig, Alistair, Carissa and Samantha. The presentations were all fantastic, and I was really happy with the poster our group came up with (Mostly thanks to Carissa). My favourite presentation was from the group of Thai girls who showed different aspects of Thai culture like bowing, ways of saying hello and traditional dance; as well as showcasing traditional Thai dresses! Some guests were there to see the presentations too. Harrison and Pear’s host families had come to watch and that meant they’d be leaving that night, as well as a PIEE staff member that was taking Lilianna to stay with him until she left for Kagoshima.

During dinner we sat with Harrison and his host sister as well as Sununtha and Hugo. It was nice to finally be getting to know everyone better! For the whole time we’d mainly associated with the group we were familiar with, but now I was getting to know the other students much better. Sad that it had to be on the very last night! After dinner we said our goodbyes to Harrison, traded emails and whatnot and then we had to return to the classroom to get the details on what was happening the next day. Before going to dinner we had a run-in with some friendly Salmon though! Outside the cafeteria they approached us and started talking. For our entire stay it had been a bit of a mystery what the salmon were doing at the center… we guessed maybe some sort of sport or something along those lines. But it turns out they were all nursing students! Guess we were a bit off the mark with that one.

In the classroom I got a chance to talk to more people again and ended up exchanging emails with most of the other students. As I write this though I haven’t been able to keep in touch with any of them! I haven’t had Internet access since I moved to my host family! It was nice to be talking to so many people but sad at the same time, considering we’d be saying our goodbyes early on the next day.

After sticking around in the classroom for a while our original Aussie group headed out again to vending machines and whatnot. While I was waiting for the others outside some of the salmon walked past me and then one of them turns around and shouts out “Hey! How are you!?” in English. I replied “Hey! I’m great! How about you?” and then she spazzed out and screams “I am very happy!” haha. The same girl kept spazzing out and we saw them a few times after that… at one point she fell on the ground and her friend said (In Japanese) “Don’t mind her, she’s a bit funny in the head”. I wouldn’t argue that.

So our last day at the Youth Center ended pretty well. I’d made some new friends, and was anxious for the next day when I’d be boarding the Shinkansen with some others to go to Kyoto! At this point nerves were beginning to really set in, I guess.