Melody

Nov. 4

The entire car ride to the airport, I talked nonstop about Japan.  I was excited, but also a little bit nervous.  The airplane ride was going to be 14 hours long, but I thought I could handle it.  I was correct for the most part, but I had trouble trying to sleep, as I had to sleep sitting up.  The entertainment on the plane was very cool though; there were movies and tv shows we could watch, and there were even video games you could play.  I spent at least an hour completing challenging sudoku puzzles, and watched at least 6 hours worth of tv/movies.  The food wasn't great, but I wasn't really expecting much, so it was fine.  The whole day was spent on the airplane basically, so there wasn't really much action.

When we got off the airplane, it was November 5.  As we went through customs and the whole airport, I heard so much Japanese being spoken around me.  It wasn't overwhelming or anything, and I even tried listening to the conversations around me to practice my listening.  The first time I actually used a full sentence of Japanese was at the money exchange.  After struggling slightly with the odd-looking forms, I politely greeted the teller.  She asked me where I was from, and I told her.  She thought it was very cool that we were from America, and I enjoyed having that little conversation with her.  It was nerve-racking and I was a bit awkward-sounding, but it was a good experience.

We finished going through the airport, and took a shuttle to the hotel.  Not much happened, as we were all extremely tired from the trip here.  Later though, a couple of us had a question we had to ask our teachers, but we didn't know which rooms they were in.  So we went down to the information desk, and asked the woman at the desk (in Japanese, of course).  I was a bit nervous, but we did it.  That was the second time I used full Japanese to someone here, and I'm glad I didn't just ask in English.  Hopefully I'll have plenty of other chances to talk in Japanese to the people here!

Nov. 6

Today we walked to K's house, out hotel for the next four nights.  As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with a traditional Japanese "genkan."  Before stepping up onto it (the main floor), I had to take off my shoes and place them into a shoe locker (no shoes are allowed on the floor, only socks/slippers).  It was one of the first real Japanese experiences I've had so far.  Sure, we'd practiced this cultural routine back in America, but it feels different when you're actually here in Japan.

We went to a very beautiful temple today (tenryu-ji), the first of many we will be visiting.  It was so beautiful there.  The weather was great as well; all I needed was a very light jacket.  The whole temple area was huge.  There was the actual temple, and then on top of a hill was a large cemetery, and them on top of another hill above that was the most beautiful view I've ever seen.  From a bench, which I probably sat on for about an hour, I could see houses an mountains.  With a few friends, we sat and watched the view before us.  We ate the rest of our breakfast there, and it was so perfect.

Inside the temple, there were a ton of rooms.  They were all open to the natural air and light, and you could see other rooms from each one.  I'd never seen so much natural light in a structure before.  I loved it so much, and I wish there were places back in America like that.  I sat inside, watching the scenery before me, and admiring the nature.  It made me want to contemplate things like life and other philosophical topics.  It was all very calming.

After the temple, we went to the Bamboo Groves.  I wasn't sure what I was expecting, as 'bamboo groves' doesn't tell you much about what it is, but it surpassed any expectation I could have had.  The roads were all natural, and huge bamboo shoots lined every pathway.  We spent a long time just walking through them, admiring it all.  Some areas had a lot of natural light, and you could see very well, and other places had little to none.  The transition between dark and light was very calming and interesting.  There was a small shrine located inside the forest, and we stumbled upon it at one point.  Once going through the open gate, I saw people all over.  Some were throwing yen into a box-like-thing and praying, and others were reading notes that people before them had written and stuck to a wall.  It felt really a bit odd to me, as I'd never seen an actual shrine in person before, especially not a Japanese one.  I really enjoyed walking through it and experiencing the culture of it all.

Later, we went to the Kimono Forest.  I'd had no idea what that could be, but I was pleasantly surprised.  There were poles all over, covered by kimono patterns.  Inside of the many poles were lights, so it shone through beautifully.  Luckily, we went at night, so we could really experience the beauty of it.  Inside the 'forest,' was a fountain.  It was a calm fountain; no bubbles or anything.  We all put our hands in, palms against the bottom of it, and the fountain started to bubble.  It felt almost magical, almost like we'd caused it to happen.  We went back to the hotel after that, late at night. And very exhausted from the day's activities.

Nov. 7

We picked up breakfast at the kconvienience store near where we are staying, and I tried a Japanese bun for the first time.  It was super delicious, and I really hope I get to try more whilst we're here.  We took a commuter train, which was very similar to American trains, but it felt different in some ways.

The 'challenge' for the day was to take pictures of kanji that we recognized/knew, as we walked to the first temple (Enkou-ji).  I found so many that I knew, and a bunch that I could attempt to understand (I recognized some radicals in some unknown kanji, which could tell me the meaning).  I also used a vending machine for the first time today, which was cool.

On the way to the temple, we walked by a ton of old Japanese homes.  They all looked very traditional, and it was really cool to see them.  Many of them had small gardens and little shine-like places right next to them.  With each home, I could really feel the culture.

We arrived at Enkou-ji, which had a ton of stone steps leading up to it.  As we walked up, I looked around and behind me at the view, which was beautiful.  The gates at the top of the steps were made from bamboo, and there were bushes and trees all around.  As soon as I went inside, I saw the rock garden.  I had never seen one before, and it was really exciting.  I never thought that just rocks could look so cool, but I stood corrected there.  There were stone pathways between the gardens, where we could walk around and admire the designs on the ground.  It was even cooler that inside the garden, were a few tiny bushes and larger rocks scattered around.  The word that comes to mind when I think about all of it, is "zen."

The view from the top was incredible as always; I could see the mountains far away, from anywhere I stood.  Outlining my view were bushes and trees, and it created a frame for me to look through.  To one side of the temple was a forest of very tall, thin bamboo.  We weren't allowed to go into it, but I really wanted to go exploring inside.

Inside the temple was a ton of rooms lit with natural light, which was wonderful.  The furniture inside was old and very simple, and it fit so well with the whole place.  It all created a calming atmosphere that I really enjoyed being in.  There was one room that had a wall of tapestry.  It was split into four sections, one for each season.  They weren't separate pictures though, as the only thing really dividing them was a thin line.  For example, the tree from spring was the same tree in summer, but it was a slightly different color.

There was a small shrine outside, made out of wood.  I spent a while just observing the details of it.  A man carved out of a stone was sitting underneath the little roof, and he had a piece of cloth on him as clothing.  Near it, was a traditional cleansing area.  It's a bowl with a ladle, basically (and it's all made from wood or bamboo).  First, you pick up water in the ladle and pour it over your left hand (outside of the basin, of course), and then you do the same for your right hand.  Then you have to cleanse the ladle, so you tilt it backwards so the water runs down the whole handle.

As the norm for me, I sat inside for a long time, just watching the view through te open walls.  The entire ground was covered in moss, except for a stone pathway (you can't walk on it though, I don't think).  The trees were a lovely reddish orange color, which contrasted with the overwhelming green of the rest of it.  Off to the side of the temple was a stagnant pond, which you could see the reflection above in.

The other temple was very cool as well.  There was a rocket garden there too, and I was really excited to see more of it.  The designs are so pretty to look at; I wish we had them I'm America because I'd love to look at more in the future.

There was a gift shop at the end of the path, which I looked insider for a while.  I found some dango, which is a Japanese dessert.  Excited to try it, me and a few others split the cost (it was about 5 dollars, and it came with about 20 dango) since we couldn't eat an entire box alone.  It was three little balls on a stick, of three different flavors.  I'm not sure what the white one was flavored, but the green one tasted like green tea and the red one tasted like red bean paste.  At first, I didn't like it very much, as I tend to like my sweets to be really sweet, but after another I did start to like it.  I ate a couple, and we passed out a bunch to the rest of our class so they could try it too.

After the temple we did a bit of shopping on the street next to it, since we all hadn't had lunch yet.  There was a very interesting-looking spiral thing, called a "potatornado."  It's exactly how it sounds; a spiral of fried potato on a stick.  I knew I had to try it, and it was yummy.

The food here has really been a great experience, I'm trying so many new things!  I wonder what I'll try tomorrow!

We also did a whole tea ceremony thing, where they showed us the whole ceremony.  It was really cool to see!  It takes a long time, and it's extremely intricate and specific.  At the end, we all made green tea and drank it.  It was fun!  After that, at night, we went to Kodai-ji (another temple).  It's currently during the light show season (only happens twice a year), so we got to see everything lit up. Everything was serene there, and it was wonderful.  There was a stagnant pond here as well, and it was so clear that when I first saw it, I thought it was a big hole in the ground.  The reflection was so perfect and clear, that my brain didn't even register that it was a reflection until I got super close and really focused my eyes.  It looked like a whole different world inside, as if I could just jump in and I would disappear into a new place.

Nov. 8

We rode on the train and walked for while, until we got to Kumamoto castle.  When we first got there, we walked/ran around its perimeter, taking loads of photos.  The walls were super high, and covered with moss.  Once we entered, there was a huge area to walk around.  We saw two guys that were dressed as ninjas, and I got some pictures of them.

The actual castle part was many floors high, and we went all the way to the top.  Looking out through the open windows, I could see the entire area.  We walked around inside the castle before going back down to outside.  There was a demonstration going on, so we stood and watched the whole thing.  It was six people, dressed in traditional clothing.  The five guys looked like maybe samurai?  I'm not quite sure, as they spoke extremely fast and it was hard to understand them speaking.  The girl was dressed in clothes that looked like a mix of samurai and a kimono.  Maybe she was supposed to be a princess?

After that, me and the other five girls walked around the whole place.  It was almost empty everywhere except the main area, so we were alone most of the time, which was nice.  It was nice to just walk around in the nature and not see a ton of other people.  We saw a cat, and I tried to get close to it to get a picture (or maybe pet it if it was friendly).  But it was hunting, so I didn't get too close.  I watched it leap around and stalk prey, which was pretty cool to see.  Seeing the cat reminded me of my dog at home, who is probably sad I'm gone.

That night we ate at a cool restraunt with a gigantic menu.  There were a gazillion different choices of foods, and then a ton of different choices with those, such as sauces and toppings.  It was overwhelming, but we all ordered the same main dish, so it wasn't too hard.  I learnt a new term at dinner that night; I mentioned something about a "second stomach for dessert," and was told about the term "betsubara," which is the Japanese equivalent to it.  It's basically "not finishing your food but still wanting dessert."

Our hotel for the next for nights is "washitsu," or "traditional Japanese style."  Our room has a genkan (like the one from K's House), and has futons.  This is the first time I'm actually sleeping on a futon.  The tatami floor is very comfortable, I wish my house back home was like this.  It's nice to walk on, and I can sit on it comfortably for a long time.  We're fitting six in our room, as opposed to the guys who have four per room, but it's not really crowded or anything.  We all have a little space, and it's nice.  I'm glad I'm staying here for four nights!

Nov. 9

Today we went to the national museum.  There was so many art pieces, it was a bit overwhelming.  The challenge for the museum was to find something familiar and something unfamiliar.  I saw a really cool sword, which was huge!  I couldn't find out what it was called, as the signs near it were a bit confusing.  The sword was my unfamiliar artifact, as I'd never seen anything like it before.  I'd seen swords in museums back home, but none were as big as this one.  The familiar artifact I chose wasn't a specific artifact.  There was a big room showcasing a ton of intricate, unique boxes.  I love boxes like this, and it reminded me of one in my home in America.

We shopped around Daizufu for a bit afterwards, for lunch and some souvenirs.  I spent a while looking for something to eat, as many of the foods were a bit expensive.  I finally found a little stand that sold kabob-like things.  I chose the potato and butter one, as I didn't really like the other kinds they had.  It came in a circle, and on a stick.

There was a temple nearby, with a cleansing area.  So we did the routine, washing our hands with the ladle.  Off to the side of the temple was a bunch of paths.  Each one led to different areas, all of which were mossy and green and beautiful.

That night we had Japanese curry, which is very different from the curry we have here in America.  It wasn't spicy (unless you ordered the spicy toppings, of course).  It was pretty good, actually.  It was a new experience and I enjoyed it.

Nov. 10

Today we went to the Atomic Bomb Museum.  I wasn't expecting it to hit me as hard as it did; going through got harder the farther I went.  It was very informative, and I learnt so much from going.  I definitely learnt much more in this museum than I had ever learnt in school.  The parts that really hit me were the personal stories with the artifacts. There were three that I stuck with me.  The first was a small lunchbox.  It belonged to a girl in middle school, who was killed by the bomb.  It was faded, but you could see her name and class, as well as phone number, written/etched on it.  I think what made me remember that one well was that it felt very personal.  Her name was there, and so she wasn't just someone who was hit, she was a middle school girl who was just trying to learn.  The second I remember was a very simple shirt, faded brown.  It belonged to a six month old (five or take a month or two, I can't quite remember) baby, who was caught in the explosion.  The mother and father of the baby kept this article of clothing, as it was literally the only thing left of the baby and its belongings.  I can't even imagine what it could be like to come home and find that my child was caught in something like a bomb.  The third wasn't an artifact, but it was a story.  A man, Mr. Mitsubishi, was off working with his wife in another area of Japan.  The bomb hit where their home was, but they were not actually hit.  In fear, they got home as fast as they could, but their children were nowhere to be found.  They had been vaporized by the bomb, and all that was left of their home was clay.

After seeing those three parts, I started feeling sick to my stomach.  How could something like that actually happen, why could anybody let people suffer like that?  I almost started crying in the middle of it all.

We went to the Peace Park afterwards, but I feel like I couldn't quite enjoy it as much as I should've.  I was still a bit sad after the museum; I think we all were.  But nonetheless, I tried to enjoy it.  The Peace Park's purpose is to show peace after the atomic bombing, I think, and also peace for the whole world.  There were statues all over that other countries had donated to Japan to be put in the park, to show their peace with Japan.  There were a lot of ones from Russia, which I found very interesting.  In the center was a huge statue of a man holding himself in a way that showed peace.

After the park, we went to Dejima.  There, we got to try on traditional kimonos!  It was super cool.  We walked around in them, which was a bit hard.  Kimonos are kind of movement-restricting, so we had some trouble.  We were unable to run at all, and we could only move our legs a bit to take small steps.  It felt elegant though, and it makes sense that it would be an old traditional thing.

Later, we went to Glover Park.  It was very nice there; there were flowers all over and everything.  There was a big pond with a ton of koi in it, and we spent a while just playing with / watching the fish.  Houses were scattered about, and they all looked very old.  We walked through some of them, admiring the furniture and architecture.  We also went to the Oura Catholic Church, which was also very pretty.  I love stained glass, and the glass in the church was especially beautiful.

Nov. 11

Today was onsen day.  Onsen are the hot spring baths here in Japan.  We stayed in the area all day, and it was incredibly beautiful.  The entire place was green with nature.  Me and a friend walked around the whole time, admiring every part if the huge area.  We took small paths all around, and took a ton of pictures.

After going up a large-ish hill, we found that we could see super far.  In the distance were mountains, and there was a little house on the top that we could barely see.  I wished we could go check it out, but we obviously could not.  Nearby where we were, we found a small shrine that looked like it had been built by the little house near it.

We found two places that sold ice cream, and ate ice cream at both.  As we ate, we walked around more.  There were so many small shops that you could buy lots of different things from.  I really liked the ceramics shop, and I wanted to buy some bowls from it, but they might break on the airplane or on the train/bus rides, and I didn't want to risk breaking something like that.  We also saw a ton of flowers that I'd never seen before, and I wish I knew what they were all named.

Nov. 12

This day was not too exciting, as we basically just rode trains all day.  But excitement was bubbling inside of me, as that night we would be meeting our host families!  I was a bit nervous, and I got more nervous as the time went on.  I didn't know anything about my host, and I was worried we wouldn't have anything in common.  By the time we got off the last train, I felt jittery.  We went downstairs to meet our hosts.  I was a bit shy at first once I met my student, and I could tell she was a little shy as well.

The car ride to her home was not very long, maybe 20 minutes.  In the car, we tried to talk to each other a bit, and I found that she and her dad both had pretty good English skills.  She told me that she had eight people in her family, which came as a surprise to me.  I have two people in my house, so eight people seemed so big.  Our conversations were short, as it was late and we were all a bit tired.

Her home is in the mountains, which I found very cool.  I saw so much scenery on the car ride, as we made turned and looped around on the road.  When we got to the house, it was a lot bigger than I had been expecting.  We went inside, and I did the whole routine that we'd learnt in class, and then found that most of the house house is all tatami-floored.  They explained that their house was very old, and so that's why it's very traditional.  I was really excited, as I was expecting only one or two tatami rooms.  The only room that isn't tatami is the kitchen, and we all use slippers when we are in that room.

I was introduced to the whole family: Aya (my host), her two sisters, her mom and dad, her grandma and grandpa, and her great-grandma.  They were all excited to meet me, and I was as well!

In the house is a small shrine, which they said is where they honor their ancestors.  They showed me the little ritual, and I tried it.  I couldn't get the lighter to light though, so they lit the incense for me.

I brought out the photobook that I made, and showed it to them.  They all thought it was very cool, and I noticed them looking through it again later that night.  I was so happy that they enjoyed looking through it.

There wasn't much we could do since it was late, so she asked me if I knew how to bath the Japanese traditional way, to which I (proudly) replied that I'd studied it before.  Aya seemed surprised that I knew how to, but she was happy I knew.

She showed me my room, which had a large futon with a ton of blankets on it.  After putting my things down, I took my turn bathing, and went to bed since we had to wake up early the next morning.

Nov. 13

Today we visited KJ, the school which our host students go to.  I went with my student to all of her classes.  They were a bit confusing; I didn't really know what was being said most of the time.  But I could understand a small portion, and I recognized words and phrases, which I felt proud to understand.

Before we got to school, we took two trains and a bus, a trip that lasted probably about an hour.  I didn't recognize anybody on the trains, but some of the other American students were on the bus with me and my student.

The most fun class of the day was gym class, which is where we could actually participate and know what was going on, since it didn't require knowledge of the language.  We did judo, but me and the other two American students were allowed to do the falls and such (probably because we didn't really know how, and it could be dangerous).  But it was still fun to watch!  It reminded me of when I used to take tae-kwon-do when I was younger.

At lunch I ate an obento, which the mother of my much student cooked/made for me.  We ate with the other students in my student's class, in the classroom.  I got to talk to some of the other students, which was  a really great experience.  They wanted to practice their English and I wanted to practice my Japanese, so they spoke to me in English and I responded using Japanese.  One of the kids like a band that I like, and he also plays one of the same instruments as me, so we talked about that a little bit.

After school ended, we had to perform our presentations for about 35 KJ students.  My group was performing two folk stories (John Henry, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow), and the students seemed to really enjoy them!  We had tried to incorporate jokes into the story, and it worked.  The students laughed at all the points where we tried to be funny, and they clapped a bunch at the end.  The other groups went well, too.  I think they were a bit confused about the dance group, as the "cha cha slide" probably looked very odd to them, but I think they enjoyed it.  We ended the presentations with us all, KJ included, doing the dance in the hallways.

When we got back to the house, my student had a ton of homework to complete.  I did as well, so I worked on my English homework whilst she did her work.  Later, the mother brought out a mug of something for me to drink whilst doing work.  It was hot chocolate, which I had written in my photobook as a favorite food of mine.  She told me that she had never made it before, which I found a bit surprising.  I guess hot chocolate isn't a thing here in Japan (they are missing out).  It was super delicious, and she seemed really happy that I enjoyed it.  The other family members also tried some in their own mugs, and they all seemed to enjoy it as well.  I then realized that they'd been trying to feed me my favorite foods, as peeled apples (another of my faves) were sitting on the table for me to eat.  It was a very kind gesture, and I made sure to eat them all and drink all the hot chocolate.  I feel like I brought something new to their home (the hot choco), which is super cool.

Nov. 14

Today we went to Tokyo, specifically a man made island called "Odaiba."  After taking the long train ride there, we had to take a small train to the Ferris wheel.  I think the carts on the wheel are supposed to be for only four people, but we crammed all six of our group into one cart.  The wheel was huge.  It took a while to even get a third of the way, but it was really fun looking outside at the scenery.  The ocean was sparkling blue, and it was so beautiful.  In the cart, we loudly sang a bunch of songs, which was fun.

There was an arcade near the wheel, which we spent an hour inside.  Me and a friend tried to play Dance Dance Revolution, which we weren't too great at, but it was really fun.  The arcade was really big, and we spent some money trying to win the crane games, which we almost won once.  There was one of those things where you use the hammer to hit the circle, as hard as you can.  I tried it, not expecting much, but I got the new high score which I am proud of.  There were also a gazillion slot machines, which we didn't use but we looked at.  Is gambling a big thing here?  I don't know, but the amount of slot machines makes me think that.

We went shopping after that, where I bought a few things, and then we made our way back to out host families.  The mother served me (and the others) hot chocolate again, which made me happy.  It was a bit late, and we all had homework to do, so we did that and all went to bed.

Nov. 15

Today was really fun!  We started the day by getting on a bus, which drove us to our first destination: a soba-making place.  There, we split into groups of four and, from scratch, made traditional soba noodles.  We got to use the flour and seaweed stuff to make the dough, and then we got to roll it out in specific ways.  After, we used cool-looking knife-things to thinly slice the dough.  We waited a bit whilst they cooked our noodles, and ate them all for lunch.  They were so good, and the whole experience was incredible.

Then we went to the "kimono experience" as we called it.  It was at a traditional-style hotel, and we all tried on kimonos.  However, different from the last time, these were summer kimonos, called "yukata"s.  They were a lot less constricting (and warm) than the kimonos we wore before, which was nice.  We took a ton of pictures, and walked around inside (it was raining :(  so we couldn't go outside).  It was really beautiful outside, and I wish we could've gone out there.

My family made me sushi for dinner, which was awesome! (Sushi isn't common here, it's reserved for special occasions since it's a bit expensive here.). It was really delicious, better than any sushi I've ever had.  I never thought I'd eat squid, especially raw, but I ate it and it wasn't bad at all like I had feared it would be.  The experience of eating sushi in Japan was really cool, and I wish America had the same quality sushi so I could eat it again.

Nov. 16

Today we spent the whole day with our host families.  A group up the KJ students planned a bowling get-together, and it was great!  We bowled a few games, and drank soda.  After we bowled, there were some games around the place that me and a few others played.

After bowling, Aya and her father took me to Daiso (kind of like the Japanese equivalent to CVS/Walgreens).  It was really big and I bought a bunch of stuff from it.  Once we had left, they took me up a huge mountain to see a really beautiful view.  From where we stood, the clouds were below us.  The mountains in the distance were very clear, and the tops were covered in snow.  They were various hues of blue and brown and yellow, it was simply breathtaking.  I'm so glad they brought me up there to see it.