As I sat at my desk, nodding off, with all the time in the world and after two poorly prepared classes on certain teachers' parts, I made an executive decision to update my blog for this past Saturday's Snapshot Saturday post. So here I am!
This Saturday I was fortunate enough to watch Hide and also Shonda's Tsugaru Jamisen rehearsal since the tickets were unfortunately all sold out.
The show was at 4:00PM, and doors opened for practice at 9:00AM so we had to leave Aomori City by 7:00AM. Since I wasn't watching the actual show, I stayed with them from 7:00am when Hide picked us up, until around 2:30pm when I caught a train back to Aomori.
I was actually a bit late to the car because of some drinking escapades with friends the prior night and because I stayed in bed a bit too long. I wasn't able to eat breakfast either for that same reason, but at the moment I wasn't hungry. Before actually getting on the main route, Hide stopped by a konbini and I was able to grab an onigiri, or rice ball. After a while, we arrived at the venue, which was just next to Hirosaki castle, at around 8:25AM. It was a beautiful, clear day, but we were all quite cold. It was a while before the people who worked there opened the doors for us so we had to gaman (ENG: persevere) through it.
At around 8:50, the doors opened. From there, we were herded into a medium sized room with chairs and long desks. There were about 50 or more folks in the room with their beautiful tsugaru jamisen, and among the mostly older crowd there were actually some kids -- even as young as 7!
The performers numbered at around a few hundred and they filled the stage and played in almost perfect unison. The Tsugaru Shamisen has a very deep sound so it was pretty cool to hear 500 people play it.
I'll upload photos....eventually...maybe.... if I ever get back to this post.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Snapshot Saturday #8 - 「座禅」Zen Meditation in Asamushi (12/5)
All photo credits go to Hide-san!
This past Saturday we were invited by our wonderful friend, Hide, to participate in zazen (座禅; Zen Meditation) in the neighboring city of Asamushi, which hugs the coast just like Aomori and is famous for its onsen.
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| (L-R) Sasha, Kelsey, Me. I knew about 10% of what the buddhist monk/our instrutor was saying. Hide sat on the far right of us while we sat in the smack middle of the group of about 10-15 other participants so we couldn't ask him to translate. All of our Japanese language ability is not too hot. |
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| Another photo prior to the actual meditation. The buddhist monk was explaiing the meaning behind the tapestry. From the little that I understood, he explained that the golden character in the center wasn't even Japanese - it's in fact a sanskrit character. |
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| The monk gave each of us a pinch of this brown, aromatic powder that we used to rub on our hands, then our shoulders, arms, and legs. |
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| Keenly listening. Or at least, trying to listen. |
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| A good shot of half the room. Behind the monk was a section full of golden buddha statues, incense, religious items in display boxes, etc. It was such a beautiful room. |
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| This was the room that we waited in before and after the meditation session. Post-meditation we were treated to green tea and a cookie. And yes, it was snowy and cold outside. |
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| A photo from the other end of the table for perspective. |
In the end I'd say it was a very peaceful, relaxing experience. Like I said, I regrettably couldn't understand about 90% of what the Monk was saying, and I didn't have any help to translate during the session, so it was difficult to follow his instructions - I had to awkwardly glance while the whole room was meditating to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Kelsey and Sasha had this same problem.
In regards to zazen session itself, we started with the brown powder that we rubbed in our hands, arms, and legs. Following that, we went into that difficult "criss-cross" type zen style seating, which quickly turned uncomfortable and cut off blood circulation to my legs. Luckily, during instructions he said it was fine if we didn't sit this way, but I tried my best. We spent a short while gazing at the tapestry while we took deep breathes. We then went in the classic buddhist pose with both hands resting in our lap and forming a circle with our index finger and thumb. We then "ohmed" for a few minutes.
Following the session, he asked us two questions (1) Did anyone of us fall asleep? (I think it was preferred if we were able to) and (2) Did anyone of us see the sanskrit character on the tapestry move? (It was supposed to move apparently).
All in all, it was definitely interesting. I said I'd try it again, but it was unanimous among us ALTs that we'd want to know the significance and meaning and instructions behind zazen before doing it again.
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| Tuna Sashimi Donburi set meal - 2,400 Yen. We split it. |
after zazen we visited a foot bath where we soaked for a good 20 minutes, and then ate at a locally famous restaurant where I ordered Fried Squid Tempura meal set - we shared what was basically a Maguro (Tuna) mountain rice bowl. From here we made a few more pitstops, and made our way back to Aomori City.
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| The foot bath that we soaked in for a good while. We met two other Japanese folks who were alreaky soaking their feet and since I had my backpack I pulled out some optical illusions that I printed out for my students, and showed them to my friends, and then ultimately, the two Japanese strangers as well. |
Trying the Tsugaru Jamisen
The shamisen is a traditional Japanese string instrument played throughout the island nation and I was lucky enough to try it thanks to one of the fellow ALT senpai and her (now our) Japanese friend who drove us.
This happened on this past Thursday, December 3 at the house of my senpai's teacher's teacher's wife (Confused?). The room we played in was a tatami room full of memorabilia and photos from the late husband who was apparently one of the most famous tsugaru jamisen players. My ALT senpai's teacher, therefore, was this famous man's apprentice and we were practicing in the widowed wife's house.
The wife and the teacher (both old grandmas) neither spoke a lick of English, so our senpai who is a 5th year ALT, and her friend who is native to Aomori helped translate. We had a formal aisatu or greeting with tea and a sort of gummy red-bean flavored snack that's native to Aomori. The women talked for a while about foreigners in Aomori, referring them to gaijin (Gaijin is a shortened, usually derogatory term for foreigners, while Gaikokujin is the more official, respectful way to say the same thing) and after about 20-25 minutes of chatting, we finally got started.
She began the demonstration with herself and the two students (The ALT senpai and her Aomori friend who drove us to the house) and it sounded so awesome... There's apparently a performance coming up as well, which is why they practiced the particular songs they demonstrated for us.After the trio performance, they played one more song together until the shamisen teacher played a song on her own.
With the last 20 minutes of the 1 hour lesson, she let myself and another ALT who has been here for 3 years, Sasha, try out the tsugaru shamisen.
As a side note, apparently the leathery topside area of the shamisen is made out of cat if it's high quality, and dog if it isn't. The teacher's pick was apparently made out of turtle shell and the strings -- I'm not too sure, nylon? This instrument sure isn't for any PETA-type people, that's for sure.
As most of you already know, I've never played nor tried to play an instrument before in my life, but I really wanted to try the shamisen ever since I learned that the tsugaru jamisen was a regional specialty of Aomori Prefecture. After a few picks at the three strings of the instrument, my senpai's Aomori friend commented that my playing was umai（うまい; delicious; very good), which was a nice boost of confidence.
It was actually so fun and from the plucking of individual strings, we moved on to plucking one string and plucking it again in the opposite direction (i.e. plucking going towards the shamisen and again plucking away from the shamisen). We then strummed a little bit and used our fingers to make different notes (or sounds, or whatever the technical term is for it.
All in al, it was a great experience, and I'm really thankful for my senpai and senpai's friend and teacher for giving me the opportunity to try it out. I have until this Saturday to decide whether or not I want to commit to it as Saturday is my senpai's performance and the teacher will be there seeking an answer-- it's a hard decision that I will have to make. Maybe I should give it a go.
This happened on this past Thursday, December 3 at the house of my senpai's teacher's teacher's wife (Confused?). The room we played in was a tatami room full of memorabilia and photos from the late husband who was apparently one of the most famous tsugaru jamisen players. My ALT senpai's teacher, therefore, was this famous man's apprentice and we were practicing in the widowed wife's house.
The wife and the teacher (both old grandmas) neither spoke a lick of English, so our senpai who is a 5th year ALT, and her friend who is native to Aomori helped translate. We had a formal aisatu or greeting with tea and a sort of gummy red-bean flavored snack that's native to Aomori. The women talked for a while about foreigners in Aomori, referring them to gaijin (Gaijin is a shortened, usually derogatory term for foreigners, while Gaikokujin is the more official, respectful way to say the same thing) and after about 20-25 minutes of chatting, we finally got started.
She began the demonstration with herself and the two students (The ALT senpai and her Aomori friend who drove us to the house) and it sounded so awesome... There's apparently a performance coming up as well, which is why they practiced the particular songs they demonstrated for us.After the trio performance, they played one more song together until the shamisen teacher played a song on her own.
With the last 20 minutes of the 1 hour lesson, she let myself and another ALT who has been here for 3 years, Sasha, try out the tsugaru shamisen.
As a side note, apparently the leathery topside area of the shamisen is made out of cat if it's high quality, and dog if it isn't. The teacher's pick was apparently made out of turtle shell and the strings -- I'm not too sure, nylon? This instrument sure isn't for any PETA-type people, that's for sure.
As most of you already know, I've never played nor tried to play an instrument before in my life, but I really wanted to try the shamisen ever since I learned that the tsugaru jamisen was a regional specialty of Aomori Prefecture. After a few picks at the three strings of the instrument, my senpai's Aomori friend commented that my playing was umai（うまい; delicious; very good), which was a nice boost of confidence.
It was actually so fun and from the plucking of individual strings, we moved on to plucking one string and plucking it again in the opposite direction (i.e. plucking going towards the shamisen and again plucking away from the shamisen). We then strummed a little bit and used our fingers to make different notes (or sounds, or whatever the technical term is for it.
All in al, it was a great experience, and I'm really thankful for my senpai and senpai's friend and teacher for giving me the opportunity to try it out. I have until this Saturday to decide whether or not I want to commit to it as Saturday is my senpai's performance and the teacher will be there seeking an answer-- it's a hard decision that I will have to make. Maybe I should give it a go.
(Late Post) Winter has come!
As of November 29th, Aomori City has "finally" started getting snow on the ground. Granted, on November 29th, the snow only stuck during the morning and turned into slush after, the real snow that actually stuck started on around December 4th.
Honestly, it really hasn't been that bad - yet. The sleet (みぞれ; mizore) is honestly worse than snow as each step you take goes into a slushy mix of ice and water. After Friday, thankfully, the clouds have been giving us snow that sticks rather than sleet. Temperature-wise it's been lingering at around 0 to 5 degrees Celsius, which is only bad when there is only wind to accompany it. My apartment is fairly cold, but just like everyone else, I stay under my kotatsu right when I get home. For those who don't know, a kotatsu is a Japanese style table with a heater underneath. Add a blanket to the mix and you are able to trap all the heat to keep your body warm. I also have an electric blanket that I use literally every night.
As I mentioned early, the weather is really only a pain in the neck when it's windy. However, if you're dressed for the weather (Insulated underpants and undershirt, thick sweater, scarf, hat, gloves, boots), even the wind isn't a problem. Many of my Japanese co-workers at my visit schools worry about me when I don't bring an umbrella, but honestly on the windy days it's better to leave it at home since the wind changes direction all the time and you'd end up being down at least 500 yen when, not if, your umbrella breaks.
So yes. It's only been snowing for about a week now. I'm still generally enjoying the weather when I have time to enjoy it. I have made a snowman already, though mine are pretty sad. The first and only time I made my snowmen so far was on my walk home from Karaoke at around 1AM. The streets were blanketed with a sheet of powdery, white snow and I was literally the only person on the road - No cars, no people. I made 3 snowmen on that walk home as I sobered up and left a little gift for the other friends who would come back home a little bit later.
There is, however, still the issue of SNOW SHOES. The only shoes that I have at the moment are the casual, everyday black shoes with no real support or traction. The sidewalks and rounds haven't really become icy yet, but they will soon. Thankfully Papa Ludwig and family has a package with the gear en route, so I just have to survive this week and I will (should) be all set!
1 week of snow down,
~5 months of snow left.
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| My impression of snow while walking home from the BoE on Friday Dec. 4 - the first real day of snow. |
As I mentioned early, the weather is really only a pain in the neck when it's windy. However, if you're dressed for the weather (Insulated underpants and undershirt, thick sweater, scarf, hat, gloves, boots), even the wind isn't a problem. Many of my Japanese co-workers at my visit schools worry about me when I don't bring an umbrella, but honestly on the windy days it's better to leave it at home since the wind changes direction all the time and you'd end up being down at least 500 yen when, not if, your umbrella breaks.
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| The local "Universe" which is our grocery store that is about a 3 minute walk from home normally. This photo was taken Sunday Dec. 6th and the visibility due to the wind and snow was basically reduced to zero. Don't worry, I dressed warm! |
So yes. It's only been snowing for about a week now. I'm still generally enjoying the weather when I have time to enjoy it. I have made a snowman already, though mine are pretty sad. The first and only time I made my snowmen so far was on my walk home from Karaoke at around 1AM. The streets were blanketed with a sheet of powdery, white snow and I was literally the only person on the road - No cars, no people. I made 3 snowmen on that walk home as I sobered up and left a little gift for the other friends who would come back home a little bit later.
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| Snowman and a message that I made around 1AM after walking home from a prolonged karaoke session. |
1 week of snow down,
~5 months of snow left.
Talking Star Wars with a 2nd Year (~Day 128)
Here's a little peak of what the JTE at my base schools hands me at the first day of the week when I work at their school:
月 (12/7)
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火 (12/8)
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水 (12/9)
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木
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金
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1
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2-2
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2
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3
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2-3
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4
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2-1
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Lunch
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2-1
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2-2
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2-3
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5
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6
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Today, I write this blog post as I struggle to stay awake
due to a lack of things to do. My tethering app on my phone is broken for some
reason, and so I can’t use the internet to work on other projects of mine.
Anyways, today I am working from my base school, and was assigned a class on 1st,
3rd and 4th periods with the 2-2 class, 2-3 class, and
2-1 class, respectively. At this moment in time, I’ve finished my classes
already, and they turned out being quite good. In class, the teacher provided
two questions to select from, and they had to write answers to them and present
them to the class after about 15 minutes. The two sentences they had to choose
from were:
Q: What is your
dream?
A: I want to be a ________.
Q: Why do you want to
be a ________?
A: I want to be a ________ to _________.
Q: Where do you want
to go?
A: I want to go to ________.
Q: Why do you want to
go to ________?
A: I want to go to ________ to ________.
This was actually a great day relative to what I usually do
with my 2nd year teacher. Typically, I’m doing nothing more than
reading dialogue from a book and repeating new vocabulary twice per word.
Today, however, I was able to talk to
each student about these questions, walk around the class to help answer
questions, and learn more about each student’s aspirations.
1st period with the 2-2 class went quite well.
Class flowed properly and the students had some really creative responses.
Their speaking volume was quite low, but that is understandable with folks who
are shy and are still learning the language.
3rd period was 2-3 was probably the most
enjoyable. Before class started, I had a conversation with a kid who was
sitting in the front of the class. I commented about his pencil tin, which had
a graphic of the Millennium Falcon and as a result we had a short conversation
about Star Wars. I asked him if he liked Star Wars and whether or not he was
going to see the new movie on opening night, or if he was going to see it over
the weekend. He confirmed that he liked the movies, and that he would see the
new movie on the first Saturday of the movie’s release. Once class started,
each and every student had great, creative sentences just like the 2-2 class,
but some boys in the back made a joke out of the lesson. They said
“I want to be a ________ to be strong and sexy”.
It wasn’t just one student, but rather around 3-5 students
who used this same sentence with some minor changes, like putting in “cute”
instead of “sexy”. The whole class erupted in laughter, but I still appreciated
the fact that they were willing to be creative and not stressed about the
grammar, and that they used it correctly.
After class ended, the boy who had a solid conversation with
me about Star Wars approached me and gave me a Yoda-shaped eraser. This was frosting
on the already delicious cake of good classes. Man. This kid. So awesome. So
kind. So bright. He also understood everything that I was telling him so I knew
that his comprehension level was really good as well. Unfortunately, I still
don’t know his name because I just have too many students and it’s difficult
without having a chart or booklet to look at with their names and pictures on
it.
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| The Yoda eraser that was given to me by a 2nd year student after class ended. |
4th period is a complete other story. Generally,
this class is the least-behaved and has the lowest level English out of each of
the 3 different classes for 2nd year students. One student in
particular is very loud and confident when answering questions, and while his
comprehension and English is good, his attitude about it is quite disrespectful
since his demeanor in class tells me that he really doesn’t care, and he’s in a
“too cool for school” phase. During lunch with the 2-1 class, I also did not
end up speaking to the students very much. They just are not talkative and
don’t have confidence in their English for the most part. There were a good
handful of students who paused and had to sit down without answering the
questions we prompted them since they just totally blanked without knowing what
to say.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Snapshot Saturday #7 - Thanksgiving Dinner in Aomori (11/28)
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| In the morning starting at 9:00AM, we helped make Thai Green Curry for the Global Party which collaborated with the volunteer group for an event hosting university exchange students from Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan. There were only 3 of us Americans here including myself. We met a lot of new people and added them on LINE. |
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| Kelsey and I testing out the Thai Curry as we just about finish cooking the meal. It was delicious, Reminded me of home oddly enough. |
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| Late Thanksgiving dinner @ Masako's house on 11/28. Card games were going on on the left, while dinner was just behind the wall to the right. There was mashed potatoes, mac 'n' cheese, turkey, cranberry jelly, and other traditional foods! Felt like an authentic Thanksgiving Day dinner. Definitely needed this to recharge my batteries. |
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Snapshot Saturday #6 - Lucky Perriot Burgers and Goryōkaku in Hakodate 「ラッキーピエロ」と「五稜郭」(11/21)
*Place Holder* Sorry I didn't write anything!
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Snapshot Saturday #4 - Shirakami Sanchi「白神山地」(11/7)
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| Today I went to Shirakami Sanchi, which hosts a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I tagged along with two friends, Keita (In the foreground, Nickname: Maru-chan) and Andres (in the background). Maru-chan drove us and we set out to try and see several different places in the area. |
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| At the very start of our hike towards Anmon Falls. This post reads, ｢白神山地世界遺産地域 入口」 (Shirkamisanchi Sekaiisan Chiki. Iriguchi; Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage Area. Entrance) Thank you Google Translate. |
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| Man-made waterfall also at the very beginning. |
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| Mini panorama of Maru-chan and the trail leading towards the falls. It was a very very easy hike of about 15 minutes. |
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| Both Maru-chan and Andres are photographers, so we took a lot of these kind of photo breaks. |
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| One of my own photos en route to Anmon Falls. Just a small creek waterfall thingy, beautiful nonetheless. |
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| AND WE'VE ARRIVED. Anmon Fals was close due to the cold weather and coming winter. |
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| Near the parking lot, once we returned from the trail, we saw a huge playground resting on a hill with a giant slide. Maru-chan and I braved it. It was actually quite intimidating to look at, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed. The first time I went down, I went way too slow, so I took of my jacket and slid using that. |
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| A photo of what I think is Iwaki River - named after the nearby mountain, Iwakisan (Mt. Iwaki) |
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| Next stop: Nishimeya Village (西目屋村; Nishimeya Mura) where there is a famous waterfall - particularly in Winter - called Chichihoke Taki or Chichihoke Waterfall. I'm not sure what the huge sword symbolized, nor what we were supposed to do with it, if anything. Just to the right of the tip of the sword you can see the shrine area. |
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| The shrine area was only 3 switchbacks from gronud level. The path entrance was just behind the waterfall that you can see just trickling down from the cliff above. |
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| There was A LOT of nationalism going on in the shrine area. There were about 4 of these shrines of different sizes. I wonder what it meant... |
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| After a long day, and a few more stops, we ended up in Goshogowara - a city famous for it's summer festival, tachinebuta.. We were in the city, however, for dinner inside a huge shopping mall called ELM. |
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Snapshot Saturday #3 - A Short Bike ride, then... PARTY! - Halloween in Aomori (10/31)
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| Being a hermit for the past few days made me desprately want to get out, even though I had plans for Halloween night. My friend and I biked up the road that went parallel to the coast and eventually got this sight when we reached the area where my base school was. It wasn't as great a sight as I hoped, but on the plus side - exercise! |
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| (L-R) Peter, Kelsey, Me At the venue for the ALT Aomori Prefecture Halloween celebration. Lots of alcohol was to be had here. Had a Strong and another chu-hai while walking to the venue (Strong is the brand name of a popular chu-hai. Chu-hais are basically delicious mixed drinks in cans coming in flavors ranging from pear, to peach and proofs of 6 to 16. Strong is 9% alcohol!) Oh yeah, and you can legally drink in public in Japan. AWESOME RIGHT. Drink a beer while passing a cop on the street, they can't do anything to you! |
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| Already drunk at this point - and so are these random Japanese folk! This is technically "after" the ALT party. The ALT party stopped at around 11PM, and from there a party with a different host took over, and a whole bunch of Japanese pepole came in. Apparently the DJ was famous? and from Tokyo? It became much more fun after the crowds came in though, for sure. |
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| Another photo with some random Japanese folks. Throughout the night in my drunken stupor, I would shout over the blasting music to random people, "一緒に！一緒に！" (issho ni! issho ni!; together! together!) and dragged countless Japanese people, some of whom were sober, and not feeling it, to the dance floor and to the raised dancing platform. |
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| Last photo to conclude the night. The 3 people no the left are ALTs and the 3 girls on the right are complete strangers. Someone shouted at me to take a picture with them so, still drunk, I thought, "why not?" |
Monday, October 26, 2015
Snapshot Saturday #2 - 「ビタミン愛」と「久保田酒」 (10/24)
Today's Snapshot Saturday is called ビタミン愛 (bitamin ai; Vitamin Love or Vitamin "I") and お酒 (osake; alcohol). The first title, bitamin ai means Vitamin Love in English, but phonically, it sounds like Vitamin I, so it's a Japanese pun / play on words.
We started work at 9:00AM and had until a bit after noon to prepare the meals. We made Miso Soup, Croquettes, Salad, Chopped Apples and served green tea from Korea - all from scratch! Each time they hold this event, they aim to serve 50 guests, so preparing the food in just a few hours was definitely a group effort. Everyone was always doing something.
Among the volunteers who were helping cook the meal were Thai exchange students from Hirosaki University and Vietnamese exchange students from Aomori Chuo Gakuin University, which made the experience even more enjoyable. It was interesting because while the Vietnamese exchange students knew a bit of English, we mainly relied on our Japanese speaking ability to communicate with each other. I felt much less pressure than I do when I usually speak Japanese because all of us were around the same age give or take a few years, and Japanese was also their second language.
Long story short, we managed to pull through while getting to know our fellow volunteers. Among the group were 2 Vietnamese students, 4 Thai students, the 4 older Japanese women who organize these events, and us 5 Americans, among a few others.
By 1:30PM, the last guest was served and the folks who organized the event said that we can have free time and explore the building until 2:00PM. One of the older ladies chimed in emphasizing that "We should be here at 2:00PM sharp to start cleaning up. Japanese time, not American time."the statement rubbed me the wrong way a bit, but every single one of these women were so casual and cordial that I couldn't stay bothered for long. While exploring we went through a WWII exhibit and a "planetarium" that mostly consisted of constellation stuff. By 1:55PM we came back and helped clean. When we finished, a Japanese woman from a room that was holding a tea ceremony demonstration recognized one of the American ALTs who had been in Aomori for 5 years and invited 10 of us to watch and participate, so we did. We watched 4 girls, probably around 10-12 years old serve us tea, and the older woman in charge explained each step, each rule, and what we should say. Side note: There are TONS of rules. OMG. After that, the same older woman gave us a demonstration on the Korean Drum.
By around 3:00PM we were all finished cooking and cleaning and so all began heading home.
The title of this portion, 久保田酒 (ENG: Kubota Sake) is actually the brand name of the sake that we tasted. There were 6 different sake choices to choose from, and we were given glasses to try 4 of them.
We were also served small dishes of assorted foods on the table that included chikin karaage (ENG: Fried Chicken), Sashimi, some beef dish, vegetables, and other things. The total fee for the event was 5,000 yen, but was worth it nonetheless.
ビタミン愛
"Vitamin I" was the title of this month's free lunch event that a professor from Aomori University helps lead every month. It's a way for the community members, and especially the elderly, to gather and eat lunch together. They particularly focus on the elderly as well because often times they live alone and as they say, "eating lunch with others is always more enjoyable than eating lunch alone". A member of the group who helps lead the free event explained that every piece of food that we make, and every step of the process, has love in it - from the folks who grow the crops (which were locally grown and donated for free) and we who cook the meals, to the customers who eat them.We started work at 9:00AM and had until a bit after noon to prepare the meals. We made Miso Soup, Croquettes, Salad, Chopped Apples and served green tea from Korea - all from scratch! Each time they hold this event, they aim to serve 50 guests, so preparing the food in just a few hours was definitely a group effort. Everyone was always doing something.
Among the volunteers who were helping cook the meal were Thai exchange students from Hirosaki University and Vietnamese exchange students from Aomori Chuo Gakuin University, which made the experience even more enjoyable. It was interesting because while the Vietnamese exchange students knew a bit of English, we mainly relied on our Japanese speaking ability to communicate with each other. I felt much less pressure than I do when I usually speak Japanese because all of us were around the same age give or take a few years, and Japanese was also their second language.
Long story short, we managed to pull through while getting to know our fellow volunteers. Among the group were 2 Vietnamese students, 4 Thai students, the 4 older Japanese women who organize these events, and us 5 Americans, among a few others.
By 1:30PM, the last guest was served and the folks who organized the event said that we can have free time and explore the building until 2:00PM. One of the older ladies chimed in emphasizing that "We should be here at 2:00PM sharp to start cleaning up. Japanese time, not American time."the statement rubbed me the wrong way a bit, but every single one of these women were so casual and cordial that I couldn't stay bothered for long. While exploring we went through a WWII exhibit and a "planetarium" that mostly consisted of constellation stuff. By 1:55PM we came back and helped clean. When we finished, a Japanese woman from a room that was holding a tea ceremony demonstration recognized one of the American ALTs who had been in Aomori for 5 years and invited 10 of us to watch and participate, so we did. We watched 4 girls, probably around 10-12 years old serve us tea, and the older woman in charge explained each step, each rule, and what we should say. Side note: There are TONS of rules. OMG. After that, the same older woman gave us a demonstration on the Korean Drum.
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| Korean Drum performance. She told us afterwards a story about how N. Koreans would kidnap Japanese people using the large bag things that carry the drums. |
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| Tea Ceremony with a young apprentice. |
By around 3:00PM we were all finished cooking and cleaning and so all began heading home.
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| Clockwise from Me: Andrew, _____, Shonda, _____, _____, _____, Niiyama-sensei, Mi, Bo, Som, Kelsey, Heidi, Phi, Huy, Sasha |
久保田酒
The next portion of this blog post will be about the evening where I was luckily invited to a sake tasting event by a fellow ALT who had an open spot. The ALT who invited me was actually invited by a man who has been teaching her calligraphy, and she wanted to know if I was interested as well. Since I expressed that I was, the man who was teaching her wanted to use this event as a means to get to know me better in order to decide whether or not he will take me under his wing as well. Besides me, Tiffany (the other ALT), and the man who is teaching her calligraphy, we were accompanied by many other of his friends who were all retired high school teachers aged somewhere between their late-40's and early 60's. Nonetheless, they were all very friendly -- and even moreso after a few glasses of sake.The title of this portion, 久保田酒 (ENG: Kubota Sake) is actually the brand name of the sake that we tasted. There were 6 different sake choices to choose from, and we were given glasses to try 4 of them.
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| The sake that I tasted (From L to R): Kobata Hyakuju, Kobata Senju, Kobata Manju, and Kobata Kouju |
We were also served small dishes of assorted foods on the table that included chikin karaage (ENG: Fried Chicken), Sashimi, some beef dish, vegetables, and other things. The total fee for the event was 5,000 yen, but was worth it nonetheless.
Everyone got drunk quite fast. I personally talked a lot to the man on my left (Tiffany was on my right) who was a retired high school English teacher named Mr. Ikaria (I think). He had really great English and was so extremely friendly. The sake helped make things even more casual and had a great conversation, probably around 40% of the conversation was simply laughter. The rest was small talk and conversations about sake, Japanese, and Japan. We later had a visitor from another table too who was blowing kisses to Tiffany. Her name was. Ms. Osanai and was probably mid-50's or 60's (and most likely a lightweight, happy drunk). She was super friendly, and invited us two to go to her cafe that was opening up called Cafe 0371. The title is actually another play on words based off of her name. If you take the first hiragana "letter" from each number, it spells her name, with the exception of 0. In Japanese, it's kafee zero(O) san nana ichi. If you put the bold parts together, it spells (O)sanai, which is her name!! Cool right?
Besides sitting at the table and enjoying conversation with the teachers and Tiffany, there was a stand in the back where you would first taste 3 different sakes. Then, you would try a taste of 5 different, unlabled sakes. The goal was to correctly guess which bottles were the 3 sakes that you originally tasted. Tiffany and I got only 1 of the 3 correct... we also had to make sure not to pour too much into the glasses since sake is as strong as wine.
Anyways, the night was great -- we had a lot of great conversations and, actually, I enjoyed this night more so than the Welcome / Sports Festival Enkai that I went to with my Base Schools. The older, retired teachers were much more laid back and it probably helped that this wasn't exactly a work function.
As we left, we were all a good amount tipsy/drunk, and while we headed to the elevator, one of the men in our group was saying something in Japanese, and so Mr. Ikaria translated, saying that he was jealous of my height. The other man gave me a soft slap across the cheek, but it was all in good fun and didn't hurt at all.
All in all, the drinking event was one of the most fun I've had in a really long time and by far the best drinking event that I've been to (Out of only about 3-4 drinking events that I've been to in the almost 3 months I've been here). Tiffany and I went to Starbucks at around 8:30PM after the event ended, and gave ourselves some time to sober up before biking home. We ran into our P.A. (Prefectural Advisor) and chatted with him for a bit before it was time to go.
Anyways, that was my Saturday. Hopefully I can keep this up -- Until next time family and friendsss!
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Homesickness and Difficulties Abroad
I'll admit it. I'm getting homesick.
As bad as it sounds, it's not so much the individual people that I'm missing -- I can see them over webcam (thuogh I've been slacking on that, too). It's the overall sense of being in a place where you can feel "at home" and relaxed without worrying about not being able to communicate with folks on the bus trying to talk to you, your coworkers at work, or even grocery store clerks.
It's not all bad, though.
When I visit my schools, the students are usually quite excited to see me. I often hear them saying "Andrew da!" (It's Andrew!) or something along the lines of that. Middle schoolers are less energetic in the classroom, but they always say hello to me as I pass through the halls, and I give them high-fives in return (JPN: hai tatchi; high touch). There have been occassions where some students have stopped me for a short conversation inbetween classes, but even that is a struggle at times because there's so much more that I want to say (probably the same case for the student), but we just have such a large language barrier.
Elementary schoolers are genki all the time. In and outside the classroom. They scream "hello!!!" to me as I pass through the halls and stick their hands out for high-fives as well. Them being energetic in the classrooms, and the teachers generally being more laid back takes some stress off my shoulders as well, but I just wish there was a way that I can magically be fluent in Japanese, or my teachers in English.
Also, there are some coworkers of mine in a few of my visit schools that are absolutely amazing. Today for example, I was talking to my visit junior high school janitor who was waiting at the same bus stop that I was. His knowledge of English was about the same if not more than my knowledge in Japanese. I feel like there is no tension or anything when talking to him, so I don't hesitate to say hello and engage in conversation. The whole conversation is in Japanese, with the exception of a few English words when I don't know it in Japanese. He corrects my Japanese when I say something incorrect, and makes small talk at school when I'm there. At that same school, my teachers are better at English than my base school, so I speak to them and they speak to me. There's also a person at the front gate (who I guess might be like the school clerk) who is comparatively very good at English and we talk as well.
I think most of the stress appears when I'm at my base school, but I do have moments where I silently get stressed out and frustrated at the other schools. Half of time it's during the 5 minute discussions with the teachers before class. The elementary school teachers explain it in Japanese, but there is a resource setup where we can print the lesson plans in English. However, they still add small changes to the lesson plan, and those changes are hard to understand at times. I can probably understand around 30-40% of what they're saying, but it's not enough. The second half is from general communication with coworkers during work. I've been here only for 2 weeks. I don't know the office culture, and I don't have a strong grasp on the language. If I were to speak up, I would only be able to ask simple questions in Japanese. Furthermore, people engrained in our heads that Japanese schoolteathers work 10+ hours a day and are very busy so I feel like there is no time to chat. Another part of it is nerves, which I have a lot of. I'm a bit too shy for my own good -- but there are still times where I do engage in simple conversations.
I think that this feeling that I've been having for around a week or so is akin to the feeling that I had when I first left for college. It's textbook homesickness. It's the sort of feeling where, if I went home, I'd feel like I'd become 50 pounds lighter. Like a giant weight has been lifted and I can finally relax.
Getting into this slump also sort of creates a chain reaction. Just before writing this, I was thinking about what songs there are about California or San Francisco, so I listened to a few songs on YouTube. And just now I was thinking about how warm it must be in the Bay Area right now, comparatively.
That being said, there's obviously a list of things that I could do to "fix" this. I put fix in quotations just becuase I'm honestly a bit skeptic that it'd fix the problem. I think the "fixes" would be short term fixes, but the feelings would once again appear in time. For example, I can reach out to the other ALTs and hang out with them to get my fix of English in for the day, but then what about after that? I could be advised to just speak with my coworkers and not be afraid of making mistakes or interrupting them, but I'm quite shy with folks that I don't really feel comfortable with, so it's easier said than done. It's not like someone could tell the folks in my base school to just speak more English with me -- I wouldn't really want to force that on them just to make my life easier. I'm the sort of person that, as bad as it might be on myself, doesn't want to "burden" others by asking favors, or asking them to do something on my behalf. So, I'm sort of in a pickle.
But rather than being cynical and talking about all the negativity about my situation, I need to just find a way to change my mindset, or simply gamansuru (ENG: to endure) because I know, in time, this feeling'll pass.
Apart from all the ranting, there are some key takeaways for people who are thinking about living abroad in a non-English speaking country or doing the JET Program.
As bad as it sounds, it's not so much the individual people that I'm missing -- I can see them over webcam (thuogh I've been slacking on that, too). It's the overall sense of being in a place where you can feel "at home" and relaxed without worrying about not being able to communicate with folks on the bus trying to talk to you, your coworkers at work, or even grocery store clerks.
It's not all bad, though.
When I visit my schools, the students are usually quite excited to see me. I often hear them saying "Andrew da!" (It's Andrew!) or something along the lines of that. Middle schoolers are less energetic in the classroom, but they always say hello to me as I pass through the halls, and I give them high-fives in return (JPN: hai tatchi; high touch). There have been occassions where some students have stopped me for a short conversation inbetween classes, but even that is a struggle at times because there's so much more that I want to say (probably the same case for the student), but we just have such a large language barrier.
Elementary schoolers are genki all the time. In and outside the classroom. They scream "hello!!!" to me as I pass through the halls and stick their hands out for high-fives as well. Them being energetic in the classrooms, and the teachers generally being more laid back takes some stress off my shoulders as well, but I just wish there was a way that I can magically be fluent in Japanese, or my teachers in English.
Also, there are some coworkers of mine in a few of my visit schools that are absolutely amazing. Today for example, I was talking to my visit junior high school janitor who was waiting at the same bus stop that I was. His knowledge of English was about the same if not more than my knowledge in Japanese. I feel like there is no tension or anything when talking to him, so I don't hesitate to say hello and engage in conversation. The whole conversation is in Japanese, with the exception of a few English words when I don't know it in Japanese. He corrects my Japanese when I say something incorrect, and makes small talk at school when I'm there. At that same school, my teachers are better at English than my base school, so I speak to them and they speak to me. There's also a person at the front gate (who I guess might be like the school clerk) who is comparatively very good at English and we talk as well.
I think most of the stress appears when I'm at my base school, but I do have moments where I silently get stressed out and frustrated at the other schools. Half of time it's during the 5 minute discussions with the teachers before class. The elementary school teachers explain it in Japanese, but there is a resource setup where we can print the lesson plans in English. However, they still add small changes to the lesson plan, and those changes are hard to understand at times. I can probably understand around 30-40% of what they're saying, but it's not enough. The second half is from general communication with coworkers during work. I've been here only for 2 weeks. I don't know the office culture, and I don't have a strong grasp on the language. If I were to speak up, I would only be able to ask simple questions in Japanese. Furthermore, people engrained in our heads that Japanese schoolteathers work 10+ hours a day and are very busy so I feel like there is no time to chat. Another part of it is nerves, which I have a lot of. I'm a bit too shy for my own good -- but there are still times where I do engage in simple conversations.
I think that this feeling that I've been having for around a week or so is akin to the feeling that I had when I first left for college. It's textbook homesickness. It's the sort of feeling where, if I went home, I'd feel like I'd become 50 pounds lighter. Like a giant weight has been lifted and I can finally relax.
Getting into this slump also sort of creates a chain reaction. Just before writing this, I was thinking about what songs there are about California or San Francisco, so I listened to a few songs on YouTube. And just now I was thinking about how warm it must be in the Bay Area right now, comparatively.
That being said, there's obviously a list of things that I could do to "fix" this. I put fix in quotations just becuase I'm honestly a bit skeptic that it'd fix the problem. I think the "fixes" would be short term fixes, but the feelings would once again appear in time. For example, I can reach out to the other ALTs and hang out with them to get my fix of English in for the day, but then what about after that? I could be advised to just speak with my coworkers and not be afraid of making mistakes or interrupting them, but I'm quite shy with folks that I don't really feel comfortable with, so it's easier said than done. It's not like someone could tell the folks in my base school to just speak more English with me -- I wouldn't really want to force that on them just to make my life easier. I'm the sort of person that, as bad as it might be on myself, doesn't want to "burden" others by asking favors, or asking them to do something on my behalf. So, I'm sort of in a pickle.
But rather than being cynical and talking about all the negativity about my situation, I need to just find a way to change my mindset, or simply gamansuru (ENG: to endure) because I know, in time, this feeling'll pass.
Apart from all the ranting, there are some key takeaways for people who are thinking about living abroad in a non-English speaking country or doing the JET Program.
- Homesickness is real - don't assume that you won't get it. You'll see it pop up in different forms. You might not miss people... you might miss your hometown in general and just the general feeling of being in your comfort zone. You'll be finding yourself in your awesome, inexpensive apartment thinking that it's way too quiet, it's way too cold, and that you wish you were home.
- Don't expect that your Japanese coworkers or EVEN YOUR JTEs will have conversational English. This is something I assumed prior to the JET program, and while I wasn't entirely wrong, the JTEs don't have the English level that I was expecting, and they weren't as excited for me to be there as I was expecting either. What I expected from the JET Program didn't match up exactly with what I am now experiencing. You might be finding yourself at your desk inbetween classes just looking at your desk if you didn't bring work to do / don't have any work to do since you don't want to disturb your coworkers / cannot speak English.
- Assume a certain level of uncomfortability at the workplace and in day-to-day life if you can't speak or read Japanese. There is a chance that you'll be placed in a small city, town, or village that doesn't have many accommodations for those who speak English. You'll need to get accustomed to what your bus stop's kanji looks like and how it sounds just to get to and from home, you'll probably be trying to look for something at a grocery store, going aisle to aisle just to find it, and if you meet some nice old lady who's speaking your region's dialect you might not be able to respond. It's pretty stressful.
As a parting gift, here's one of the songs I was just listening to before I wrote this post... I actually have never heard of them before, but I really enjoy the song / music video!
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
(Day 80) Oirase Stream / Lake Towada
Two days ago (10.19.2015), Ben, Sasha, Kelsey and I took a bus to Ishigedo Station along the Oirase Stream. It took around 2.5 hours to get there, but it was well worth it.
From Ishigedo station, we rested for a bit as we were all hungry from the lack of a proper breakfast. We took the 7:50AM bus from Aomori Station and arrived at Ishigedo at around 11AM. So, instead of starting the hike right away, we stopped by a small souvenir / snack shop.
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| Clockwise starting @ top left: Half & Half, Dark Lager, Weizen, Pilsner |
The hike itself was about 3 hours long. It would've been shorter, but we stopped like every 5 minutes on the first half of the hike. We came across a older man who spoke tons of English to us and was apparently from a suburb between Nara and Kyoto, a man who was painting the river scene, and a few old obaachan (ENG: Grandmas) whom we spoke with about mushrooms along the trail.
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| The Oirase Stream a few moments after starting the hike. |
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| A stone stairway with wooden railings covered in moss. |
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| Another beautiful view of the Fall leaves and Oirase Stream. |
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| One of the many waterfalls that we saw on the hike along Oirase Stream. Photo Credit: Ben |
So, after around 3 hours, we made it to Nenokuchi Station, which is the stop where Oirase Stream meets Lake Towada. Just before the lake, the stream was dammed up, and on the part of the stream that meets the lake, there was crystal clear water, as well as some fishes in the river.
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| Crystal Clear portion of the Oirase Stream after what I thought was a dam. If you look closely, you should be able to see some small trout swimming about. |
The sight of the Lake was beautiful. It sort of reminded me of Lake Tahoe, but the mountains in the background looked completely different. We decided against taking a ferry on the lake since we were pressed for time, and instead had lunch at one of their restaurants, and waited out the rest of downtime at the bus station. I saw a Apple Chocolate Bar (White Chocolate w/ Apple Flavor) and it was actually pretty good.
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| Photo of Lake Towada, taken at the mouth of the river where Oirase meets Towada. |
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