Japan Trip Summary

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For those of you who don’t want to read through all my posts, below is a brief summary of my Japan trip, with pictures.  (The essay also served as a supplemental for many of my college applications 🙂 )

[pdf width=100%]http://box5131.temp.domains/~amalnana/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Japan-Trip.pdf[/pdf]

“Looking for Blue” in Japan

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Part of the inspiration for my website came from my 12th grade American Government and Economics teacher, Mr. Jaime Richards, who has a fascinating site about what it takes to live a successful, positive life. His latest article, about “looking for blue,” related to my Japan trip so well that I had to post about it.

One day, about two weeks into my six week cultural exchange, I was walking home from school feeling frustrated at how different Japanese and American cultures were, how little I understood about daily life, and how lonely I was. Suddenly, I noticed the sky. It was almost identical to the sky in my hometown, except bluer, purer. “If the sky is the same, the people below it can’t be too different,” I thought.

And just like that, my outlook changed. I began noticing similarities everywhere. My classmates’ personalities were very similar to my friends’, the importance of respect to elders in Japanese culture was similar to that in Indian culture, and the types of conversations teenagers had in my Japanese high school were almost identical to those my friends and I had in America. I even began seeing traits of my parents reflected in my host-parents! It is not that the similarities did not previously exist. I was just not “looking for blue.” (Please read Mr. Richard’s blog post to understand what I mean by “looking for blue.”)

P.S. The sky ended up playing a very important role in my exchange trip.  Every time I was frustrated, sad, or missed home, I would look up at the sky and feel reassured.  In fact, if you notice, I tried to capture the beautiful sky in almost every outdoor picture I took for previous blog posts!

Plane Ride July 25 2012

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An home now, this was written from Narita Airport and the plane:

At my gate at Narita Airport waiting for the flight. Today we were the first at Naha Airport, so I checked in and then helped translate for the other YFU students. The translation was very fun; in fact some students thought I was a YFU helper/volunteer as oppose to an exchange student. A group of high school students who had come to see off their friends asked me of I was a resident of Okinawa! It was very fun. However, while I was doing that I realized how many exchange students had no idea how to travel, have everything in various places, have the wrong priorities in terms of baggage safety and other stuff such as shopping, etc. I am really glad I have travelled so much and with such experienced travelers, and I am pretty sure the airport people were happy too! Continue reading

Tues July 24

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Today was a great day! In the morning we went to the airport to help out with the nine YFU students leaving today. I actually had a very good time, because I helped with translation between the YFU volunteers and the students — there were a lot of problems in terms of weight of bags and what some kids had packed to take back, so I ended up being very useful. Then we went up and waited till half an hour before boarding before the kids went through security (there was separate security per gate so that was fine) and then the YFU volunteers and I had a glass of coffee (I had mango juice) and talked. Afterwards, Okaasan and Otousan took me to a very nice Japanese restaurant where I had Soba, salad, tenpura, etc. then we returned home, and I packed. Continue reading

Monday July 23

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Today was a great day! So, in the morning I got picked up by my old Host Family, and we went to the Imperial Hotel in Okinawa, where the current king had once stayed. We ate lunch at a fabulous buffet where they also had a lot of vegetarian food, such as Tenpura, Salad, rice and Ume, a Japanese plum, etc. anyway, then we went to an Ikebana, or the Japanese art of Flower-Arranging, exhibit in the hotel which was amazing. It was very coincidental, because I had done a report in Geography last year about Ikebana, and in fact I had wanted to see some in Japan but had forgotten. Anyway, it was beautiful, the way they very skillfully placed various flowers and stems together to achieve a very beautiful paradisiacal look. It was interesting how many different approaches there were in the exhibition — some flower arrangements focused on matching colors or colors that work well together, others focused more on the shape, orientation, and curvatures of the stems to give various different impressions, others seemed to try to mimic nature, with a lake-theme, a swamp-theme, and evergreen forest then, etc. and it was amazing that everything, down to the size, shape, and color of the pot was chosen to perfectly complement and balance the piece. It was truly beautiful! Continue reading

Sun July 22

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Today was a great day! So, in the morning I went with Okaasan to Church which was very nice, and then we headed to a hotel for my farewell party (it was held in the banquet hall of a restaurant inside the hotel, similar to Dadda’s graduation party but on a smaller scale. There were 16 people overall I think from both host families, and after eating the fabulous meal (they had little vegetarian variety do Otousan ordered a special order for me again) we went around the table and people gave short speeches of farewell and their memories with me, and then I also gave a short farewell and thank you speech. It was all very very nice. Afterwards, we came home, and I had eaten so much I just collapsed on the bed and took around a two hour nap. Then I got up, and the rest of the evening was pretty normal; we talked watch TV, read, ate, etc. Continue reading

Sat July 21

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Today was a very exciting day! So, today after lunch Otousan and I played a game of Go on a larger board, 13×13, then since Okaasan came home Otousan and Okaasan played on the largest board, 19×19, so I could see their strategies, the I played with Otousan again and then we left for a museum. The museum was actually inside the US military base land, but the person who owned it was very rich so bought it back — it was the site of his ancestral home and tombs. The museum was very nice, with art by budding artists not yet “discovered” as well as large multi-panel paintings with various scenes from World War 2. There was also a balcony which gave a fabulous view of the city as well as the military base (it was honestly a bunch of trees, nothing like what one sees in movies; Okaasan said on the weekdays there are a lot of helicopters and such.). But leading up to the balcony/terrace there were two sets of stairs, one with 6 stairs and the second with 23. That represents June 23, the end of the Battle of Okinawa, Memorial Day, and the summer solstice in Japan (I am really losing my English Okaasan and Otousan asked me what the longest day of the year was in English and while I knew what they meant I had forgotten the word!). Anyway, I also saw how close the military base is to civilian house — literally ten feet away! It is like having a military base in your backyard! And given all the helicopters and such, the noise must be awful! (So far in Okinawa I have heard two military helicopters fly overhead and they were deafening, I cannot imagine how bad it would be when they are landing!) Continue reading

Fri July 20

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So, yesterday (it is past midnight here) was truly an amazing day! So, I took my cookies and walked to school. When I got there, I found, on my desk, the Kumi shirt I had asked the class leader if there was any way I could get. Zeroth Period was English, in which I asked the English Teacher to sign my shirt. Then during the 15 minute break before home room I told everyone it was my last day, and asked them to sign my shirt and a picture of the class on the first day, which I passed around. I then gave them the cookies, which they loved. At first I asked them just to take one (or actually, they politely only took one,) and then since there were leftovers and they LOVED them I said they could take seconds if the want, and almost everyone in the class raised their hands and I didn’t want to have to choose so I left the box in the front of the classroom and they all ran up and finished the cookies in about five seconds. Anyway, first period was math, followed by World History where we learned about the Mughal Empire, Islam and Hinduism, the Taj Mahal, etc., and Japanese. Lunch was a pretty normal lunch, and after lunch we had English again, but since the Sensei had a meeting she had given us a worksheet to do. Then it was time for my speech. So, first went some of the teachers, discussing mainly safety over summer vacation (it’s funny how concerned they are about safety in one of the safest places in the world,) then the ALT’s (Assistant Language Teachers,) who were going back to their countries, and then the two exchange students. On the request of the other exchange student, I went second. And honestly, I would say the speech went very well, I got quite a few laughs, actually a lot of laughs, and after the speech everyone was very impressed with my Japanese and surprised I had only studied it for two years. And the best part is it came straight from my heart. Continue reading

Thurs July 19

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Tomorrow is a huge day! So, I found out this morning that I would have to make a speech in front of the whole school, in a pre-summer-break assembly. So, at first I was surprised and nervous but I wrote a speech that I would say came together really well and I had my friends check it and later my host parents, and I would say it is very strong now. And it truly comes from my heart. I types it up but made a few edits on paper after that, so I will change it on the computer sometime tomorrow to post on the blog, in case anyone is interesting in a good laugh Google Translating it 🙂 the real translation will have to wait until after I come back — I am planning to request my home room teacher to take a video of the speech. Continue reading

Wed July 18

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Today was a very fun day! In school we had A math test, Health, World History, and English (in which we got our Vocabulary Test back we had taken last week — I got an 85 which is a drastic improvement from my other Vocab Tests and I think it’s pretty good, given most of the points I missed were related to specific English-Japanese translations I didn’t have the vocabulary to answer.) Continue reading

Tues July 17

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Today was a regular day. We started with Japanese, then had World History, English and Math. During lunch I brought out the Bhujia I had brought from CA and shared it with everyone. Some loved it, but they all, including me, found it spicy. After lunch we had two periods of Home Economics, during which I almost (or did, I don’t know) fall asleep (everyone was exhausted today, being the first day of school after a three day weekend. I literally felt like sleeping in almost every period, and at any one time about a third of the class would have their heads on their desks.) Continue reading

Mon July 16

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Today was a very fun day out with Otousan! It was a national holiday, the Day of the Sea, so in the morning I went again with Otousan to the Okinawan Prefectural Museum, because it had a new exhibit that looked very interesting and I wanted to see. I had seen the pamphlet of the exhibit, and while I did not understand the Japanese I knew it was about various masks, based on the pictures. The masks seemed very interesting in the pamphlet, which is why I wanted to see it. I had initially thought they were all made by one person, but I realized today they are actually vary old artifacts from various country’s national treasuries, brought to the Prefectural Museum for an exhibit. Continue reading

Sun July 15

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Before I start the blog for today I would like to classify the anti-American sentiments, which I had mentioned earlier and meant to clarify in yesterday’s blog. So, the only negative sentiments regarding America I have seen here are anti American MILITARY sentiments (there is a huge debate going on about whether America should be allowed to have Ospreys, very high-tech war helicopters, at Okinawan bases. Okinawans really do not want it, because even though America guarantees it is safe, it has had a lot of accidents. Continue reading

Sat July 14th

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Today was a jam-packed and very fun day! So, in the morning both Okaasan and Otousan had stuff to do, so at first I was home alone but then my host nieces came over — we were watching TV and I was crocheting and one of my host nieces was really enthralled by my crocheting so I taught her the crochet basics, which was very fun. After lunch, for which we had Yakisoba (the actual name for what I had called Hakka noodles), sandwiches, and leftovers, Okaasan, Otousan and I left for the 平和祈念公園 (Heiwakinen Memorial Park, literally “Peace Prayer.”) Continue reading

Fri July 13

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Today was a very relaxed and fun day! First of all, for whatever reason we only had 50 minute periods (Wednesday’s schedule,) so it was shorter than usual. Anyway, zeroth period was English which is always fun. Then we had World History, but since the Teacher was absent today we basically had a free period (theoretically we were supposed to be doing World History Homework.). I brought out my Khakhras and shared them with everyone and they were a huge hit and finished very quickly! After that, we had our Cross-Cultural Understanding class, in which we played the games Human Knot, 2-Word Taboo (you had to trick people into saying yes and/or no), Heads Up Seven Up, and Fruit Basket, which I had played before but never knew the name for. So, that was very fun. Then, we had lunch, and after that we had a long home room (apparently they have one every Friday) but our home room teacher, the world history teacher, was absent to instead we played 人間のバスケット, the exact same thing as Fruit Basket except in Japanese. BTW, in Fruit Basket everyone sits in a circle and one person stands up, and say something, and everyone who that applies to stands up and takes a seat, and the last person standing is in the middle. So, in the Japanese version, in addition to the fact that it was all in Japanese, instead of sitting in chairs we had to pair up (it only works with an odd number of people) and if the pair breaks (AKA if the statement applies to either person in the pair) both people have to find new partners. If someone ended up in the middle three times in a row, people got to ask them questions and they had to answer honestly (like who do you think is the cutest in the class — I got asked that because at the end we just had an open session of asking questions.). I guess part of this game was like the American Truth or Dare, without the Dare. Continue reading

Thurs July 12

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Today was a great day! (I have a feeling all my posts are beginning to start with synonymous lines.). So, we had math, Japanese, English, and PE today. In English, we took a school-wide English Vocab competition/test. I think if the teachers grade my translations leniently I will do fine (English to Japanese , Japanese to English were mostly multiple choice) but considering it is a competition I doubt they will. Continue reading

Wed July 11

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Today was truly an amazing day! School was normal, we had Math, English, Japanese, Health, and Computer (which I use to read BBC World News and get caught up on events.). In health we did a strange test to see our alcohol tolerance for the future — we took cotton balls with rubbing alcohol and taped them to our arms for seven minutes. If your skin became red, you had a weak tolerance. I am not sure if it is s legit test, but my skin remained unchanged, which means I have a high tolerance level… Continue reading

Tues July 10

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Today was a great day! We had all our regular periods today (in PE we had to pick between swimming, track, and tumbling and I picked tumbling.) Then, after lunch, we had Shoudo — sadly, the last class before summer vacation. I practiced many Kanji and then Sensei gave us all Uchiwa, or Japanese fans, to write or draw whatever we want on it. Many people drew pictures/people or wrote ancient phrases. I wrote my favorite kanji. It was a great class, I am quite sad that it is the last. Continue reading

Mon July 9

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Today was a pretty fun day, except for the fact that it was school again so I had to get up at 6:15…

Anyway, today in the morning we had a 2 hour speech/lecture about the Battle of Okinawa, WW2, peace, etc. I am sure it would have been very intriguing, except I did not understand a word of it! Anyway, after that we had a Biology class and then lunch, where I brought out my TJ’s banana chips and shared them with everyone–they were a big hit! After lunch, we had out Home Economics class, in which we cooked some sort of chicken dish and a soup w/ fish. I helped out with the salad, cutting the veggies, beating the eggs, and washing the dishes. It was quite fun — when it was time to eat I just had rice, salad, and a very yummy barley tea. Continue reading

Sun July 8

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So, a slight observation before I actually start the blog. When the students at my high school sing English songs, their pronunciation is impeccable, perfect! However, when they speak their pronunciation is slightly limited by the sounds in the Japanese language, notably less that the phenomena in the English language. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the areas of the mind related to singing versus talking — probably something related to tone and melody that makes it easier to speak foreign phenomes… Continue reading

Sat July 7

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So, today, after waking up at 8:30 and skyping with Dada and Sangi Foi, I went out for a run in the park. Now, granted it was quite hot, but it was still an amazing run. I was, however, out of shape, and after one broken lap (each lap = 850 m) I needed water. At first, I looked near the toilets, and there were no water fountains (BTW, the men’s urinals are not inside a legit building, while the women’s bathroom is.). Then I remembered there had been one in the playground about half way home, so I decided to look in the playground in the park. None. I was wondering how on earth they could have a park with no water fountains; granted, there were vending machines everywhere, but still…Anyway, I was very thirsty so I went to the one half way home. Then, on the way back to the park, I happened to stumble upon a nice little shaded seating area with a water fountain. As I walked back to the park, I realized such sitting area were everywhere (2 pix attached.). It’s not that there were not water fountains, I was just looking in the wrong places (I was looking where American water fountains would be…) Continue reading

Fri July 6!!!!!!

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Today was an amazing day! There is sooooo much to write about!

So, I got up in the morning, ate breakfast, and left for school. When I arrived, there was a sign on the back blackboard saying “Amal, HBD!.”. The kids wished me and sang for me, which was very nice. (The English Sensei and Homeroom Sensei also wished me.). Anyway, then we started the day, beginning with English, then Math, Japanese, an English Vocab Test, World History, Cross Culture Understanding, and a long Homeroom. In Math we got the test we had taken earlier back and I got a 40/100 — they were really silly rushing (I felt there was not enough time) or misunderstanding mistakes. For example, there was a question asking me to add two decimals with dots over certain digits. At first I was confused, and then figured it must be some sort of indication of Significant Figures, so applied those rules to it. Today I realized those dots are the Japanese version of our “Bar”, which indicates repeating decimals. But the class average was 30, and it was just really a test to see where we stand, do it didn’t count. Continue reading

Thurs July 5

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Today was a great day! At school we had Math, which was fine, Japanese, Biology, and Computer. In the Computer class, the kids started on a group project in which they had to make infomercials, or information packed commercials, in English. (They have one English class, a Language Lab/Computer class, and a Culture Understanding class, all of which they have to use English in.). Anyway then after lunch the rest of the day was spent watching (projected live on the TV of our classroom) the school Speech Competition, and the school’s version of MSJ TV, their own high school’s TV broadcast. That was quite interesting, though I didn’t understand much. Afterwards, on the way home, I stopped at the Hubdred Yen store to look at stuff and got some pretty cool stuff. I also stopped at a clothes store but none of the clothes really stood out to me and they were very expensive (I know they are good quality, but since I didn’t exactly like any of them…). Either on Sat or next week I will go to the mall nearby and look for clothes and other cool stuff there. Continue reading

Wed July 4th

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I actually didn’t realize it was the fourth today, but happy Independence Day!

Anyway, today was a pretty normal day. We had English first, then an assembly for the freshmen about their futures, then a math test, which I wasn’t intending to take but ended up taking. It was not too bad, though I think I may have misunderstood two questions which I think were asking for a factorization but I completed the square. (I had asked the teacher and to demonstrate he showed me completing the square — however, as I talked with students after the test I realized that in Japan completing the square and factoring are both the same thing. And I really only partially completed the square because that was all that was possible, so we’ll see.). We also had Japanese, two periods of Computer, in which we are learning very simple stuff such as Excel graphs and useless stuff like making a collage in word (useless because all the computers have photoshop and there is so much more to do and it is so much easier in Photoshop.). Then at the end of the day (I realized they have this most days) we had a lecture, today’s topic being stress. Continue reading

Tues July 3

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Today was a pretty normal day at school. We had two periods of math, two periods of Shodo (calligraphy) one period of Japanese one period of PE and one long home room. I really like the Shodo class (and the Sensei is very nice). Today I drew 永 and 空, the latter which is my favorite kanji, don’t even ask why. Anyway, our PE was a free period, so we just played volleyball which seems very popular here (and in a circle rather than across a net.). Anyway, then in our long home room we changed seats, and I realized in Japan moving seats actually means moving your desk. (They are the type of desks we had in elementary school, where there is a compartment below the desk to store stuff. However, I for one think it would be much easier to take the stuff out of the compartment and move rather than move the whole desk… Continue reading

Mon July 2nd

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Today was an amazing day at the beach! I left the house at 10:00, headed for Naha Kokusai High School where I met my other kumi members (or the ones that lived close by.). We then caught the bus, headed for the beach. Continue reading

Sun July 1

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Today was a very very fun day! After waking up at 9:45, the latest I have slept in yet in Japan, we went to Otousan and Okaasan’s church for their Bazaar. (BTW the greeting everyone says to each other while shaking their hands is Shunoheiwa, which literally means “The Lord’s Peace.”). Anyway the Bazaar was really fun — I helped by spreading ketchup and mustard on the hot dogs and hamburgers and putting lettuce on the hamburgers (It’s funny how I, who have never eaten a hot dog/hamburger, was making them!). I didn’t really mind though, especially since it was just like making veggie burgers and I was wearing gloves. Continue reading

Sat June 30

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Today was such a fun day! It was the day of the Undoukai, so I went to school at 8:30 and we were all getting ready. The Undoukai started with a marching ceremony, us singing our school song (which I did not know), and Radio Excercises. Then we all changed into our class T-shirts and ran the Freshman relay, which we won! I am not sure but I definitely felt I ran my fastest ever. After that, there were the other classes’ relays and then our “Eye of the Typhoon”, or the relay in which we run with a pole through everyone and around cones and such. Unfortunately, we didn’t win that. Continue reading

Fri June 29

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Today I realized something interesting about culture shock — when you are in the honeymoon stage, you tend to focus on everything similar between the new culture and your own, but when you are in the down-stages, you tend to focus on the differences. Just an observation 🙂 Continue reading

Thurs June 28

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Today was a very fun day. We had our Taikusai (Undoukai) rehearsal, which, while I do not understand the point of it, was quite fun to watch and be a part of. Our class relays went well, though we did not win. But the second year’s relay was very interesting to watch, for each person had to do 50 meter stretches (on a 200 meter spray-painted track) each member of the relay doing something different. (Every second member of each team did the same thing, every third did the same thing, and so on.). The unique things included riding a tiny tricycle, eating a donut hanging from a stick without using your hands, find something (beans I think) in a platter of flour using only your head, walking with either excessively heavy shoes or a string connecting one’s hand to that same foot (I am guessing based on the way they walked), and having a whole group of people walk in a line with a long wooden pole of each side tied to their shoes (think of a train’s wheels.). Then the third years competition consisted of hoisting a person of three other peoples’ shoulders. The person on top would have a hachimaki (headband) on and the goal was to take of the headbands of other on-top-people from opposing teams. Our relay, or the interesting one (every grade has 2 competitions, one regular relay where everyone runs half of the track, and one interesting one,) is very hard to explain but I will try. We line up with five per row and as many columns as needed. Everyone in the first row holds onto a horizontal pole, and at the start runs forward, jumps over an obstacle pole, around two cones, and back. You could imagine running around the cones is very hard because the inside person (me) has to be the pivot while the outside person has to run very very fast to keep up. Anyway, when they come back everyone but the inside and outside people let go, and they lower the pole and continue running through the matrix of people really fast (everyone has to jump over the pole.). At the end everyone crutches down, and the two people with the pole bring it back up the matrix of people above everyone (which is why we crouch) and hands it off to the next row. I will see if someone can take a video. Continue reading

Wed June 27

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So, first of all a note about the Blue Zone. I have been walking through the park on my way to and from school these days and I have seen many many elderly people (40-60 years old) jogging up and down the park path. I hope to do so too this weekend, but nevertheless that is probably one component (the great physical shape) of the Blue Zone. Continue reading

Tues June 26

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Today was a very fun day! In school I learnt a bit of calculus from the math teacher (he had asked me kind of a challenge problem yesterday and I asked him about it today). We had multiple hours of Undoukai practice in the burning heat — luckily each kumi had gigantic jugs of water and ours even had plastic glasses for every person! The one thing I don’t at all understand is how serious they are about the matching at the Undokai — it has got to be completely perfect and synced. I don’t understand why so much weight is put on the march. BTW, I realized today that one of the hardest things to understand in other cultures is humor, for 2 reasons. 1) At my welcome party, I told them (brokenly) and American joke, n they did not get it…I also didn’t get their Japanese jokes, and 2) Today in a second, separate computer class (I still don’t know how many classes they have total — new ones appear everyday) we watched student skits, and the ones I thought were the most hilarious, about driving and flight attendants, did not get rated very well (peer-grading) while the ones I did not understand were loved… Continue reading

Mon June 25

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Today was a very fun and excessively hot day (high 20s). So, I walked to school this morning with Otousan, and he showed me really nice park shortcut. I didn’t try it on the way home because I wanted to at least travel once successfully along the road before looking for shortcuts, but tomorrow I’ll try! Nevertheless either this weekend or next weekend I will probably try to go running in that park! Continue reading

Sun June 24

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Great I had written a long post from the church parking lot but apparently it didn’t save…

So, anyway, this morning I went to Church with Okaasan (we also met my other Okaasan there, whose birthday happens to be on the same day as Nani and Nestu’s.). Her birthday was celebrated in Church today and when she had to give a short speech she spoke about me, though I am not sure exactly what she said. Anyway, church was pretty fun. The things I liked were 1) The hymns we sung (which were easy enough that I could sing along,) 2) A period of time where everyone shook hands with everyone else and said some sort of Japanese greeting, 3) When everyone went up to drink the Holy Water, since I wasn’t Christian the Father didn’t give me Holy Water but instead said a long prayer specially for me (I didn’t understand it but caught the words “father” “family” “body” and “God”) and 4) The fact that as oppose to Anerican churches where everyone prays by kneeling forward and intertwining their fingers, in this church everyone prayed differently including, but not limited to, the American way, joining hands (Hindu and Shinto I think), crossing hands and kneeling, etc. The fact that everyone prayed differently seemed very acceptive to me. Continue reading

Sat June 23

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Ok so I have a lot of stuff to write about so I’ll dive right in. First of all, I actually really like the Japanese system of taking off shoes, which is you take them off backwards so that they are facing outward. I don’t know why, but it just seems much easier and natural to back out of places than go out straight. I think this is a habit I’ll keep when taking off shoes outside people’s houses. Continue reading

Fri June 22

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So, today, it started pouring while we practiced for Undoukai, so everyone got soaked and school was cancelled because most people didn’t have a change of clothes (I didn’t either, but our home room Sensei lent me a shirt.)

Ok, so Blogger sends me an email whenever someone comments on my blog, and the sender is the person’s name. So, yesterday, since I had free time, I decided to reply to everyone who had sent me comments. However, today, I realized I had replied to all No-Reply addresses…

So today I’ll take sections of those emails and post them here, since they are good bits of info. But before that, first of all I love the ingenuity of a Japanese cot — it’s just a regular fold-up cot, but the sheets merely have elastic bands running across the corners (forming 45-45-90 right triangles.). So, when you want to put the sheet (or really just the cot-cover) on, you merely slide the corners into the elastic. Same thing w/ pillows — as oppose to having pillow covers they have a piece of cloth w/ two elastic bands which you just slide in! Continue reading

Thurs 6/21

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So, first the motion activated toilet since everyone has been dying to hear about it — as soon as you walk into the bathroom, the lid automatically opens for you. You then sits down, and it goes into some standby mode, which I still do not understand but it is basically kind of a flush, but a tiny flush. You then do you business, and there is a panel with at least 10 buttons which I do not really want to mess with, then the lid closes via button (if I closes automatically and the motion detection failed you would be squashed.). But anyway it is all really cool n magical; you walk in and the toilet opens for you. Continue reading

Wed 6/20

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Today was a very nice day at school.  I mean, the day went by normally (we had two periods of a computer class where we typed Japanese and did relatively simple Excel), but after school, my friends from my Kumi threw me a Welcome Party.  It was very very nice; we just hung out, ate snacks and drank drinks, and told jokes, played games, etc.  My friends also had a Cultural-Understanding/World-Heritage club they wanted me to go to, but since I had to go home by 5:00, I will probably go next meeting.  We have also decided we will go to the beach and karaoke sometime while I am here. Continue reading

Tues 6/19

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Conbanwa!  Today and last night were both quite exciting!  Last night, after a coincidentally Indian meal (Okaasan made some fabulous Curry Rice, which truly tasted Indian, and I made Otousan and Okaasan Chai), we all got together and played cards (after the grandchildren`s English lessons.)  First, we played Trump, which is basically Old Maid.  Afterwards, we played a a memory game, where all the cards are spread out over the table, and you have to flip two over, and if they are a match you get to keep them.  Afterwards, we played a traditional Japanese card game called `Ogura Hyaku Nin Isshu`, in which there was a large pile of cards in the middle and we drew and different cards had different meanings.  Then, we played a game called `Karuta` where Okaasan would read a saying and we had to find the card with the matching Hiragana and picture, and slap it first.  Whoever slapped it first got the card.  Both the games were extremely fun. Continue reading

Mon June 18 — VERY LONG POST!

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Today was a very exciting day.  I woke up at 6:00, to roaring winds outside of the house because of the typhoon that is supposed to come tonight.  I ate a very nice breakfast of sandwiches and soup (very similar to Baa`s curry,) and then wore my uniform and got ready for school.  We were running kind of late (we had to arrive at 7:00, 30 minutes before school started, for a small orientation,) so Otousan dropped Okaasan and I off right in front of the school.  I met the principal, vice principal, and the other YFU student who was attending the high school, and they basically introduced us to the school and took us to our classes.  The vice principal told us that at 8:30 we would have to give a small speech/introduction in front of all the teachers. Continue reading

Sun June 17

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Today was truly a day of art and history.  After waking up and having breakfast, Otousan and Okaasan took me to ShurijoCastle, one of the greatest castles in Okinawa.  It used to be the main castle of the Ryukyu Kingdom(500 years ago) and has apparently recently become a national heritage castle.  The castle was beautiful.  There were multiple gates, and well as a huge central throne room.  I noticed that as people came to the gates the stepped over a huge wooden block, not on it and then over.  That was when I realized those were the thresholds of the castle, and in Japanese culture it is rude to step on the threshold of any house, castle, etc. Continue reading

Update

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in my host family`s house, pretty fun, rly humid here, am trying to speak mainly in japanese, wrote a longer post on my itouch so will upload whenever i get wifi.

meanwhile i kinda feel lik me english is getting worse, and will probablt continue to.

kk, bye!

Tokyo Hotel Posts

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Thurs June 14 9:19 PM:

Okay so since this is my first legit post from Japan I am going to theme it around Japanese bathrooms, which I am sure everyone is interested in. This post actually goes along with a set of pictures I took, so hopefully the Blogger App lets me upload them.

Anyway, we are in the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. It is an amazing hotel — has 20+ floors (will post the exact number in the continuation of this post I will write tomorrow, as well as whether there is a 4th floor,) a HUGE lobby (Amma and Nelly, it is about twice the size of the hotel we went to with Anish Kaka,) and very nice rooms. I have two roommates, both of whom are fine… Continue reading

Fri June 15

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Fri June 15 5:20 PM:

So, the trips to YFU’s main office and the US embassy were pretty nice . The YFU board members were so nice and genuinely interested in us, it was really great. I had long conversations with two of them in a combination of Japanese and English. It was really nice. The lunch, though, had no vegetarian entrees except for Soba noodles.

The trip to the US Embassy was very nice and interesting, though it did seem like they really really wanted to recruit us into the foreign services. Nevertheless, it was interesting to hear all their stories. 🙂 Continue reading

Hi from Japan!

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In Tokyo Narita Airport xD flight was fine, I slept enough, food was absolutely horrible, had Amma’s theplas, was somehow able to navigate all the terms and conditions and such (based on whatever little Japanese I knew and my world knowledge of connecting to wifi in foreign places) and connected to Internet.

Bye xD

6/13 – 6/14 (On Plane)

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こんにちは! 今飛行機にいます。成田から五時間ぐらいかかります。とても興奮しています。東京に二日間住んでいます。それで、金曜日に大使や大使館に行きます。飛行機の食べ物はとて目良くありませんでした。たったおいしくないやさいとご飯がありました。でも、母のテェプレはいても美味しかったです。ありがとう!

Hey Guys!

I’m in the plane right now, heading to Narita. Not sure what the time is, but we are about to cross the International Date Line. The plane food was terrible. There was only plain string beans, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and rice with absolutely no flavoring. Luckily, there were Amma’s theplas, of which I had one (the one with Nani’s mirchi ka achaar in it.) It was great! Thank you! Continue reading

Monday 6/11

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Mon 12/11 10:18

It’s past lights out and I really shouldn’t be doing this but based on our Greece trip I know the terrible consequences of getting behind on journal writing, soo…

First of all, my muscles are quite sore (1 leg and 1 arm.). I have walked up sooooo many stairs today it is not even funny. Imagine the London Underground times 20. And then my hand is sore from Taiko Drumming tonight (interestingly enough, I realized my left hand, my violin playing hand, is much less loose than my right hand. I guess I understand what Didi meant when she said loosen up, though I still don’t know how it’s done.). I will probably eat milk (w/ cereal) and bananas tomorrow for breakfast to help the soreness and prevent cramping. It’s really minor, butttttt… Continue reading

Sunday 6/10

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Got free wifi on the bus!

Sun 12/10 9:48 PM

In UC Berkeley, have no WiFi access so I guess I’ll upload these posts when I get it (not for the next 4 days in the least.)

So, today was quite fun, after saying bye (which, although I didn’t think much of it then, I know I’ll miss my family multiple times in the homestay,) we separated into our Kumis (組), which means “group” in Japanese. I was in the White Kumi and our group Alumini and Sensei (先生) seem like very cool people. We ate dinner, which was not as bad as Dadda made it seem (I had Marinara Pasta, some Chickpea rice, a watermelon, and zucchini, because after the fabulous late lunch at Viks I did not have much of an appetite.). We then came back and headed up to the classroom, where we played a name game (each person says name of everybody before them and then their name, kind of like In My Grandmas Purse) and then played a fun “Common Ground” game, where we stated something and whoever it applied to had to get up and find another empty seat other than their own and the two adjacent one’s. One without a seat has to say the next common ground.). Then we had free time, so we just socialized (lo and behold, conversation was about SAT and college admissions — and I was not even the one who started it!). Then we went down, got introduced to the staff members, and had a slideshow about Exploring Japan. Continue reading

Update From YFU Orientation

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Hey Guys,So, I have finally got ahold of a public computer, so I guess I’ll make a short post here — I have written 2 notes on my iTouch (for day before yesterday and yesterday) which I’ll upload whenever I have wifi, so this may be slightly unchronological!  (I’ll try to include dates on the entries not in order.) Continue reading

Hello World!

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So, I’m not sure how blogs are usually run, but I would like to start mine off by stating my goals and visions for this blog.  For those who don’t know, I am going to Japan this summer, on a YFU scholarship.  I’ll be in Naha-Shi, the capital of Okinawa, and attending Naha Kokusai High School.  So, as you may expect, my first and foremost goal for this blog is to log my experiences in Japan (given WiFi access.)  Hopefully, as I go through my 6 week stay in Japan, my blog entries will begin to be in Japanese (I’ll try to translate into English!)  😀

Once I come back, I intend to continue my blog by posting my views on controversial world (or local) issues, posts related to my hobbies (baking, crocheting, woodworking, etc.), and other travel experiences.  So, keep checking back on “The World Through A Looking Glass.”

I would also like those I have given the link of this blog to to not give it out to too many other, random people.  While it is a public blog, I would like to limit the viewers to friends, family, and maybe other people who “discover” my blog and are genuinely interested in it.

Enjoy!!!