Lilien

JUNE 15

Oh man, where do I even begin? It still feel like some elaborate day dream I thought up during one of my many 'zone out' sessions. I am excited and nervous to say the least. I feel like I can't pack any more and that I haven't packed enough. With each hour ticking by I try to comprehend how real this is all becoming. Honestly, I don't think I will even be able to give a good clear emotion until the moment we step on to the plane

JUNE 17 First Night

Well, it's really real now. It didn't really hit me until last night when a Japanese waiter began speaking to me in Japanese... Then I kinda woke up and realized this is no longer a day dream and I need to start speaking this language I've been learning for four years.

What has really thrown me off the most so far is this amazing consolidation method they have here in Tokyo. All of the buildings are so close to each other you could reach out and touch the next building with out any effort. Everything is so compact and closely knit. I can understand why it is one of the most heavily populated cities. 

I am so excited to explore this unusual and awesome city. I'm ready to see why it's one of the fashion capitals of the world. 

JUNE 18

I have never walked so much in my whole life before today, nor have I ever sweat so much.. Today was our all-over-Tokyo-day and we really did go all over Tokyo.

Meiji shrine was an incedibly beautiful place. Even though it was insanely hot seeing the iris garden was so worth it, plus it was mostly in the shade so it was doable. 

In Harajuku I got to go to lunch with Troyer and his host family from last summer. I got to use some of my Japanese language skills and even a bit of my Swedish language skills with their newest host student. To top the night off we went to a building where were able to see pretty much all of Tokyo all lit up. 

This was single handedly the longest day of my life. I'm still not entirely sure it was only one day... Our Sensei might be some kind of time lord.. More tests are needed.

JUNE 19 

Today, luckily, wasn't nearly as intense as yesterday. We spent the day time in Ueno which is such a beautiful park. We went to the national museum and saw some amazing peices.

Lunch was an awesome experience. We ate in this little restaurant that seemed to come out of no where. Everything was so compact and market style I was amazed that there was room for a table and chairs. To describe this a little better, imagine a window that you walk up to and order your food, you stand there and wait a bit as they make it, you grab it, pay, and go. Ok, now imagine that little window had a little awning and two little tables pushed up against the window with little stools around it. That's basically what this place was like. It was cramped, but great. 

We then went to the Ueno Zoo. I am waiting for my next chance to go back. This place was awesome. It was so nicely set up, so exhibits could have been better, but at least the animals looked relatively happy. The highlight of all the animals had to be the panda, of course. It was like seeing an enlarged stuffed toy moving by its own free will. I just wanted to snuggle with it forever. 

We ended this also extremely long day by going up the second highest building in the world, the Tokyo Sky Tree. It was like being on top of the Handcock building, but more crouded and, well, a very different city. 

Although it wasn't as long as yesterday I still can't believe how much we stuffed into one day. How Sensei is doing this is still a mystery. 

JUNE 20 

Today we bid adieu to Tokyo and got on a train to Nikko. On the train Victoria and I sat with a very sweet elderly couple. We got to tell them about Chicago and ETHS and practice telling our photo books. They shared their bean paste snacks with us so we gave them so Starbursts. Their reactions we priceless. They didn't quite know wether to chew, suck, or take bites of this new American candy. 

Once we arrived I was blown away by how beautiful and peaceful Nikko was. To my knowledge I have never seen mountains up close in person before, or at least not that I could remember. Team Momo ( Victoria, Kiron, Brianna, and myself) all ventured out to find lunch and we stumbled upon the mother of all food stores. We bought some of the most amazing food I have ever had for so cheap! We decided to keep it out secret place. 

After stuffing our faces we went to some amazing temples. Though it was foggy and rainy it weather could not have been more perfect. It totally set the stage for some awesome photos of these stunning buildings. 

I can't wait to go over all of these photos. 

Sensei then took us on a rather spooky ghost walk after we attempted to eat what the Japanese thought was American food. We got turned away by some creepy bird and then later that night noticed one of us caught some old lady's voice in a video... OoooOooooOOOoOoO

JUNE 21

Today we went to Edo Wonderland, or otherwise known as the most epic place EVER! I try to not use the word due to it's over usage, but this place was epic. It was like going to the renaissance fair, but with no weird white people in costumes and ninja themed. 

Everyone was in character and costumes which was great. I was able to get quite a few gifts so my list is finally starting to go down. Some highlights were seeing this ninja show which was nothing, but extreme epicness. I wish I could have filmed it. We also went into the Tilted House which is so hard to explain other than it really messes with your mind. Basically it was a house that was completely slanted and you have to try and walk through it. It was major trippy. Pictures only work so well because it just looks like everything is at an angle. It's one of those things you just have to see to understand. I plan to start building one soon.

After that we went to another place that was just as bazzar and awesome. We went to Tobu World Square which houses a vast majority of the worlds most famous buildings, but in miniatures. The amount if detail going into each and every peice was just astounding. I made sure to buy a book because my photos will only do so well. I ended up getting very lost in it and noticed that I was all alone in little China... That was defiantly an odd experience. 

After finding everything and getting over my panic that they all left me we headed back home and had dinner at a ramen shop. All in all a pretty successful day I must say. 

JUNE 22

 

Today we woke up bright and early to the promise of a nice three hour hike- though knowing Sensei it was a nice three hour hike X10.

We first started off by taking one of thoes sky trolley things up to the top of a mountain where there was a nice landing to take pictures. The view was breathtaking. We then engaged in this new Japan craze photo challenge. Basically we all had to jump back from Sensei makin it look like he was pushing us away with his strange Sensei powers (which we're still investigating). I'm sure he'll put them up. You gotta see it to really understand it. 

We then ventured to our hike which was really nice. We walked through a national park and me and the Senseis fell behind the group do to 'photographers syndrome'. 

We then proceeded to take this 'three hour hike' and turned it into a 'six hour hike' ... Up a mountain... Yeah. Don't tell me 'Oh well you've never hiked up a mountain', oh well yeah I have. Boom.

I'm rather proud of myself too. I also managed to keep my patic attack to a minimum because we were really high up and on top a smelly waterfall.

We then took an awfully twisty and fast bus ride down the steep mountain. My stomach finally was like ' you know what? I quit'. Thus I was confined to my bed the better part of the night. 

JUNE 23 

As I awoke to a super upset stomach we had to rush out to catch our train. We said 'So long' to Nikko and all of its spooky beauty and headed off to Hiraizumi. 

Before this trip I had heard so much about the Shinkansen or the bullet train, but really the only accurate way to explain what it's like riding a bullet train is to say, think of how an airplane feels right as its taking off. You can feel how fast it's going, plus your ears are popping, and it's all shaky. That's what riding a bullet train was like. Two hours of that. And yes, my ears were popping too. I'm sure there is some logical physics explaintion why my ears were popping the whole time even though I'm pretty sure we stayed at the same altitude the whole time, but regardless, that part wasn't too fun. Otherwise it was a nice ride and a cool thing to say that I did. 

Much like Nikko, Hiraizumi is very mountainous and fairly quiet which is nice. The ryokan we are stating in is very nice and very traditional. 

After getting settled in we went to an ancient park where we got to take some time to just chill and relax. I found a nice place next to a stream in the shade and just took sometime to reflect and be in my own world for a bit. It was really nice and I think we all needed it. I feel like the majority of us are starting to get a little homesick. As much as I don't want to admit it I certainly am. I miss my cat. I just wanna snuggle with my kitty on my big American bed. It's going to be so great going to bed knowing my cat is snuggled up by my feet or on my lap. That and pizza. Man, I never thought I would miss it so much... I really miss pizza.. Pizza so great.. 

Oh yeah, and I miss my friends and family too.. They're great too.

JUNE 24 

There isn't too much to write home about today. I wasn't feeling too well so I ended up stating in the ryokan and caught up on some much needed sleep. I got to Skype with some past Japanese students and trippers and talk to a lot of my friends for more than the usual 5 min, which I think I really needed. It was nice to be able to talk to some native English speakers again. 

I'm somewhat glad I stayed in today though. It's was extremely humid and they did a fair amount of hiking, but I have my camera to Taylor and Victoria so I was still able to see what they did. 

I also got to play with one of the cats in the building which was great. I have seen more cats than squirrels here which is awesome. I know my friend Liza would be in heaven here. 

I still can't believe how much we have done already and we are so close to the homestay. This is all gong by so fast and yet not fast enough... How does Sensei do it?! This man has mastered some kind of magic that the rest of the world isn't ready for yet. 

JUNE 25

So of course on our very last day of sightseeing my body decides "you know what? You will have no fun today!" And boom, blasted me with a stomach ache which lead me to be rather sick in the middle of the most well preserved samurai town. I'm totally fine now though, for all of your lovely caring people. It was the combination of the heat, the strenuous activity, and many other things I'm sure. After sucking down a bunch of Japanese cider ( which I'm really going to miss) I finally started feeling better so I could enjoy the rest of the day. A lot of it was spent sitting in a beautiful garden surrounded by many amazing old buildings; which helped quite a bit. 

After that it was time for one last meal at the ryokan, which of course, was the kind of food I had actually been craving for so long. The food gods are still after my soul, clearly. 

Tomorrow I get to meet my host family and see my friends again. I'm extremely nervous because this is going to be the biggest Japanese test of my life, but I am also so excited. My host sister, Satoe, is so much fun and we got along so well when she was in Chicago. I'm sure we'll have a blast. 

"Have a blast"... Does anyone even say that anymore? Man, I'm getting old.

JUNE 26

Oh my gosh Satoe and her family are so great!!! Her mother doesn't speak a whole lot of English and because of that I fear she might be a little nervous around me. This is a perfect opportunity for me to bust out my language skills and hopefully ease her nerves a bit. I meet her sister today too. She is really fun and energetic. She came to Chicago three years ago and went to GBS for some odd reason ( I think ETHS couldn't take as many students as KJ wanted to send). It was great talking to her about the places she and Satoe went to in Chicago. 

Dinner was awesome. We had some kind of fish dinner with lots of onions. The food at all of e other places we stayed at were nice, but nothing compared to this. There is noting like a home-cooked-meal. 

Ok well, I'm extremely tired and have to mentally prepare myself for school again.. Man, that feels so weird. 

 

JUNE 27

It feels so wrong being a student again, let alone a foreign student. I am so used to the KJ students coming to our school and our homes and being the foreigners. I could never imagine it any other way. But now it is turned around completely. It's exactly the opposite. They are in their element and we are so out of ours. Or I am at least. I can't speak for everyone. I am having tons of fun meeting loads of new people who want nothing, but to test out their English with me and seeing old friends, but it all just feels so surreal. 

I have never felt like such a foreigner before. I've always been just another white girl or another American, but here they are actually interested in what I can and cannot do and have so many questions for me. It's really really great, but mind boggling all at the same time. When we were sight seeing our group would often get some long drawn out stares and a lot of the time a friendly 'hello' or wave, but at KJ all of the students want nothing more than to engage with us. 

Ok. Enough about how I'm a stranger in a strange land and more on what we actually did and what I bought. So, when we first arrived it was like a celebrity landing in a small town. Everyone was so excited to get a glimpse at the strange Americans. We then went into a meeting room where all if us Americans gathered and shared the stories of the first night with our host family. We then proceeded into the welcome ceremony which was just so odd. Basically we walked across the stage and sat down in front of all 400+ students in KJ, 'sang' our national anthem ( which almost none of us know) and then Victoria gave an amazing speech to all of the students and staff. Oh, and sensei gave a speech too. We were then presented with a special KJ gift and then headed back to our meeting room. 

After that, we had a presentation by the unesco club about all of the cool things about KJ. Shiori, my student who stayed with us in March was one of the presenters, so I got to see her again. It was so great seeing her, she just the sweetest person ever. We then got to attend classes with our host student. I sat in on a Japanese class, Chemistry, and English class and then it was time for lunch. My host mother made me hands down the most adorable lunch I have ever had. She made me little onigiri in the shape of a little bear and bunny face and some eggs in the shape of a heart. You can be having the worst day of your life, but if you have launch packed by this woman, you can't not help, but smile. I almost felt too bad to eat it.. Almost. 

After lunch we went to go practice our presentations and then an INSANE jump rope competition with all of the second years ( our host buddies are all second years- I believe). Now, for those of you who don't know, I have absolutely no sense on rhythm. I never really had and probably never really will. Jumping rope, and keeping a beat are hardly my forte. I think that's probably why I surround myself with musicians so that they can make up for what I'm lacking. Anywhosesls, we basically we we're in four teams total with probably about 20-30 students each. We then split into two slightly smaller groups from there within our teams. Each team had to all jump rope together in unison. The overall group that got the highest number won the whole competition. My team specifically got all the way up to 6 thanks to me and my awesome timing. The other half of our team got up to 14 I think. The winning team got something in the 30s, but who's keeping track. 

After the intense competition we went back to our meeting room to chill out for a bit whilst the students did their usual after school cleaning. We then went to tea ceremony club. We got to eat a nice little tea sweet and then made some traditional Japanese green tea. Then it was finally time to go home. Satoe and I ride the Shinkansen to and from school everyday which is cool. It's a little like riding a small airplane to and from school everyday. When we got back, Satoe and I changed, dropped off our huge backpacks and went out shopping with her mother. We were on a mission to find me some 'engrish' shirts. For those who don't know what that is, it's when the Japanese have tee shirts or bags or hats or what have you, it's English writing on them, but what they say doesn't quite make a lot of sense. I had to much fun translating the shirts for my host mother and Satoe. We were also quite successful in finding some. I am very pleased with my purchases. 

Before another awesome meal, I passed out presents. I got to tell them all about Hecky and how to use the seasoning ( my host mother was especially excited). We had some Florentines and and Hiraizumi cookies. They really loved the Florentines. We all looked through the Chicago picture book together and talked about where the two sister had been and what they remembered. It was a ton of fun and a great bonding experience. 

JUNE 28

Today was my second day at KJ and I got to shadow Shiori, the student who stayed with me in March. It was so great spending time together again. Today was really like an in depth school experience day. I spent almost the whole day in class with Shiori. We had math, chemistry, physics, and traditional Japanese ( it's almost what Elizabethan is to our English). The Japanese class was really interesting. They started off the class with telling a story which I still don't understand at all. There was something about rice wine and drawing a snake.. I'm really not too sure. The 'English' translation looked like it was pulled straight from google translate. None the less, it was still enjoyable. 

Closer to the end of the day we spent some time with the first years ( who, they called 'first graders' on our sheet so we all thought we were working with little kids). On July 7th in Japan there is something called the Star Festival. I'm not 100% on it's meaning, but I know there is a story with a couple finding each other through the stars. So after a little introduction in our groups we then folded paper cranes together and then made our wishes. Basically what you do for the star festival is you write down a wish on a piece of paper and then hang it on a bamboo tree. The JK students had to write their wishes in English and we had to write ours in Japanese. They all helped my translate mine correctly and I helped them translate theirs correctly. I'm really proud of myself for being able to explain why certain things were wrong and others were right. I was a little surprised too. 

After that we walked to a nearby ice cream shop called Yummy and it was actually pretty yummy. They had some really interesting favors like 'Fresh Milk', 'Pineapple', 'Blackberry', 'Wine', 'Banana Chocolate', and some others that I can't remember. We got to pick two different favors so I got 'Chocolate Chip Chocolate' and 'Strawberry and Oreo'. The chocolate was great, and so was the strawberry, but it didn't really taste a whole lot like strawberry and Oreos. On our way back we fond some baby frogs. I picked one up and was able to snap a few quick pictures before it hopped off. It was so cute! I don't think I've ever seen a frog that small before in the wild. It was a little smaller than a quarter I think. I dunno, I got pictures which I'll put on Facebook as soon as I can. 

Once we returned and met up with our students Yokota sensei and VK sensei thought it would be a great idea to try the jumping picture again with our students and one of the KJ teachers, who comes to Chicago with the students, in the middle. There was a really dramatically dark sky out and we were in front of a bunch of mountains so I'm sure it turned out really cool. 

After we left school a bunch of us hopped on a train to go to Nagaoka for dinner. We ate at this place where there is this grill in the middle of the table and you order bowls of food which you then splat onto the grill and cook up. It was awesome and the food was so good. I tried octopus for the first time lady night, but I'm still not too sure if I liked it or not. It had a bunch of sauce on it so I don't know ow much of it I was actually tasting. It was tons of fun cooking up the food in front of us and our students did an awesome job. They ordered everything and cooked it all up whilst we all just stared in amazement and cheered them on. 

It was such a great night and tomorrow we are going bowling! I have challenged Troyer to a bowling tournament, even though neither of us can bowl well. I'm having such a great time here and my host family is awesome. It's hard to believe that I've only got a few more days left. 

Oh and to all my friends in Evanston, Satoe and I have been playing an intense game of 'Yellow Car'. First Niigata, next the world. Soon. 

JUNE 29 

Even though sensei didn't join us on our adventure today, it was defiantly a 'sensei' kind of day. We did a lot in a fairly small amount of time, again. 

Today we started off by waiting around in the meeting room until our bus arrived. We then took a nice long bus ride to this tiny noodle shop. With the help of the store owners we learned how to make soba noodles. We made the dough, rolled it out and used this massive axe to cut these wee noodles. It was so much fun, and then we got to eat our noodles after. They tasted great, but that probably because we had help and weren't just winging it. Although a lot of the noodles were kind of oddly cut so we had some very thick ones and some very thing ones. Generally speaking these noodles are supposed to be fairly thin. 

After stuffing our faces we went off to a very traditional ryogan- no not ryokan, like the one we stayed in in Hiraizumi, but a ryogan. They are both hotels of sorts, but the ryogan is much more high end. There are other differences too, but if I explain all of that then this blog won't be about my day and just about Japanese hotels. So, the whole point of going to this place was to wear traditional style kimonos and get strapped into them by people who actually know what they are doing. Once we were laced into the kimonos we got to walk about this amazing garden and take pictures. You'll see when they get on Facebook. 

When we were untied it was back to the bus for more fun. We then went to a shopping center with various shops. We went to a mall, basically, but it was more like a strip mall with all of the stores lined up next to each other. Troyer, Taylor, Kiron, Natasha, and I all headed straight for the 'purikura' station. For those who don't know the wonders of 'purikura'.. Um.. Stop reading for a minute and Google it. There's no easy way to explain it, but it's all the rage in Japan. I'll post those pictures up soon too. After turning in to anime characters, we then went to a shop called 'Amerika' which had 'American clothing'. It was very odd.. The clothing was very Japanese though, including the Levi's, which are so much more expensive here. We then hit the resale shops and then went back to school to meet up with our students. 

After telling our host buddies all about our day we all hopped on a train to nagaoka for bowling. Bowling was great and I sucked as usual, but it was still fun. The bowling room was on the bottle level of a department store which I thought was rather interesting. So after about three hours of gutter balls it was time to pack it in. Satoe and I met up with her mother in Niigata and went out for sushi. Now, I don't need to say this, but I'm going to anyway. The sushi here is unbelievable. I actually really liked it. Usually I'm kinda iffy about certain kinds, but here everything is so great and it's so cheap!! We had so much sushi between the three of us and the bill was less that $20. I still can't get over that. And everything was on a conveyer belt which was so much fun to watch. 

We then returned home and had some really fresh fruit for desert. Japanese peaches are nothing like American peaches. Everything is so ripe and fresh and not artificial. I'm really going to miss that. Today was great and I'm so excited to get back so I can upload all 4,000+ photos! 

JUNE 25

So of course on our very last day of sightseeing my body decides "you know what? You will have no fun today!" And boom, blasted me with a stomach ache which lead me to be rather sick in the middle of the most well preserved samurai town. I'm totally fine now though, for all of your lovely caring people. It was the combination of the heat, the strenuous activity, and many other things I'm sure. After sucking down a bunch of Japanese cider ( which I'm really going to miss) I finally started feeling better so I could enjoy the rest of the day. A lot of it was spent sitting in a beautiful garden surrounded by many amazing old buildings; which helped quite a bit. 

After that it was time for one last meal at the ryokan, which of course, was the kind of food I had actually been craving for so long. The food gods are still after my soul, clearly. 

Tomorrow I get to meet my host family and see my friends again. I'm extremely nervous because this is going to be the biggest Japanese test of my life, but I am also so excited. My host sister, Satoe, is so much fun and we got along so well when she was in Chicago. I'm sure we'll have a blast. 

"Have a blast"... Does anyone even say that anymore? Man, I'm getting old.

JUNE 26

Oh my gosh Satoe and her family are so great!!! Her mother doesn't speak a whole lot of English and because of that I fear she might be a little nervous around me. This is a perfect opportunity for me to bust out my language skills and hopefully ease her nerves a bit. I meet her sister today too. She is really fun and energetic. She came to Chicago three years ago and went to GBS for some odd reason ( I think ETHS couldn't take as many students as KJ wanted to send). It was great talking to her about the places she and Satoe went to in Chicago. 

Dinner was awesome. We had some kind of fish dinner with lots of onions. The food at all of e other places we stayed at were nice, but nothing compared to this. There is noting like a home-cooked-meal. 

Ok well, I'm extremely tired and have to mentally prepare myself for school again.. Man, that feels so weird. 

 

JUNE 27

It feels so wrong being a student again, let alone a foreign student. I am so used to the KJ students coming to our school and our homes and being the foreigners. I could never imagine it any other way. But now it is turned around completely. It's exactly the opposite. They are in their element and we are so out of ours. Or I am at least. I can't speak for everyone. I am having tons of fun meeting loads of new people who want nothing, but to test out their English with me and seeing old friends, but it all just feels so surreal. 

I have never felt like such a foreigner before. I've always been just another white girl or another American, but here they are actually interested in what I can and cannot do and have so many questions for me. It's really really great, but mind boggling all at the same time. When we were sight seeing our group would often get some long drawn out stares and a lot of the time a friendly 'hello' or wave, but at KJ all of the students want nothing more than to engage with us. 

Ok. Enough about how I'm a stranger in a strange land and more on what we actually did and what I bought. So, when we first arrived it was like a celebrity landing in a small town. Everyone was so excited to get a glimpse at the strange Americans. We then went into a meeting room where all if us Americans gathered and shared the stories of the first night with our host family. We then proceeded into the welcome ceremony which was just so odd. Basically we walked across the stage and sat down in front of all 400+ students in KJ, 'sang' our national anthem ( which almost none of us know) and then Victoria gave an amazing speech to all of the students and staff. Oh, and sensei gave a speech too. We were then presented with a special KJ gift and then headed back to our meeting room. 

After that, we had a presentation by the unesco club about all of the cool things about KJ. Shiori, my student who stayed with us in March was one of the presenters, so I got to see her again. It was so great seeing her, she just the sweetest person ever. We then got to attend classes with our host student. I sat in on a Japanese class, Chemistry, and English class and then it was time for lunch. My host mother made me hands down the most adorable lunch I have ever had. She made me little onigiri in the shape of a little bear and bunny face and some eggs in the shape of a heart. You can be having the worst day of your life, but if you have launch packed by this woman, you can't not help, but smile. I almost felt too bad to eat it.. Almost. 

After lunch we went to go practice our presentations and then an INSANE jump rope competition with all of the second years ( our host buddies are all second years- I believe). Now, for those of you who don't know, I have absolutely no sense on rhythm. I never really had and probably never really will. Jumping rope, and keeping a beat are hardly my forte. I think that's probably why I surround myself with musicians so that they can make up for what I'm lacking. Anywhosesls, we basically we we're in four teams total with probably about 20-30 students each. We then split into two slightly smaller groups from there within our teams. Each team had to all jump rope together in unison. The overall group that got the highest number won the whole competition. My team specifically got all the way up to 6 thanks to me and my awesome timing. The other half of our team got up to 14 I think. The winning team got something in the 30s, but who's keeping track. 

After the intense competition we went back to our meeting room to chill out for a bit whilst the students did their usual after school cleaning. We then went to tea ceremony club. We got to eat a nice little tea sweet and then made some traditional Japanese green tea. Then it was finally time to go home. Satoe and I ride the Shinkansen to and from school everyday which is cool. It's a little like riding a small airplane to and from school everyday. When we got back, Satoe and I changed, dropped off our huge backpacks and went out shopping with her mother. We were on a mission to find me some 'engrish' shirts. For those who don't know what that is, it's when the Japanese have tee shirts or bags or hats or what have you, it's English writing on them, but what they say doesn't quite make a lot of sense. I had to much fun translating the shirts for my host mother and Satoe. We were also quite successful in finding some. I am very pleased with my purchases. 

Before another awesome meal, I passed out presents. I got to tell them all about Hecky and how to use the seasoning ( my host mother was especially excited). We had some Florentines and and Hiraizumi cookies. They really loved the Florentines. We all looked through the Chicago picture book together and talked about where the two sister had been and what they remembered. It was a ton of fun and a great bonding experience. 

JUNE 28

Today was my second day at KJ and I got to shadow Shiori, the student who stayed with me in March. It was so great spending time together again. Today was really like an in depth school experience day. I spent almost the whole day in class with Shiori. We had math, chemistry, physics, and traditional Japanese ( it's almost what Elizabethan is to our English). The Japanese class was really interesting. They started off the class with telling a story which I still don't understand at all. There was something about rice wine and drawing a snake.. I'm really not too sure. The 'English' translation looked like it was pulled straight from google translate. None the less, it was still enjoyable. 

Closer to the end of the day we spent some time with the first years ( who, they called 'first graders' on our sheet so we all thought we were working with little kids). On July 7th in Japan there is something called the Star Festival. I'm not 100% on it's meaning, but I know there is a story with a couple finding each other through the stars. So after a little introduction in our groups we then folded paper cranes together and then made our wishes. Basically what you do for the star festival is you write down a wish on a piece of paper and then hang it on a bamboo tree. The JK students had to write their wishes in English and we had to write ours in Japanese. They all helped my translate mine correctly and I helped them translate theirs correctly. I'm really proud of myself for being able to explain why certain things were wrong and others were right. I was a little surprised too. 

After that we walked to a nearby ice cream shop called Yummy and it was actually pretty yummy. They had some really interesting favors like 'Fresh Milk', 'Pineapple', 'Blackberry', 'Wine', 'Banana Chocolate', and some others that I can't remember. We got to pick two different favors so I got 'Chocolate Chip Chocolate' and 'Strawberry and Oreo'. The chocolate was great, and so was the strawberry, but it didn't really taste a whole lot like strawberry and Oreos. On our way back we fond some baby frogs. I picked one up and was able to snap a few quick pictures before it hopped off. It was so cute! I don't think I've ever seen a frog that small before in the wild. It was a little smaller than a quarter I think. I dunno, I got pictures which I'll put on Facebook as soon as I can. 

Once we returned and met up with our students Yokota sensei and VK sensei thought it would be a great idea to try the jumping picture again with our students and one of the KJ teachers, who comes to Chicago with the students, in the middle. There was a really dramatically dark sky out and we were in front of a bunch of mountains so I'm sure it turned out really cool. 

After we left school a bunch of us hopped on a train to go to Nagaoka for dinner. We ate at this place where there is this grill in the middle of the table and you order bowls of food which you then splat onto the grill and cook up. It was awesome and the food was so good. I tried octopus for the first time lady night, but I'm still not too sure if I liked it or not. It had a bunch of sauce on it so I don't know ow much of it I was actually tasting. It was tons of fun cooking up the food in front of us and our students did an awesome job. They ordered everything and cooked it all up whilst we all just stared in amazement and cheered them on. 

It was such a great night and tomorrow we are going bowling! I have challenged Troyer to a bowling tournament, even though neither of us can bowl well. I'm having such a great time here and my host family is awesome. It's hard to believe that I've only got a few more days left. 

Oh and to all my friends in Evanston, Satoe and I have been playing an intense game of 'Yellow Car'. First Niigata, next the world. Soon. 

JUNE 29 

Even though sensei didn't join us on our adventure today, it was defiantly a 'sensei' kind of day. We did a lot in a fairly small amount of time, again. 

Today we started off by waiting around in the meeting room until our bus arrived. We then took a nice long bus ride to this tiny noodle shop. With the help of the store owners we learned how to make soba noodles. We made the dough, rolled it out and used this massive axe to cut these wee noodles. It was so much fun, and then we got to eat our noodles after. They tasted great, but that probably because we had help and weren't just winging it. Although a lot of the noodles were kind of oddly cut so we had some very thick ones and some very thing ones. Generally speaking these noodles are supposed to be fairly thin. 

After stuffing our faces we went off to a very traditional ryogan- no not ryokan, like the one we stayed in in Hiraizumi, but a ryogan. They are both hotels of sorts, but the ryogan is much more high end. There are other differences too, but if I explain all of that then this blog won't be about my day and just about Japanese hotels. So, the whole point of going to this place was to wear traditional style kimonos and get strapped into them by people who actually know what they are doing. Once we were laced into the kimonos we got to walk about this amazing garden and take pictures. You'll see when they get on Facebook. 

When we were untied it was back to the bus for more fun. We then went to a shopping center with various shops. We went to a mall, basically, but it was more like a strip mall with all of the stores lined up next to each other. Troyer, Taylor, Kiron, Natasha, and I all headed straight for the 'purikura' station. For those who don't know the wonders of 'purikura'.. Um.. Stop reading for a minute and Google it. There's no easy way to explain it, but it's all the rage in Japan. I'll post those pictures up soon too. After turning in to anime characters, we then went to a shop called 'Amerika' which had 'American clothing'. It was very odd.. The clothing was very Japanese though, including the Levi's, which are so much more expensive here. We then hit the resale shops and then went back to school to meet up with our students. 

After telling our host buddies all about our day we all hopped on a train to nagaoka for bowling. Bowling was great and I sucked as usual, but it was still fun. The bowling room was on the bottle level of a department store which I thought was rather interesting. So after about three hours of gutter balls it was time to pack it in. Satoe and I met up with her mother in Niigata and went out for sushi. Now, I don't need to say this, but I'm going to anyway. The sushi here is unbelievable. I actually really liked it. Usually I'm kinda iffy about certain kinds, but here everything is so great and it's so cheap!! We had so much sushi between the three of us and the bill was less that $20. I still can't get over that. And everything was on a conveyer belt which was so much fun to watch. 

We then returned home and had some really fresh fruit for desert. Japanese peaches are nothing like American peaches. Everything is so ripe and fresh and not artificial. I'm really going to miss that. Today was great and I'm so excited to get back so I can upload all 4,000+ photos!