Well it's certainly been a while. It seems I'm not really good at this whole blog thing as I'm far too dedicated a student to really take the half hour to write a blogpost. (yes, excuses. darn right!) I haven't even uploaded my photos from September.
Major things that have happened/ that I have learned so far:
1) I have been to Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. Kyoto is about 45 minutes away, and only about 400Y to get there, Osaka is about half an hour but costs about the same. Nara was about an hour and twenty minutes but cost more to get there as it's a much longer distance. Some of my trips have been for classes and some have been for myself.
2) I have seen Noh, Kyogen, and Bunraku preformed live so far. This Wednesday I am going to Kabuki. All of these courses were actually for one of my classes which I highly recommend Love, Sex, and Death in Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku although the title is misleading as there is not much content for any of the three keywords I find. Also, if you do not enjoy writing reports I would unfortunately suggest avoiding this course as well, after every play there is a 3-4 page report expected, and the term project is a group project or a 20 page essay.
3) I have learned the most important verb. 道を迷う-みちをまよう-michi o mayou. Which means I am lost. It cconjugates in the U-verb form. My second most important phrase would probably be おなかがすいて which means I'm hungry.
4) I have joined the tea ceremony club. We practice for 6-8 hours a week on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, the teacher visits on Wednesdays. At first this club was very dull as it moved at a zen-like pace, and due to the upcoming school festival the other girls in the club were only using me to practice on. Now I have started to learn things, however I do forget them between meetings. The women are wonderful though and very patient even with a strong language barrier.
Tea ceremony along with koto playing, and ikebana flower arranging compose the basic tennants of a "proper" lady by traditional standards.
5) I bought a bike, which I still have to learn how to ride. That will be happening over winter break, and hopefully next term I'll be able to ride it to go places. At time it feels like I am probably the only person in this country who can not ride a bicycle.
6) Kansai Gaidai sets up visits with schools sometimes so that us foreign students may interact with Japanese students who are trying to learn a foreign language. Wednesday December 1st, I participated in a visit to Niwakubo Elementary School in Osaka (not anywhere near Shinsaibashi though, this was real residential Osaka) and talked about my country with two sixth-grade classes. It was an amazing opportunity to understand how they learn English, and see a school as well. The students varied in their willingness to talk, however at least one member (usually a girl) of the small 3-4 person groups I dealt with appeared to attend a juku (cram school) as their English was much better that the others.
7) I have also made a selection of amazing friends, and have a great roommate. As I'm staying here a year, I am going to miss most of my friends who are not staying. If my room mate was staying I would honestly be considering staying in dorms moreso next term, but I would really enjoy the opportunity to interact with a family sharing culture and language. I know that homestay can be difficult but I want to be able to put in the extra effort, and I am also willing to balance my school, friends, and family expectations.
8) Spiders are huge. I am learning to ignore them now but if one comes into my room whatsoever... I may develop suction-cup hands and end up on the ceiling.
Of course there are many other things that I could mention but over break I will for sure be posting pictures with captions explaining the days. Look forward to it. :-)
- Lost in Hirakata
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