Hard to believe I’ve been here over two months. There are a little over 5 more weeks left of school; time flies whether you’re ready or not.
Last Friday was quite a busy day. In the morning I had my Gender midterm and finally got my paper back (I got an A-!). After the midterm I had a lot of time to kill. When Steph and I saw The Lake House I started thinking about how tired I was of my hair. Sandra Bullock’s hair is really cute in the movie and I decided I wanted the same style. During my break I went to a salon really close to the school (where Steph got her hair straightened for free, go here for the story) and made an appointment for 2. Since I had some time before our club meeting I decided to go to Shinjuku to pick up some Drawing supplies, this time I didn’t get lost for an hour. I arrived back at school just in time for our meeting. Again it was only Steph, Matt and me but I think we all enjoyed our time together.
When I finally headed to the salon I started getting a little nervous. The style was drastically different from what I’ve had for a long time but I was excited about the change. The man who I made the appointment with spoke English and after washing my hair he began cutting my hair with gusto. The entire time I had my head down as I flipped through a Japanese Vogue. I only wanted to see the before and after, nothing in between. See the difference for yourself. I really like it, it’s easy to take care of, after I get it wet I basically just have to shake my head and that’s it. The only thing is getting used to bangs which I grew out 10 years ago and haven’t had since.
Friday night Steph and I went back to her church for the college group. Besides the two of us there were four other people (whose names I can’t remember because they were all Japanese). We had dinner, sang a few songs and talked about Japanese culture. After we went upstairs and had a jam session. Steph played her guitar and sang, I and the other girl accompanied her with our voices and the other three guys played the drums, bass and piano. It was amazing and I was sad when we had to stop because it was getting late. I won’t be able to go this week because I have to get up early tomorrow (Saturday) morning for the English Camp.
On Saturday Mai’s kindergarten had a bazaar and I bought a thermos and lunchbox for a total of about $5.80. And then on Sunday Koshigaya was having a city festival. Ayumi, the girls and I went to it and we stopped by the flea market section first. I bought a really nice blouse and jacket and spent another $6. We watched a few street performers who juggled flaming torches and ate them. Inside the community center they also had displays set up and a table for free crafts. Ayumi and I made beaded penguins and I put mine on my cell phone. We had a lot of fun and I was surprised because the whole event felt like a fair in the States.
Since I went to the festival, I missed church in Tokyo and the night before I had done some research on churches in my area. I found one that was only two stations away from mine and the service started at 2pm. Ayumi went home and I parked my bike near the station and made my way to the church. I found the building with no problems and when I entered the room the first thing I noticed was how small the "congregation" was (only 5 in the audience). The room itself was very small and echo-y. The pastor stood in front with a mic that magnified his voice even more, and since there were only 5 there I wondered why he even used the system, maybe to make it feel more official or something. Or maybe he was recording his message for those who were absent. Whatever the reason, his voice echoed off the walls and after his message he played a video with the volume turned way up. Though the people were really nice, I’ve decided I’m not going back.
I decided to start using a bike to get from the house to the station since it takes about half the time as walking. Ayumi and I found a parking structure (because if I don’t use official parking the bike could get confiscated) and I paid to park there for the rest of October and all of November. So this week I’ve been using a bike to get to the station and I’m really enjoying it. Monday night it was raining when I got back to the station. After about twenty seconds of riding, the top of my legs were completely soaked. You can see what my pants looked like. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that wet in such a short time aside from jumping into a pool with all my clothes on. Riding a bike certainly gives my legs a workout.
Wednesday was a school holiday and in the morning I went with Ayumi to her cooking circle. The circle gets together and cooks foods from different countries and this time it was Russian. Amy, another homestay student in the area, came with her host mother and we made a pumpkin pie. I found out that Ayumi does in fact have an oven, her microwave also works as an oven, which makes sense because of the lack of space. I was very happy about this discovery because I really wanted to make my family a pie but wasn’t sure how I was going to do it without an oven.
That afternoon I still went to school because they were having a culture exchange with a high school from Saitama (where I live). I only made it to the last event because of a miscommunication about time, but I had a good time anyway. The students taught us several traditional Japanese games which we played. They also performed a dance and surprised us by making inviting us to learn the dance which involved a lot of squatting (causing my already sore legs to be even sore…r). I’m really glad I was able to participate.
Yesterday (Thursday) I met with Richard Dasher (from Redwood Church) and we talked and ate at a cafe for about 45 minutes. He gave me a care package from my parents (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and we talked about how and what I’m doing and it was a really nice time. When I got home I made a pie for my family; it was really good if I do say so myself. Hopefully next time I can make them cinnamon rolls.
Today I had my third critique for Photography and again it went really smoothly. Shinya didn’t really have any criticism for me and he even told me he was impressed with my work. After we were finished, Shinya randomly started talking about my hair cut and trying to figure out what anime character I looked like. Everyone started talking about who I looked like while I just stood there with an embarrassed smile on my face. At the beginning of class Shinya had said how I look younger now that my hair is shorter. That confused me since I’ve been told cutting my hair makes me look older. But Ayumi also said I look less Japanese while I’ve also been told I look more Japanese now. Whatever, I’ve cut my hair, I look different and that’s all that matters.
Tomorrow I’m waking up at 4:45 so I can make it to the station in time for the English Camp bus. I’m really looking forward to this weekend and I’m sure I’ll have a lot to report when I get back.
Since last Monday was a holiday I didn’t have to go to school. My family went to the biggest Buddha in Japan (not the famous one but one that is relatively new) though I didn’t go with them. My plan was to get homework done and explore the area some more because they left me a house key. I didn’t get up until 11 because I’ve had little sleep lately. When I did get up I wrote e-mails and ended up staying inside all day. Tuesday was more eventful; I met Steph in Ueno and we saw the movie The Lake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves (which we both really enjoyed). Before and after the movie we wondered around the area and saw two Buddhist temples and Ueno park. It’s really amazing that they have so many green parks in the midst of huge office buildings. It almost feels surreal when I’m walking around the greenery and I suddenly spot a high rise between the leaves.
One of the temples had a wall of wishes; the wishes are written on a piece of wood and then tied onto a peg. It was one of the best visual representations of many different languages and cultures. There were wishes written in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, English, Dutch, French, Arabic, German and many more. I took pictures of all the wishes on one side of the wall (I’m planning on using them for my next Photography critique) and a few on the other side that interested me. We went inside the temple and bought a board for ourselves and wrote our wishes down. It was really hard to generalize my wishes so they would fit on one half of the small board.
Wednesday I had my Art History midterm which was a lot harder than I expected. He doesn’t really lecture so the only information we get is from the readings and research we do on our own. When he briefly went over the questions on the exam it was really generalized, which makes sense since he doesn’t want to give us the exact questions, but it made it difficult to know what to focus our research on. I ended up writing two practice essays on questions I thought he might ask but when I read the real questions, neither of my practice essays worked. I had to come up with totally new information and I racked my brain for one hour and didn’t feel confident when I turned both essays in. He gave them back to us the next Friday (which is amazing since we have about 30 people in our class) and I got a B+. I was really surprised since I didn’t feel good about either of them really but I tried to answer the questions whereas most people just spit out any information they knew on the subject. This Friday I have my Gender midterm which I’m sure is going to be much harder (gulp!).
Thursday another homestay student (Megan) in the area and her mom (Megumi) came to our house for a little bit. Megan can speak a little Japanese and we used her as a translator until she had to go to school. After Megan left Ayumi and Megumi took me to an electronic store to look at phone plans. I asked a lot of questions and finally found something that sounded like a good deal but Ayumi asked me if I wanted to look at prepaid phones. I hadn’t planned on it but decided I should look at all my options before making a decision. Megumi left us and Ayumi and I rode to another electronic store she thought had prepaid phones. Turns out it didn’t but we found one not too far away. I decided to try the prepaid phone first and if it doesn’t work out I’ll get a phone with a monthly plan.
Friday we had another meeting for the Christian club and it was really cool because Steph brought her guitar and we sang several worship songs. (I forgot to mention that at the church she goes to she leads worship. I think for a couple of Sundays she was doing it solo…Amazing and impressive!) After the meeting I went to Roppongi where they had a Softbank (one of the major phone companies, the other is AU) with staff who spoke English. I bought the phone and had them register my number which took about an hour. I thought about going back to school while I was waiting since it was so close but decided to explore the area since I didn’t have anything important to get done at school. I walked down the main road which was really busy and had a lot of shops and restaurants. When I turned off the main road I noticed there seem to be a park or something with lots of trees and decided to check it out. I had found a cemetery; it was very peaceful and there was an air of respect that surrounded the place. It was such an amazing experience.
After school Steph came back home with me and spent the night. We talked until 11 with Ayumi about Japanese culture, especially in regard to marriage. She told us that husbands don’t generally help their wives, they are almost the same as children. Wives don’t really want their husbands around because they add extra work and the less time they are around, the less fights occur and the less likelihood of divorce. Japanese women are envious of the wives whose husbands work and live away from the home. It was so shocking to hear that and Steph and I told her what the ideal American marriage looked like.
Steph and I ended up staying up until 2 am talking about anything and everything. It was really nice to have girl talk even though we were exhausted the next day. Saturday we went to her pastor’s (Jeremiah) house about two hours away. Jeremiah and Geigy Boek have three kids, California, Jazz and Justus and while Jeremiah and Geigy went to a wedding Steph and I watched the kids. We had a lot of fun with them, we took them to a nearby park and ran and played for a while and picked up ice-cream afterward. It was so nice to be able to speak English to kids and have them understand me.
That night we went to a church service that was conducted mostly in Japanese and I even recognized several of the songs. The Boek’s are moving into a bigger house and have put some of their stuff in the new house though they are still living in the old house. Steph and I were able to spend the night in the empty house (before the Boek’s) and it was really nice. The next morning Geigy picked us up and we had breakfast with the family. We went to the newly renovated building (most of the work was done by volunteers and it looked amazing!) painted in bright colors on the outside and the inside. The service was very small but everyone was really encouraging and I hope to be able to go back soon. This Friday is the start of a bilingual college group and I’m planning on going with Steph.
On my way back home I stopped at a station a few stops before mine and explored the mall attached directly to the station. I had lunch at one of the bakeries (they have really yummy bakeries here, I’m so spoiled) and headed back home. I made another stop at a store next to my station and walked home slowly enjoying the nice, clear day and cool weather. When I arrived home I found that my family was planning on going to a video rental store right next to the store I had just been at. Ayumi was in the middle of writing an e-mail to me when I showed up. I decided to go with them and we rode our bikes to the store (thankfully because my feet were hurting by then). We ended up getting Bambi, The Emperor’s New Groove (my recommendation), the new Pride and Prejudice and a few others. Today (Tuesday) Ayumi and I are going to watch Pride.
Yesterday Megan and I met Megumi at a tsukiji (a Japanese fish market) and had lunch in one of the restaurants. I took a picture of my lunch so you can see how far I’ve come.
These were all taken at the chatting meeting and I think they blink because of the lighting.
Malaysian -
Madu Tiga - 3 Honeys (1:00)
Japanese -
Falling Leaves (1:20)
English -
Row, Row, Row Your Boat (2:15)
I’m currently enjoying a four day weekend because tomorrow (Monday) is National Sports Day. Can I just say I love it that Japan has a day for sports? It’s no wonder that they don’t have an obesity problem here (it also helps that they don’t eat really greasy foods and they walk everywhere).
Even though I normally don’t go to school on Tuesdays, I went to pick up my draft for a paper in Gender and print out my pictures. I got home right after Ayumi left for Mai’s English class so I was locked out for about two hours. At first I tried doing homework but the mosquitoes kept eating me so I decided to go for a walk. I walked around the area for about an hour and a half. Whenever I came to an intersection, I just went in whatever direction looked interesting to me. I passed a lot of factories and stopped at a McDonald on the way back (don’t worry, I got something healthy, the berry yogurt). It was nice to just walk and see different parts of Koshigaya that I hadn’t seen before. (I also took pictures some of which I’ve uploaded).
Wednesday was our second critique in Photography but it took so long to get through four people’s pictures that they didn’t get to mine. I also had a presentation in Art History though I wasn’t nervous at all, in fact I was looking forward to it. My presentation was on the Greek goddess Athena and I basically just showed six pictures, explained them and Athena’s importance and it took about three minutes. Our presentations were only supposed to be about that long since we have so many people in class and our midterm is next Wednesday. Everyone took longer than they were supposed to so we weren’t able to get to our midterm review.
In Gender we’re talking about the Middle Ages and Christianity since it was the main religion of the time. We first discussed Genesis 1 and 3 when God created Eve and she fell under the temptation of the serpent. The teacher then said that from this came the idea that "women is the root of evil, that she represents temptation, she is the victim of her appetite, and she is the mother of the dead." I asked her who came up with this idea, if it was from the Bible or from people in the Middle Ages. She had mentioned the Apostle Paul and I was unsure if she was saying he came up with the idea and I wanted to make sure that’s not what she was saying. She told me that clergy of the Middle Ages used this to dissuade any relationships with women since they were expected to practice celibacy. On Friday we talked about Deborah the judge and Samson and Delilah. It’s been frustrating at times talking about the Bible especially when people talk about the "Creation myth" or when they say that man wrote the Bible to justify his ideas. But it’s also been a good opportunity to tell people about my beliefs and maybe get them thinking in a different direction (I hope). I also learned something new about Samson through a discussion we had about why he finally told Delilah the secret of his strength. It’s definitely been a growing time.
Thursday I went with Ayumi and the girls to a crepe party at Ayumi’s friend’s house. I thought we were all going to make them but it turned out that Yuba-san made them and we just ate them. We had the strangest things to put in them: avocado, orange wedges, peanut butter, whipped cream, soy sauce, chocolate sauce. The first one I made was normal (in retrospect), sliced ham, cheese, mayo and peanut butter. I made another one with peanut butter, whipped cream, orange wedges and chocolate sauce. They were all really good but I was full very quickly from all the sugar. I’d have to say it was the strangest dinner I’ve had (later we had normal Japanese soup but the crepes were the main course). After I played a few games with all the girls (Yuba-san has two daughters as well) including musical chairs. We had a good time and didn’t get home until about 9 pm.
Friday I finally turned in my paper for Gender. It’s such a relief to not worry about it any more. I was super nervous about my critique because he had been pretty harsh with some of the people and I was afraid that since I have no real theme with my pictures I was going to get pounded. He ended up being really nice to me and suggested that I focus on Ayumi for my next critique. It’s exciting to finally have a focus instead of just shooting whatever I think looks good and hoping that it’ll cut it. And I’m anxious to see what comes of it. I also decided to go on the Sapporo (in Hokkaido, the northern most main island) trip with my Photography class and I was able to pay Shinya on Friday with the money left over from my loan. We’ll leave Friday, November 10 after my Gender class and we come back Saturday, November 11 at 9pm. There’s supposed to be a film festival going on while we’re there and I guess there’s really good sushi there as well. I’m really excited about being able to see more of Japan.
Also on Friday we had rain all day. A typhoon has been moving close to Japan and the weather has been quite screwy lately. Fortunately Ayumi drove me to the station so I didn’t have to walk in the rain. She forgot to tell me to call her when I got back so she could pick me up. I ended up walking the ten minutes from the station to my house and almost lost my umbrella several times because of the wind. I actually had to stop at one point because walking against the wind was just too much. When I finally got home my pants were soaked and my hair was wild. I loved it (and I’ve uploaded pictures of my soaked pants).
Today (Sunday) Mai’s school had their Field day (or Sports day) where children from different kindergartens do relay races and dances for their parents and relatives. There were several races that the parents do with their children and Ayumi signed me up because she said she’s not athletic at all. She figured I would be able to keep up with Mai better (she’s probably right). We got to the school at 9 and didn’t leave until 3. I participated in three events the first and last being adults only, the second one I did with Mai. It was a lot of fun but it was also a very windy day and the sand got everywhere.
Ayumi and I went to another chatting meeting and this time there were people from Germany (though I didn’t talk with any of them), Malaysia, England and the Netherlands. I started out at the table with two men from Malaysia and both of them spoke English really well. One man was a teacher for martial arts and he was very energetic when he spoke, it was kind of overwhelming. The leader of the meeting asked me to move since there were other people who wanted to practice their English. I ended up at a table with Ayumi and a man from England. A man from China joined us and we laughed at the diversity represented. It was so amazing to talk about our different cultures and languages. After a little while the Chinese man had to leave but the English man, Bryn, Ayumi and I talked about the difficulties of learning a new language and the two of us explained to Ayumi the strange parts of the English language. We were interrupted when the leader of the meeting shushed everyone because one of the men from Malaysia was going to sing for us. After he sang some of the Japanese men and women sang a Japanese song for us. They wanted an English song as well so eventually Bryn decided on "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". They turned it into a contest by splitting the room up and singing in rounds. Each group tried to sing louder than the other and surprisingly it went over quite well. It’s a bummer that the meetings don’t happen every week (only once a month depending on how many foreigners there are at the international guest house).
Since we have a four day weekend at school Steph and I decided we would go to the movies on Tuesday night. Candice told me last Sunday that most theaters have "Ladies Night Out" on Tuesday nights and the tickets are half price (which basically means they’re about $10). I don’t know what we’re going to see or even if we’ll be able to see anything. I stayed up until midnight last night trying to find a good English website for movies in Japan.
Anyway, it’s been another eventful week and we’re about half way through the semester. My family’s still wonderful, probably even more so as I get to know them more. Obviously there’s been rough days but then another day comes and it’s a new start. I know every day is a blessing but it’s been easier to see since I’ve been here.
It’s been a whirlwind of a week with much excitement and a roller coaster of emotions.
On Thursday I met with Steph and we went to check out the one guest house that would let us see the rooms and facilities. All the other places she called said they wouldn’t know about availability until a month before we would want to move in. We arrived at the station but because of miscommunication (with many phone calls between Steph and the manager of the guest house) we met him later than planned. He walked us to the building located on a narrow, busy street filled with restaurants. After parking his bike he led us up the very narrow staircase and told us there was no elevator. The room was on the fifth floor and the while building looked ready to fall apart. Everything was old and disorganized, the room itself was very small (which Steph had been told previously) and the washing machine (there was no dryer) and showers were coin-operated. We were not impressed and decided we would rather pay more for an apartment if it meant avoiding that situation.
Thursday night was dinner at the sushi bar. We arrived a bit late and the whole second floor had been reserved for the group. At first I was worried because I thought I would have to kneel the whole time but it turned out the floor under the table was lower. The food was laid out but no one had started eating yet. I ended up sitting next to a woman who knew English fairly well and she helped me with the food. I was also able to see a whole new side of the Japanese. I had heard that when they drink they open up a lot more, sometimes they get a little crazy. None of the people I was sitting with seemed too drunk but they certainly loosened up. I was so used to seeing the quiet, reserved, never-look-you-in-the-eye Japanese. So when everyone was speaking loudly and their faces were very animated and they were even (gasp!) touching each other, I was taken aback. It felt like I was in the States (except I couldn’t understand what most of the people were saying). I even met a woman from the Philippines who spoke English fluently. All in all the night was very enjoyable and it was nice to try new foods and meet new people.
On Friday during my lunch break I met up with Steph. She had found another place about 8 minutes walk from the school. The women was willing to meet with us whenever we were able. We called right away to plan a meeting point and headed out. The woman was very nice, spoke English fluently and seemed very professional. She walked us to the building which had been recently renovated and is in a nice area. She showed us different rooms including her favorites (and ours as well) and explained the price and monthly bills. The place was very nice and each room has a sink (with no hot water but a hot plate is provided) and a fridge. It was very small but the price is right and we wouldn’t have to pay for showers or our laundry (and they had a dryer). Plus free wireless internet is also provided. Overall it was very positive and the complete opposite of what happened with the guest house. We’re really hoping that it will work out there. God has been so wonderful to provide for us.
In Photography Shinya is planning an overnight trip to Hokkaido (the northern most main island) in November for our class. I hadn’t planned on going because of the cost, even though the plane ticket is pretty cheap, for me it’s a lot. During my break on Friday, before Steph was able to tell me about the apartment, Shinya asked me why I wasn’t going. I explained that I won’t be able to stay with my family next semester and had planned on moving to an apartment so I needed to save my money. He said he understood but we could talk about it if I was interested. He even said that maybe I could work at school, cleaning up the computer lab or something. I was so surprised that he actually came and talked to me about it. It was very flattering and made me admire him even more.
Saturday I went with my family to Yui’s bazaar at her school. I was able to see more of the grounds and Ayumi bought a few things at the bazaar. There were a few performances (dancing, a band and baton twirlers) and they were very well done, especially for grade school kids.
After we got home Ayumi and I put on kimonos (which took about an hour) and headed to the local Japanese garden where we posed a lot for pictures. The kimono is somewhat akin to a corset because the area around the stomach is very tight. Ayumi said that normally there are about three women that help with the kimono and they make them so tight that the wearer cannot eat or drink or they will become sick. But Ayumi didn’t make it that tight though it certainly was tighter than what I’m used to.
For dinner we went to a sushi bar were the food was on a conveyor belt. We simply picked up the plates we wanted as they passed by and at the end we paid for all the plates (about $1 per plate, pretty good).
Sunday I attended the church in Tokyo. Next week the man who caused so much tension at the building meeting will be speaking. I will probably go to Steph’s church next week, I’ve wanted to go and now’s a good a time as any.
After chuch and lunch I took the train to Yokohama (about an hour ride) to visit a different church and hear a missionary from California speak. The church was very small, maybe 15 people and a few kids. Everyone was very friendly and after the sermon (spoken in English with a Japanese translator, and very well done) we spoke with each other, drank tea and ate sweets for about an hour. It was very encouraging and I hope to visit again sometime. (After John, the missionary took me to a "T.G.I. Friday’s" where the food tasted the same as the States. I love Japanese food but it was nice to have something "different".)
Today (Monday) I went to one class and my other teachers were nice enough to let me have the day off. I was able to take my friend to the airport. It was a crazy day but on the way home I transferred to the wrong line only once and at one station the map for the ticket was all in Kanji. Fortunately I know the characters for my station so I was able to find my way. It’s an adventure to go anywhere new.
I have a Photography critique Wednesday as well as a presentation for Art History and a paper is due in Gender on Friday. Life is certainly picking up speed. It’s a bit stressful but it’s definitely exciting as well. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for over a month. Sometimes it’s still hard to even believe I’m actually here.