Since the trip I haven't actually been doing too much. However the cherry blossoms are in bloom now. Apparently I picked the perfect place to stay in Japan for viewing cherry blossoms. The school that I go to is pretty much surrounded by cherry trees. And now they're blowing away, so the sidewalks and streets are littered with petals.
Kendo started up again as well. But now I'm wearing armor! One of the girls asked me if it was my armor "debut," which is pretty much true. And the first time I wore the armor it took me half of the practice to suit up properly and I worked up a sweat for the first time! In fact my skin turned blue because of the dye on my keikogi. And today I turned even bluer because I practiced almost the whole time! It's quite different with the armor on. It gets quite heavy when you're tired and really hot. And your depth perception kind of goes out of the window with the grill in front of your face.
But the teacher actually GAVE me a pair of wrist guards, for free! I was so surprised! Especially since he had called me "ano gaijin" (that foreigner over there) only a couple of months ago. And he told my tutor (Haruka) that my kendo had become "kirei" (pretty/clean). All in all, it was a very rewarding day and I was ridiculously happy.
And this past Tuesday the club went out for blossom viewing. Really, though, it's just an excuse to drink alcohol. They had set up tarps on the ground underneath some cherry trees near our school and we were provided with beer, cocktails, sports drinks, tea, water, and various snacks. After the toasts (the teachers were there, too) the girls got on one tarp, the boys on another, and the freshmen and teachers in the middle. We girls played a couple of drinking games, where if you messed up you had to (quickly) drink a cup of beer. Thankfully I was pretty good at the games (even though they were in Japanese) and I wasn't forced to drink anything.
And some of the guys in the club actually talked to me. But, of course, it was because they were drunk. But I was so surprised! The next day one of them actually smiled and waved at me, in the DOJO no less! Where there were other kendo people to see! I was so surprised. And, when I'd managed to get my helmet on, another guy gave me a few light taps on the head.
But today was the second day of practice for me in the armor. And I got really tired really quickly, much to my embarrassment. And I fell as well. My big toe caught on the hem of my hakama and so, I fell. I think I bent the toe backwards, though, because it's a bit painful to walk. And I also had my first fighting practice! Before I'd only done drills, but during the jigeiko part of the practice you actually have mini-matches with people. I'd never done it before, so it was quite an experience. I got a lot of hits in, but I suspect my opponent (Haruka) was giving them to me.
I'll have to post pictures of my in half armor another time. My host-parents only allow me to use the internet for one hour, and loading images takes a while.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Nagoya
Our last stop on the trip was Nagoya, sort of a half-way point between Matsuyama and Tokyo. Originally Nagoya was going to be my first stop, and then Osaka and then Matsuyama and then back to Tokyo. But thankfully my host-mom suggested Nagoya as the last stop so that we wouldn't be traveling so far in one night like I wanted to.
So while we waited for the night bus to take us from Matsuyama to Nagoya, I suddenly realized that I did not have my coat (the black one). I remembered having it in Matsuyama, though, and realized I'd left it on the bus. Another legacy from the nasty 13th. So I e-mailed a lady at my school's Center for International Studies (CIS) on my cell phone (I love Japanese cell phones!), and she e-mailed me back within the hour saying that she'd found it! I was so relieved! Unfortunately, it was left at the bus depot and we were just about to get onto the night bus so I couldn't simply take a taxi and go get it. But the lady that was helping me got them to mail it back to my host-parents' house for me. What a stroke of luck! (I'll brag on the people in CIS in another entry, because they are awesome.)
Well, we got on the bus (a double decker) and we were in the very front on the top part, so we got lots of leg room. If you must take a night bus, I highly recommend taking one by the JR bus company. It may be a bit more expensive, but their buses actually have toilets on them and they don't try to bake you while you sleep. It was still really difficult to sleep, though. Eventually your bottom falls asleep and that's never fun. But we got to Nagoya in the wee hours of the morning. This kind of stunk for me since I had no coat and it was windy, but I managed. We found a McDonalds and ate breakfast before thinking about what we could do between then (6:00 AM) and when we could check into our hotel (3:00 PM) We put our bags in a locker at Nagoya station and then went off to see things that my friend had wanted to see.
Since she really likes bridges we went to the bridge that leads to the Nagoya aquarium. It was pretty neat, actually. And after that we went to a shopping center and just sat around until it was almost 3:00. Eventually we went back to Nagoya station and got our bags and checked into the hotel. We were pretty beat since we hadn't slept much the night before and we had been walking all day. So we showered, ordered pizza (which was ridiculously expensive) and my friend did her laundry.
The next day we got up, checked out, put our luggage in another locker and went to our first stop for the day, Nagoya castle. This one is really popular, and not NEARLY as nice an experience as Nijo castle was. It was very crowded, and the building didn't have any AC, of course, and they had set up the inside like a museum with exhibits and stuff. And most of the paintings were copies. It was sort of a disappointment, but we got most of our souvenirs, since we didn't want the food to go bad before we got back. If you buy souvenirs for a Japanese person, get them food. That's what they do. As I've said before, Japanese people love food, and every region has it's specialties.
And inside the castle grounds they had a tea house that was set up like a showroom. It had tons of paper dolls dressed up for a parade.
Our second stop was the Nagoya Noh Theater. It actually wasn't all that interesting, unfortunately, and we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum. We didn't actually see a show (I'm sure we would have fallen asleep), but they were showing a pre-recorded one in the museum. After that we made our way over to the Atsuta Shrine where the Imperial Sword is supposed to be kept. This shrine, apparently is often used for marriage ceremonies. And they had roosters walking around! It was kind of interesting.
Afterwards we met up with one of my best friend's from my home college and her parents. We ate at Denny's and then walked around near the station before we had to catch our night bus back to Tokyo.
What did you guys think of the trip? Was there anything in particular you had questions about? Let me know, and I'll see if I can answer them!
So while we waited for the night bus to take us from Matsuyama to Nagoya, I suddenly realized that I did not have my coat (the black one). I remembered having it in Matsuyama, though, and realized I'd left it on the bus. Another legacy from the nasty 13th. So I e-mailed a lady at my school's Center for International Studies (CIS) on my cell phone (I love Japanese cell phones!), and she e-mailed me back within the hour saying that she'd found it! I was so relieved! Unfortunately, it was left at the bus depot and we were just about to get onto the night bus so I couldn't simply take a taxi and go get it. But the lady that was helping me got them to mail it back to my host-parents' house for me. What a stroke of luck! (I'll brag on the people in CIS in another entry, because they are awesome.)
Well, we got on the bus (a double decker) and we were in the very front on the top part, so we got lots of leg room. If you must take a night bus, I highly recommend taking one by the JR bus company. It may be a bit more expensive, but their buses actually have toilets on them and they don't try to bake you while you sleep. It was still really difficult to sleep, though. Eventually your bottom falls asleep and that's never fun. But we got to Nagoya in the wee hours of the morning. This kind of stunk for me since I had no coat and it was windy, but I managed. We found a McDonalds and ate breakfast before thinking about what we could do between then (6:00 AM) and when we could check into our hotel (3:00 PM) We put our bags in a locker at Nagoya station and then went off to see things that my friend had wanted to see.
Since she really likes bridges we went to the bridge that leads to the Nagoya aquarium. It was pretty neat, actually. And after that we went to a shopping center and just sat around until it was almost 3:00. Eventually we went back to Nagoya station and got our bags and checked into the hotel. We were pretty beat since we hadn't slept much the night before and we had been walking all day. So we showered, ordered pizza (which was ridiculously expensive) and my friend did her laundry.
The next day we got up, checked out, put our luggage in another locker and went to our first stop for the day, Nagoya castle. This one is really popular, and not NEARLY as nice an experience as Nijo castle was. It was very crowded, and the building didn't have any AC, of course, and they had set up the inside like a museum with exhibits and stuff. And most of the paintings were copies. It was sort of a disappointment, but we got most of our souvenirs, since we didn't want the food to go bad before we got back. If you buy souvenirs for a Japanese person, get them food. That's what they do. As I've said before, Japanese people love food, and every region has it's specialties.
And inside the castle grounds they had a tea house that was set up like a showroom. It had tons of paper dolls dressed up for a parade.
Our second stop was the Nagoya Noh Theater. It actually wasn't all that interesting, unfortunately, and we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum. We didn't actually see a show (I'm sure we would have fallen asleep), but they were showing a pre-recorded one in the museum. After that we made our way over to the Atsuta Shrine where the Imperial Sword is supposed to be kept. This shrine, apparently is often used for marriage ceremonies. And they had roosters walking around! It was kind of interesting.
Afterwards we met up with one of my best friend's from my home college and her parents. We ate at Denny's and then walked around near the station before we had to catch our night bus back to Tokyo.
What did you guys think of the trip? Was there anything in particular you had questions about? Let me know, and I'll see if I can answer them!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)