As my classes begin, I’m starting to realize how much work it’ll be, regardless of it mostly being review. Because of this, in spite of how exciting I’m sure it’d be to write and read about every little thing I do every day, my entries will mostly focus on the weekends, and random details of that week. Otherwise there’ll be way too much repetition. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes those words aren’t good enough and I have to add some, so remember to check the descriptions of the pictures (bottom left on Flickr) for more information about both the places themselves and what I’m doing there. I try not to make this too long, so I do general descriptions, and then add more explanations (and sarcasm) when I upload the pictures (also a lot of times I just plain forget things). Also, thanks for all the nice comments both on the blog and elsewhere. Some pictures are currently missing, but they will be up soon.
Friday
There are many interesting things about the bugs and animals in Japan. Many of them are much bigger than here, and many are something I’ve never seen or heard. As I was waking up, I heard the call of a ghetto crow. I know it was ghetto not because it was black (that’d be racist), but because it kept cawing, “Awwwww, hell naw! Hell naw! Awwwww, hell naw! Hell naw!” I hope to one day document this fascinating creature. Our class got out early (noon) as it will every Friday. I quickly finished packing (and by that I of course mean did all of it, but I sound less lazy if I imply I had put some effort towards it previously, you know how it is), and started on the 15 minute bike ride for the station. About halfway there, I realized I had forgotten my camera, and my legs were already burning and I wanted to get there ASAP, so I just called Maki and asked her to bring hers. [As a result of this, there will be a slight delay of pictures as I couldn’t use her memory card.] Once I got to the station, I realized I had no idea how to buy a train ticket. Luckily as I was staring dumbfounded at the screen (I had at least been able to switch it to English), a girl from JCMU came up behind me and helped. I got to the next station and switched trains, but again realized I had no idea what to do after that. I asked some Japanese people, who explained it as best they could, but in the end I had to again refer to Maki. About an hour later, I finally met Maki at the station. It was a little weird at first since I’m used to seeing her on Skype now. It’s like a video game character coming to life, which aside from Disney has only happened once or twice for my (btw, Donkey Kong is an a-hole who takes too many breaks from taking pictures with people). However, I quickly got used to it. We met all the other previous Nanzan exchange students at an izakaya, which if you haven’t already Googled it, is a restaurant where everyone orders together and everyone can eat a little bit of other people’s meals. I had realized earlier that I had eaten very little that day, and it was the first time my stomach had expressed its dislike of this new setting. I also realized that I was dehydrated, but luckily there was a sign in the hotel bathroom that clarified that “this water be good to drink”. By the end of the weekend, I think I spent as much money on water as souvenirs. Knowing that returning my stomach to a baseline was a priority, I resorted to eating mostly American food that I knew I could handle. Luckily I had chosen this izakaya for that exact purpose, and ordered some fried potatoes and an onion ring tree. Along with the previous exchange students that I nurtured throughout the past two years, I met the girl who we will host this year (the other girl who will come was sick). We explained to her all the things she can expect (strangely shaped fat people, everyone being late, us laughing at some English mistakes because of how cute/hilarious they are, etc.) and asked what she wanted to do. She immediately declared that she wanted to go camping, which is good because my family camps all the time. …I’m being told that a few bugs getting into our hotel room doesn’t count as camping. Well, I’ll find somewhere to go. I wonder if we can camp in the state park across the street… Anyway, I had a lot of fun (especially since everyone had agreed to try to stick with English, which they MOSTLY did), however, none of us remembered to take pictures, so I’ll have to take extra next time we meet.
Saturday
We woke up at about 8 (no, you didn’t misread that. I woke up at 8 on a Saturday. I only agreed to it because I knew I’d wake up out of habit anyway, though I ended up falling back asleep briefly) and went to the Krispy Kreme that I had seen at the station the night before (I was still sticking with Americana for the day), then took the train to Nagoya Castle (Nagoya-jou). The weather was a beautiful but awful sunny and 80°ish (why is it so hard to type °? I use it way more than the squiggly (I know it’s a tilde, but this is America (well THIS isn’t, but you get it), we don’t use tildes). Right as we got there, it was being announced that there would be a special performance in a few minutes. I was told that it was like a boy band who dressed up as the ancient warlords Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, Nobunaga, and a few others (they were responsible for uniting Japan during the samurai times, like a samurai George Washington). I was also told that they were all very attractive. Two older Japanese women squealed when their favorite came out (this was all outside, but there was a curtain). My favorite was the one in red, he was kakkoii (cool/hot). After some cool fight scenes a la Power Rangers and a dance or two (and some Japanese that I couldn’t understand, but I could more or less guess was dramatic samurai dialogue), we went to see the actual castle. There was a new section that they had recently added. It was a small temple-looking building connected to a giant warehouse. Inside it was a giant path that took you through what the halls of the temple looked like (though there was one or two places where you could see through to the warehouse area (which I was told not to look at)). Everything was gold painted and there were tigers everywhere (I’m assuming the emperor was a big fan of Frosted Flakes), which gave me some room decoration ideas… Then we went to the main tower. Inside that was a museum that showed the process of making the castle along with a few mini models. There was even a giant shachi (a giant golden fish that’s on top of the temple) to take a picture on, and a giant “stone” block with a rope attached used to simulate how difficult it was to drag the stones around. Some guy got the meter to about 10, so I immediately new I had to beat him. Some Japanese people were watching, and when I got it to over 30, I heard a few comments of “sugoi”, which loosely translates to “wow, look at how strong that cute white boy is” (I said loosely). We got to the top (7 floors) which had an amazing view of most of Nagoya. As we were leaving, we grabbed some lunch from one of the many stands that were there for some celebration. Still recovering, I went to a fry booth where I got a basket of giant fries that were at least 9 inches long. I even saw a “dessert fry”, which was a basket of fries covered in chocolate and caramel syrup (unfortunately I wasn’t in a position to try such an adventurous meal). We then headed to Tokugawa garden near Ozone (which of course is best known for both protecting us from the evil sun and for being responsible for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o It was also amazing (look at the pictures). On the way back to the station, we were too tired and almost sick to walk all the way back, so we took a taxi who complained to us that it was so close and if we were gonna take a taxi, we should take it all the way instead of the subway (it wasn’t close when you were walking, just driving, but it was a $5 flat fee, so who cares. Also, I had a subway day pass that I needed to use at least one more time). For dinner, we found a nice Italian restaurant. I considered getting spaghetti, but it had been like a week since I’d eaten pizza, so I got that.
Sunday
Today we had breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of yogurt and a million types of bread. One was basically a chocolate chip pancake breadstick, which was cool, though there was no syrup. We went to the Tokugawa Art Museum (which we later realized was RIGHT next door to the garden). It had a bunch of stuff belonging to the Tokugawa family like Ieyasu (main Japanese warlord dude) and they even had some of the original Tales of Genji, but they were too delicate to be put on display, so instead there was a copy. Also, we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so I took pictures of some postcards that had pictures of what we saw… We went to Nagoya station for lunch, which wasn’t a great idea considering the time. I was more open to Japanese food, but we ended up going to a restaurant that served hamburg steak. おいしかったよ [It was delicious]. It was so soft that I could cut through it with chopsticks. I got it with some garlic sauce, and it came with a side of fries (only like 4) and spaghetti (which was undercooked). When I got back to Hikone, I finished some homework, and then we went to a small bar for one of the girl’s birthday. I ate white rice (without sauce!), fried chicken, and more fries (honestly everywhere in Japan makes delicious fries).
Monday
Some of the Japanese kids from Shiga University took us to a giant mall called Viva City. Inside were tons of stores, including a grocery store, a bowling alley, a movie theater, karaoke, and a Game Center (think Dave & Busters but with Mario and Pokémon (yes, I’ve memorized the alt code for é)). While there, we got did the purikura (it’s a special photo booth that makes you and your friends prettier (thinner face, optional bigger eyes, blush, whiter features, etc. Then you can add special stickers and write fun stuff). Later we finally at the restaurant next door called Coco’s. The first time I got another hamburg steak, and the second time (the second time was supposed to be for dessert, but we got hungry) I got fried chicken, sausage, and more fries (it’s a combo meal, and yes, that’s two things I didn’t used to eat). I just realized this one was food heavy, but all I’ve been doing is eating and doing homework. Even though it’s all review, we keep getting a ton of homework, and they’re pickier than any teacher I’ve ever had.
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