Blog from Japan 15
Last weekend CIEE took us to Hiroshima and Miyajima. It was really interesting, and very sad too.
As far as that goes, I think that anyone interested in history should go there. One might think that maybe the people of Hiroshima are resentful to Americans or something of the like but it's not true (at least not in majority.) Maybe they like to know if you're trying to understand both sides?
We heard a testimonial from an A-bomb survivor, and it was very VERY hard because it was her first hand testimonial. After that, we had to do group discussion in our groups (mine is Emily, Joann, Tom, Clark and Saad but Saad wasn't there.) Clark was being somewhat ...insensitive about it, and he really upset Emily.
Miyajima was beautiful and a nice break after the emotional wreck that Saturday was. The deer there will eat anything, and we saw that demonstrated a few times. Going up the mountain was pretty, and going back down was fun because Emily and Jaren are ridiculous. We went up and down in a cart similar to a chair lift, and on the way down they decided to make faces at the people going up. Many of the people laughed at them so that was nice, I guess? I bought momoji (Miyajima's famous pastry thing) for karate club and my host family. Of course, Clark bought some for karate club too, and what's more is that he bought MORE than I did. It was annoying... I felt like he was trying to make me look bad or something.
Friday and Saturday night we watched movies in Emily's room. I think that I have seen more American movies since I got here than Japanese.
On the Shinkansen (bullet train) back, Emily was getting sick. She slept most of the way, so I did homework and Jaren slept too. When we were eating, we gave our left-overs to George, and Jaren hit Ai-chan in the head with a cookie or something somehow. We got back around 8pm.
Pictures from Hiroshima and Miyajima here.
This past week has gone by pretty fast, and it's pretty crazy. I run into Watanabe-san and Takeda-san all over the place at school, but neither of them ever see me unless I call out to them. It sucks, hahah. Although, Takeda-san usually stops and talks to me if I do which is nice because I like him and think of him as my friend. ^^
Emily ended up getting some string of influenza and was quarantined all week. She missed out on making soba Wednesday and the Sophia Exchange Student's Christmas party (I didn't go to the party because of karate) but other than that... Tuesday night, when I got to karate practice I gave Makoto-san my present for everyone and the look on his face was so cute, so happy. After practice, Clark also gave his momoji to them, and all of them were so happy about it, it was so cute. ^^ But, we ended up have way too much because Clark bought so many. Nishi-san kept trying to give me them too, but I didn't want more than one, so I think that everyone ended up taking like ... 5? (But not everyone was there, it was just Makoto-san, Omura-san, Oo-san, Nishi-san, Keigo, Sana, Bastian, Mike, me and Clark. I bought enough for if it were them plus Fran, Watanabe-san and Takeda-san.) Something like that. George said that he was jealous that I bought that for my club willingly like that because he bought some for his club too, but he didn't really want to? But, they're my friends so I wanted to buy them something...
Thursday night, Makoto-san and Omura-san told me, Sana and Clark that there might be a test for us on Saturday at practice which scared the hell out of us. Omura-san said that we would be doing a test for 7 kyu, which is skipping a level and that we also would have to do push-ups. ...50 push ups for me and Sana and 100 for the guys. But, then he said that baby push-ups would be fine and we could do them fast too. Clark is way too freaking genki and wanted to practice (by the way, we had to do fifty push-ups on Tuesday night) but I said I couldn't do it. Sana gave in and did some with him, which I think that he (Clark) surprised both me and Omura-san because he was able to do so many good push-ups. ._. But, he wasn't able to do 100, and guys have to do them on their fists which he couldn't do.
Friday was pretty uneventful as far as Fridays go... although I have to mention that I have become friends with a few other girls in CIEE, Nhu and Momo. Momo is really cute, and we can talk about Korean music together so that's fun.
Saturday, I talked to my mom and Katie, trying to get things figured out for March. Ai-chan told me about where she's going to stay during the two month break, and so Katie and I decided that maybe we should do that too because then we wouldn't have to worry about our luggage when we go out. We got at least our plane tickets figured out so far which is good. I'm looking at the Sakura House right now, but there's nothing that I am liking that much at the moment and I can't do it without Katie anyway, so it doesn't matter.
I left for karate practice a little early because there was a party after wards that I needed to dress nicely for, and had to wear heels to. Walking to my station takes longer in heels, so... I left early. Of course, I got lucky and caught the trains right away and was super early. But, on Saturdays when there are so many more people I would rather be early than late. AND, those two scared us for no reason about testing... because there was no such thing. >_< We did a lot of partner drills, which I worked with Mari-chan (okay so her name is spelled MariE, but it's not like the Enlgish Marie, so I'm spelling it wrong, just FYI.) so it was okay. But, sometimes this one black-belt that I have never met before worked with me and every time it was his turn to practice, Omura-san and Nishi-san came over and made sure I was okay because he was kicking so hard. They were both like *worried face* "Daijoubu?" :P
After that, we went to the restaurant for the party thing. Sachiko came even though she didn't come to practice, but she got stuck with Sana on the other side of the room from me and Mari-chan. ...also, I found out that my Buddhist Traditions professor is the karate club teacher sponsor... um, weird. Anyways, the party was fun... we had some food, and talked and stuff. Fran and Takeda-san had their little chats about whatever, and so Mari-chan talked to me... and we talked about something I knew was going to happen too... she said, 「コリンは、好（す）きな人（ひと）がある？」 もちろん好（す）きな人（ひと）があるけどヒミツです。 Of course, when I said that she said 「ええ、留学生（りゅうがくせい）ですか？」 Of course it's not! 「日本人ですか？ 同(おな）じ授業（じゅぎょう）があるか？」 And then when I said no she figured something out... thank goodness she doesn't go to the same school. 「ここにいるか？」 私はええと言（い）いました so then she got her camera and looked through her pictures trying to figure things out... and she got it on the second try. How annoying haha, but I mailed her later that night and she was super happy that I feel like she's a good friend even though she can't speak English.
I was going to try and get Takeda-san's email and phone number so I can keep in touch with him too but I didn't get the chance to which is too bad. Maybe I can next week (apparently there is "practice on your own" kind of thing) and he said 「また来週」 so maybe, just maybe. Then, I can bother all of them over Christmas break, haha. I think that Takeda-san is determined to get me to drink, because he kept saying "Please drink with me (sometime)!" when we were leaving. But, after I saw what happened to Sachiko (she had one drink...) I don't know if that's going to happen haha. I did try some of Mari-chan's drinks, but I wasn't too fond of them so I didn't get my own.
After that, they went out for more food, but Sana, Bastain, Mike and I went home because it was getting late. I kind of regretted not going with them when I was about half-way home because I got lonely, (stupid I know.) But, I had plans for today and I didn't really need to spend more money... but still.
And with that, I am done.
This is perhaps the shortest blog I have written in some time. (笑)
As far as that goes, I think that anyone interested in history should go there. One might think that maybe the people of Hiroshima are resentful to Americans or something of the like but it's not true (at least not in majority.) Maybe they like to know if you're trying to understand both sides?
We heard a testimonial from an A-bomb survivor, and it was very VERY hard because it was her first hand testimonial. After that, we had to do group discussion in our groups (mine is Emily, Joann, Tom, Clark and Saad but Saad wasn't there.) Clark was being somewhat ...insensitive about it, and he really upset Emily.
Miyajima was beautiful and a nice break after the emotional wreck that Saturday was. The deer there will eat anything, and we saw that demonstrated a few times. Going up the mountain was pretty, and going back down was fun because Emily and Jaren are ridiculous. We went up and down in a cart similar to a chair lift, and on the way down they decided to make faces at the people going up. Many of the people laughed at them so that was nice, I guess? I bought momoji (Miyajima's famous pastry thing) for karate club and my host family. Of course, Clark bought some for karate club too, and what's more is that he bought MORE than I did. It was annoying... I felt like he was trying to make me look bad or something.
Friday and Saturday night we watched movies in Emily's room. I think that I have seen more American movies since I got here than Japanese.
On the Shinkansen (bullet train) back, Emily was getting sick. She slept most of the way, so I did homework and Jaren slept too. When we were eating, we gave our left-overs to George, and Jaren hit Ai-chan in the head with a cookie or something somehow. We got back around 8pm.
Pictures from Hiroshima and Miyajima here.
This past week has gone by pretty fast, and it's pretty crazy. I run into Watanabe-san and Takeda-san all over the place at school, but neither of them ever see me unless I call out to them. It sucks, hahah. Although, Takeda-san usually stops and talks to me if I do which is nice because I like him and think of him as my friend. ^^
Emily ended up getting some string of influenza and was quarantined all week. She missed out on making soba Wednesday and the Sophia Exchange Student's Christmas party (I didn't go to the party because of karate) but other than that... Tuesday night, when I got to karate practice I gave Makoto-san my present for everyone and the look on his face was so cute, so happy. After practice, Clark also gave his momoji to them, and all of them were so happy about it, it was so cute. ^^ But, we ended up have way too much because Clark bought so many. Nishi-san kept trying to give me them too, but I didn't want more than one, so I think that everyone ended up taking like ... 5? (But not everyone was there, it was just Makoto-san, Omura-san, Oo-san, Nishi-san, Keigo, Sana, Bastian, Mike, me and Clark. I bought enough for if it were them plus Fran, Watanabe-san and Takeda-san.) Something like that. George said that he was jealous that I bought that for my club willingly like that because he bought some for his club too, but he didn't really want to? But, they're my friends so I wanted to buy them something...
Thursday night, Makoto-san and Omura-san told me, Sana and Clark that there might be a test for us on Saturday at practice which scared the hell out of us. Omura-san said that we would be doing a test for 7 kyu, which is skipping a level and that we also would have to do push-ups. ...50 push ups for me and Sana and 100 for the guys. But, then he said that baby push-ups would be fine and we could do them fast too. Clark is way too freaking genki and wanted to practice (by the way, we had to do fifty push-ups on Tuesday night) but I said I couldn't do it. Sana gave in and did some with him, which I think that he (Clark) surprised both me and Omura-san because he was able to do so many good push-ups. ._. But, he wasn't able to do 100, and guys have to do them on their fists which he couldn't do.
Friday was pretty uneventful as far as Fridays go... although I have to mention that I have become friends with a few other girls in CIEE, Nhu and Momo. Momo is really cute, and we can talk about Korean music together so that's fun.
Saturday, I talked to my mom and Katie, trying to get things figured out for March. Ai-chan told me about where she's going to stay during the two month break, and so Katie and I decided that maybe we should do that too because then we wouldn't have to worry about our luggage when we go out. We got at least our plane tickets figured out so far which is good. I'm looking at the Sakura House right now, but there's nothing that I am liking that much at the moment and I can't do it without Katie anyway, so it doesn't matter.
I left for karate practice a little early because there was a party after wards that I needed to dress nicely for, and had to wear heels to. Walking to my station takes longer in heels, so... I left early. Of course, I got lucky and caught the trains right away and was super early. But, on Saturdays when there are so many more people I would rather be early than late. AND, those two scared us for no reason about testing... because there was no such thing. >_< We did a lot of partner drills, which I worked with Mari-chan (okay so her name is spelled MariE, but it's not like the Enlgish Marie, so I'm spelling it wrong, just FYI.) so it was okay. But, sometimes this one black-belt that I have never met before worked with me and every time it was his turn to practice, Omura-san and Nishi-san came over and made sure I was okay because he was kicking so hard. They were both like *worried face* "Daijoubu?" :P
After that, we went to the restaurant for the party thing. Sachiko came even though she didn't come to practice, but she got stuck with Sana on the other side of the room from me and Mari-chan. ...also, I found out that my Buddhist Traditions professor is the karate club teacher sponsor... um, weird. Anyways, the party was fun... we had some food, and talked and stuff. Fran and Takeda-san had their little chats about whatever, and so Mari-chan talked to me... and we talked about something I knew was going to happen too... she said, 「コリンは、好（す）きな人（ひと）がある？」 もちろん好（す）きな人（ひと）があるけどヒミツです。 Of course, when I said that she said 「ええ、留学生（りゅうがくせい）ですか？」 Of course it's not! 「日本人ですか？ 同(おな）じ授業（じゅぎょう）があるか？」 And then when I said no she figured something out... thank goodness she doesn't go to the same school. 「ここにいるか？」 私はええと言（い）いました so then she got her camera and looked through her pictures trying to figure things out... and she got it on the second try. How annoying haha, but I mailed her later that night and she was super happy that I feel like she's a good friend even though she can't speak English.
I was going to try and get Takeda-san's email and phone number so I can keep in touch with him too but I didn't get the chance to which is too bad. Maybe I can next week (apparently there is "practice on your own" kind of thing) and he said 「また来週」 so maybe, just maybe. Then, I can bother all of them over Christmas break, haha. I think that Takeda-san is determined to get me to drink, because he kept saying "Please drink with me (sometime)!" when we were leaving. But, after I saw what happened to Sachiko (she had one drink...) I don't know if that's going to happen haha. I did try some of Mari-chan's drinks, but I wasn't too fond of them so I didn't get my own.
After that, they went out for more food, but Sana, Bastain, Mike and I went home because it was getting late. I kind of regretted not going with them when I was about half-way home because I got lonely, (stupid I know.) But, I had plans for today and I didn't really need to spend more money... but still.
And with that, I am done.
This is perhaps the shortest blog I have written in some time. (笑)