Long time, no see!
Well, it's spring break now, but the entrance ceremonies at my schools will be tomorrow. I was in a bit of a slump a few weeks ago, but the trip to Fukui revitalized me.今年も頑張るぞ！
Well, about the trip.
March 28th - Getting to Fukui was a little difficult, as the nearest airport that I could fly to without transferring was in Osaka. From Osaka, I just took a train to Fukui, and the whole trip was about five and a half hours.
Akari said it was all right for me to stay with her family, but she wouldn't be able to pick me up at the train station because she had a going away party to go to. Instead, her father and younger sister, Mayumi, picked me up. When I met them, they were a bit surprised at my height, which is normal. This time, however, it was my turn to be surprised, since Akari's sister is the tallest Japanese woman I've ever met!
At Akari's home, I met the rest of her family and we had a nice dinner. This was the first time that the Oshino family had had a foreign guest, but everything went well. Although I didn't know it at the time, Akari sent Mayumi an email asking if I made it to Fukui and if they were able to bring me to their home. Mayumi's response was simply "いえす" (pronounced kind of like "yes") in hiragana. Akari was confused by such a short reply, so she sent another mail, asking if everything was all right. The reply? "いえす". Due to these short answers, Akari thought something was up, and that maybe they didn't know what to do with me, so she called. During the phone conversation, the majority of Mayumi's responses were simply "Mm-hm!" (in an "affirmation" kind of way). She's really quite a funny girl.
Akari ended up coming home a little early, since she thought something was wrong.
March 29th - Mayumi, whose university was still on spring break, was the only one with free time in the morning, so she and I went to a local shopping mall and then made curry together for lunch. Unfortunately, she had classes the next day, and the train ride was seven hours, so she had to leave in the afternoon.
Akari was able to take the afternoon off, so she and I went to a town called Echizen, which is famous for Japanese-style paper. We made some paper and listened to an explanation, and then proceeded to the school where Akari teaches English. We met some of her students there, and they were really good at forming questions in English. After that, Akari took me on a tour of the school. Although Akari says that it's an "inaka" (think, "the boonies") school, it has a higher population than the biggest JHS in Shibushi city, and more than 10x the number of students as my small junior high schools!
March 30th - I went to Eiheiji temple. Akari's mother was the only one who could take time off from work, so she went with me. It was a really interesting temple, and its grounds are huge! Like the wiki says, lots of monks train there, and we were able to see plenty of them. I hear that, if you make reservations, anyone can experience the training of a monk there for three days. Sounds kind of difficult, even though it's an easier version of what the actual trainees do.
Afterwards, we visited the prefectural library and saw an exhibit dedicated to a Fukui native who did a lot of research with ancient kanji. I really enjoyed seeing how some of the characters evolved into their present forms, and the reasoning behind their forms.
March 31st - Akari had to work in the morning (yes, on a Saturday; it's hard to overemphasize how much teachers here work), so I just helped out around the house and looked at things on the internet. In the afternoon, she and I went to the Fukui Prefectural History Museum. There were examples of what things were like in Fukui during ancient times, but the Showa time period (1926-1989) exhibit was far more interesting.
We then attempted to look at the cherry blossom trees, but they hadn't really bloomed yet and a thunderstorm decided to stop by.
We met Akari's boyfriend for dinner, and we had sauce katsudon, which was delicious!
April 1st - Akari, her father and I visited the cliffs of Tojimbo. The ocean kind of carved holes into the cliff, and the pillar-like rocks look really neat.
After Tojimbo, we walked around a small island and then visited Maruoka Castle, which is apparently the oldest standing castle in Japan.
For dinner, Akari and I met Yuki, who had just returned from helping a group of kids who had homestays in Australia. There was lots of catching up to do, and we had a great conversation over dinner.
April 2nd - Akari's mother gave me some rice, fruit and tea for lunch and I returned to Kagoshima via train and plane. It was a really great trip!
Well, about the trip.
March 28th - Getting to Fukui was a little difficult, as the nearest airport that I could fly to without transferring was in Osaka. From Osaka, I just took a train to Fukui, and the whole trip was about five and a half hours.
Akari said it was all right for me to stay with her family, but she wouldn't be able to pick me up at the train station because she had a going away party to go to. Instead, her father and younger sister, Mayumi, picked me up. When I met them, they were a bit surprised at my height, which is normal. This time, however, it was my turn to be surprised, since Akari's sister is the tallest Japanese woman I've ever met!
At Akari's home, I met the rest of her family and we had a nice dinner. This was the first time that the Oshino family had had a foreign guest, but everything went well. Although I didn't know it at the time, Akari sent Mayumi an email asking if I made it to Fukui and if they were able to bring me to their home. Mayumi's response was simply "いえす" (pronounced kind of like "yes") in hiragana. Akari was confused by such a short reply, so she sent another mail, asking if everything was all right. The reply? "いえす". Due to these short answers, Akari thought something was up, and that maybe they didn't know what to do with me, so she called. During the phone conversation, the majority of Mayumi's responses were simply "Mm-hm!" (in an "affirmation" kind of way). She's really quite a funny girl.
Akari ended up coming home a little early, since she thought something was wrong.
March 29th - Mayumi, whose university was still on spring break, was the only one with free time in the morning, so she and I went to a local shopping mall and then made curry together for lunch. Unfortunately, she had classes the next day, and the train ride was seven hours, so she had to leave in the afternoon.
Akari was able to take the afternoon off, so she and I went to a town called Echizen, which is famous for Japanese-style paper. We made some paper and listened to an explanation, and then proceeded to the school where Akari teaches English. We met some of her students there, and they were really good at forming questions in English. After that, Akari took me on a tour of the school. Although Akari says that it's an "inaka" (think, "the boonies") school, it has a higher population than the biggest JHS in Shibushi city, and more than 10x the number of students as my small junior high schools!
March 30th - I went to Eiheiji temple. Akari's mother was the only one who could take time off from work, so she went with me. It was a really interesting temple, and its grounds are huge! Like the wiki says, lots of monks train there, and we were able to see plenty of them. I hear that, if you make reservations, anyone can experience the training of a monk there for three days. Sounds kind of difficult, even though it's an easier version of what the actual trainees do.
Afterwards, we visited the prefectural library and saw an exhibit dedicated to a Fukui native who did a lot of research with ancient kanji. I really enjoyed seeing how some of the characters evolved into their present forms, and the reasoning behind their forms.
March 31st - Akari had to work in the morning (yes, on a Saturday; it's hard to overemphasize how much teachers here work), so I just helped out around the house and looked at things on the internet. In the afternoon, she and I went to the Fukui Prefectural History Museum. There were examples of what things were like in Fukui during ancient times, but the Showa time period (1926-1989) exhibit was far more interesting.
We then attempted to look at the cherry blossom trees, but they hadn't really bloomed yet and a thunderstorm decided to stop by.
We met Akari's boyfriend for dinner, and we had sauce katsudon, which was delicious!
April 1st - Akari, her father and I visited the cliffs of Tojimbo. The ocean kind of carved holes into the cliff, and the pillar-like rocks look really neat.
After Tojimbo, we walked around a small island and then visited Maruoka Castle, which is apparently the oldest standing castle in Japan.
For dinner, Akari and I met Yuki, who had just returned from helping a group of kids who had homestays in Australia. There was lots of catching up to do, and we had a great conversation over dinner.
April 2nd - Akari's mother gave me some rice, fruit and tea for lunch and I returned to Kagoshima via train and plane. It was a really great trip!