these are: the people at the welcome party, and several shots from the cherry blossom viewing in senshu koen.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Queen of Good Smells and Hometowns
so many stuffs what i done these last dozen days or so... just got back from the park across the street where i played a few rounds of basketball with a norwegian, a singaporian and five kids from 6 to 10 yrs old. i can't ambulate and control my movements so well on account of my advanced age, so the kids whooped me up pretty good.
what the hell else, i can't keep things straight... the sakura have bloomed and blown away already. the school is surrounded by cherry trees, so everyone has been out to oggle and smell. i went on a little picnic in the park with the taiwanese and korean students, and last weekend, went with a group to senshu koen for their hana-mi matsuri. the park was jammed with people sitting on big blue tarps layed out with food and drinks brought from home, and plates of matsuri food from the stands lining every pathway in the park. we wound our way up the main path to the castle tower and back down, stopping for takoyaki and beer.
herrrmmmm... there was a little welcome party for the new first year students in the auditorium with performances and weird games. one of them involved the drawing of paper from a hat which had either a beverage or a food on it. people had to draw two pieces, combine the two things, and drink the combination. some people ended up with stuff like iced coffe and tofu, or curry and cola.
there have been a few birthday parties with new and old students, eating of cake, and some traditional mongolian dish comprised of beef dumplings boiled in milk tea. that night, we also made some fluffy pan-a-cakes with frosting and whipped cream and then ate it all gone.
i'm using my pictures to try to keep track of the chronology and happenings, but there have been a few things i didn't get on there...spent an evening with a couple third year students who i don't get to see too often and have been trying to make plans with for a while now, just sat around talking in one of their rooms, a big spacious place in the apartments that look like cabins or motels or something, out on the edge of the little forest adjascent to the school, and was over there again a few nights ago for a guitar club welcoming party.
i also took part in an activity for the volunteer club last sunday, cleaning garbage from a local riverside. i can never seem to remember the name of the river, but i think it's one of the largest in the tohoku region. there were about 50 students and staff, and another 50 or so from the local community collecting trash, putting it in trucks, and bringing it up to a big clearing where most of the students were working on sorting all the junk and charting the info. we were sorting garbage for over 4 hours, i think, and i don't think we even made a dent on the massive ammount of detrius that gets picked up by the river when the water level rises. there was stuff stuck 10 feet up in the trees for miles along the banks. we found 15 tires, a mound of baseballs, tennis balls and soccer balls, a television, 170 something bags of styrofoam, and a grand total of something like 520 bags of garbage dragged up the riverbank. after collecting all that junk, we went for a short row down the river in a bunch of canoes, chugging along singing sailing songs and trying to control the damn canoe in the very fast current of the river.
what the hell else... it's golden week now, a string of national holidays, so there's no school for about 10 days. a lot of people have returned home or gone on little trips, and i've been in the lobby 'till 4 am the last few nights talking and whatnot with the ones who have stayed, which is pretty damn fantastic.
that's about the bulk of what i can recall from recnt happenings. tomorrow, there's a school trip to kakunodate and lake tazawako, supposedly to see cherry blossoms, but they're gone already, so it'll probably be a bunch of walking and eating. yerp. what say i put up some pictures?
what the hell else, i can't keep things straight... the sakura have bloomed and blown away already. the school is surrounded by cherry trees, so everyone has been out to oggle and smell. i went on a little picnic in the park with the taiwanese and korean students, and last weekend, went with a group to senshu koen for their hana-mi matsuri. the park was jammed with people sitting on big blue tarps layed out with food and drinks brought from home, and plates of matsuri food from the stands lining every pathway in the park. we wound our way up the main path to the castle tower and back down, stopping for takoyaki and beer.
herrrmmmm... there was a little welcome party for the new first year students in the auditorium with performances and weird games. one of them involved the drawing of paper from a hat which had either a beverage or a food on it. people had to draw two pieces, combine the two things, and drink the combination. some people ended up with stuff like iced coffe and tofu, or curry and cola.
there have been a few birthday parties with new and old students, eating of cake, and some traditional mongolian dish comprised of beef dumplings boiled in milk tea. that night, we also made some fluffy pan-a-cakes with frosting and whipped cream and then ate it all gone.
i'm using my pictures to try to keep track of the chronology and happenings, but there have been a few things i didn't get on there...spent an evening with a couple third year students who i don't get to see too often and have been trying to make plans with for a while now, just sat around talking in one of their rooms, a big spacious place in the apartments that look like cabins or motels or something, out on the edge of the little forest adjascent to the school, and was over there again a few nights ago for a guitar club welcoming party.
i also took part in an activity for the volunteer club last sunday, cleaning garbage from a local riverside. i can never seem to remember the name of the river, but i think it's one of the largest in the tohoku region. there were about 50 students and staff, and another 50 or so from the local community collecting trash, putting it in trucks, and bringing it up to a big clearing where most of the students were working on sorting all the junk and charting the info. we were sorting garbage for over 4 hours, i think, and i don't think we even made a dent on the massive ammount of detrius that gets picked up by the river when the water level rises. there was stuff stuck 10 feet up in the trees for miles along the banks. we found 15 tires, a mound of baseballs, tennis balls and soccer balls, a television, 170 something bags of styrofoam, and a grand total of something like 520 bags of garbage dragged up the riverbank. after collecting all that junk, we went for a short row down the river in a bunch of canoes, chugging along singing sailing songs and trying to control the damn canoe in the very fast current of the river.
what the hell else... it's golden week now, a string of national holidays, so there's no school for about 10 days. a lot of people have returned home or gone on little trips, and i've been in the lobby 'till 4 am the last few nights talking and whatnot with the ones who have stayed, which is pretty damn fantastic.
that's about the bulk of what i can recall from recnt happenings. tomorrow, there's a school trip to kakunodate and lake tazawako, supposedly to see cherry blossoms, but they're gone already, so it'll probably be a bunch of walking and eating. yerp. what say i put up some pictures?
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Doushio Ka Naaaa?
nothing particularly monumental going on of late, spring has swooped in this week, and some of the cherry trees are partially in bloom across the campus. still pretty brown here, though. meeting more people and staying up late talking and making little plans to get a little more exercise: playing basketball with one of the new japanese students, joining the volleyball club to slap a ball around and bruise up my forearms. also joined the volunteer club, which will be going out next sunday to pick up garbage from a local river and then taking a little canoe trip somewheres.
it feels very strange having most of the people i've gotten to know move out to separate buildings on the outside of the campus. they don't really come to the dorm anymore, so i've got to make special plans or chance across them studying in the library or running between classes. all of my established little social circles have to shift.
my classes this semester seem pretty decent so far. i'm taking japanese 204, the next language level with the same sensei i've had the whole time. learning a language is a pain in the arse, people. all sorts of words and whatnot. i've also got a class called "the samurai and the sacred" about samurais and religion and how they are connected. it's taught by a wingnut visiting professor from leeds university in england, a guy who jitters and bobbles around the room and waves his arms around and sometimes acts out the lectures in different voices. then there's japanese history, which is pretty straightforward bare bones college lecture, and a 4 1/2 our class called "religion and bioethics" taught by a former buddhist monk who flies in every week from the university of hiroshima.
had a birthday party last week at the tatami mat house down the road for one of the american guys. there were plates piled with food, a long table stacked with drinks, and some mildly salacious goings on after a few japanese drinking games.
my last semester here. only about 15 more weeks, and i'll have to return to the u.s., where i won't have to struggle to communicate, something i know i will actually miss. makes me feel a little frantic about getting around to everyone i want to spend time with and keeping in touch with people, but i'm also anxious to get on with things back home.
i'm going to run around outside now, before the clouds crowd out the sun again and akita is swallowed up by another 72 hour downpour.
it feels very strange having most of the people i've gotten to know move out to separate buildings on the outside of the campus. they don't really come to the dorm anymore, so i've got to make special plans or chance across them studying in the library or running between classes. all of my established little social circles have to shift.
my classes this semester seem pretty decent so far. i'm taking japanese 204, the next language level with the same sensei i've had the whole time. learning a language is a pain in the arse, people. all sorts of words and whatnot. i've also got a class called "the samurai and the sacred" about samurais and religion and how they are connected. it's taught by a wingnut visiting professor from leeds university in england, a guy who jitters and bobbles around the room and waves his arms around and sometimes acts out the lectures in different voices. then there's japanese history, which is pretty straightforward bare bones college lecture, and a 4 1/2 our class called "religion and bioethics" taught by a former buddhist monk who flies in every week from the university of hiroshima.
had a birthday party last week at the tatami mat house down the road for one of the american guys. there were plates piled with food, a long table stacked with drinks, and some mildly salacious goings on after a few japanese drinking games.
my last semester here. only about 15 more weeks, and i'll have to return to the u.s., where i won't have to struggle to communicate, something i know i will actually miss. makes me feel a little frantic about getting around to everyone i want to spend time with and keeping in touch with people, but i'm also anxious to get on with things back home.
i'm going to run around outside now, before the clouds crowd out the sun again and akita is swallowed up by another 72 hour downpour.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Saikin ni Jikan ga Nai Yo
yoisho! i have a minute here before i wash some dirt offa me to mention a few happenings from the last few days whatnot. i'm tired and i have a little bit of a cold, though, so this might turn out a little weird. last week, mother dear showed up with a friend on an extremely windy day, and we wandered around to whatever sights came to mind getting battered around by the gales. went to a big city market with sea animals and plants for sale and consumption and i was able to talk with some of the obaasans working there, and even managed to translate a little bit. also went to a few museums and the kanto festival center where i attempted and failed horribly at hoisting a kanto pole meant for 9 year olds.
the next day, mother and the friend came out here to the school for a tour and also for the chance to embarrass me in front of all the people i've met since i got here. they happened to come on the day when all the new students move into the dorm, so things were ridiculous here with boxes being passed everywhere, nervous families running around, staff and student supporters handing out instructions and gesticulating and explaining, and i had to stop the little tour i was giving a few times to carry refrigerators up to the fourth floor and suchlike. walked around to all the buildings and went to our immense new library, with brand new , buffed hardwood floors, huge windows, wide open lounging areas, and a huge main room with exposed rafters fanning out in a big circle over the bookshelves. it actually makes me want to study there. so. yes. mother and her friend took off, and i think i carried a few more things and met some folks and who knows what else went down that day.
the new students tried to settle in, and were given little informal tours around the dorm by upperclassmen, and i had a chance to meet a few of them that first night. the day after move in, there was a greeting party in the cafeteria with tons of food set out on tables with a number and letter stuck to them. everyone who came in to the cafeteria drew a paper with a number and a letter on it from a bag and went to their assigned table. so everyone met and talked first at the number table for a while, then switched to their letter table to meet some new people. met a lot of people that night, exchanged some numbers, and made plans to go on a walk the following afternoon.
the next day (or thereabouts, maybe it was two days later, i can't remember at all. everything over the last week has been mushed up and mixed up and swirled around.) met in the lobby with all the people who wanted to go on the walk, which ended up totaling 14, 12 new japanese students, m'self, and a guy from england, and wandered off to the woods behind the sporting complex. we broke into the big track stadium for a little bit, and then ended up bumping into a long bridge over a gorge that none of us knew was there. followed the path over the bridge and around the base of a large hill, right behind the airport where we saw a few planes take off. when the path looked like it was never going to end, we decided to turn around and come back to the school, a three hour round trip.
also in there was a surprise invitation to the home of kitaichi-san, the really friendly old feller that works in the dorm office. a few students piled in his car and bought a whole mess of food at a market and then went back to his home to cook and eat together. kitaichi-san's home is friggin amazing. it's huge by japanese standards, all the rooms connected by modernized versions of japanese sliding doors, and a main room with a tall ceiling that can be viewed from the second floor. he and his wife have a huge, custom made table in the main room with a fire pit in the center for grilling. they heated up wood out in front of the house and brought it in by the bucket load, laid out metal grids, and started cooking all the beef, pork, fish, shrimp, oysters, and vegetables we bought at the market. kitaichi-san and his wife sang old old traditional japanese songs to each other across the table and looked at eachother like they just got married yesterday. it was so incredible to watch them interact. so i got to spend another evening in a japanese home with two people who seem like they've been totally in love for over 40 years. i had to almost block out thinking about how far beyond any of my expectations the whole night was, because i would have totally lost it, and crying and eating at the same time is nearly impossible and kind of gross.
other than that, i've been staying up late talking to new students, catching up with people that have been gone, and meeting people from australia, new zealand, hungary, norway, thailand, taiwan, korea, austria, denmark, and the u.s. sometime soon there will be more talking, more walking, a bike ride, and then classes start theday after tomorrow. i think i'm going to try cramming as many classes as possible into my schedule, and see how that goes...
the next day, mother and the friend came out here to the school for a tour and also for the chance to embarrass me in front of all the people i've met since i got here. they happened to come on the day when all the new students move into the dorm, so things were ridiculous here with boxes being passed everywhere, nervous families running around, staff and student supporters handing out instructions and gesticulating and explaining, and i had to stop the little tour i was giving a few times to carry refrigerators up to the fourth floor and suchlike. walked around to all the buildings and went to our immense new library, with brand new , buffed hardwood floors, huge windows, wide open lounging areas, and a huge main room with exposed rafters fanning out in a big circle over the bookshelves. it actually makes me want to study there. so. yes. mother and her friend took off, and i think i carried a few more things and met some folks and who knows what else went down that day.
the new students tried to settle in, and were given little informal tours around the dorm by upperclassmen, and i had a chance to meet a few of them that first night. the day after move in, there was a greeting party in the cafeteria with tons of food set out on tables with a number and letter stuck to them. everyone who came in to the cafeteria drew a paper with a number and a letter on it from a bag and went to their assigned table. so everyone met and talked first at the number table for a while, then switched to their letter table to meet some new people. met a lot of people that night, exchanged some numbers, and made plans to go on a walk the following afternoon.
the next day (or thereabouts, maybe it was two days later, i can't remember at all. everything over the last week has been mushed up and mixed up and swirled around.) met in the lobby with all the people who wanted to go on the walk, which ended up totaling 14, 12 new japanese students, m'self, and a guy from england, and wandered off to the woods behind the sporting complex. we broke into the big track stadium for a little bit, and then ended up bumping into a long bridge over a gorge that none of us knew was there. followed the path over the bridge and around the base of a large hill, right behind the airport where we saw a few planes take off. when the path looked like it was never going to end, we decided to turn around and come back to the school, a three hour round trip.
also in there was a surprise invitation to the home of kitaichi-san, the really friendly old feller that works in the dorm office. a few students piled in his car and bought a whole mess of food at a market and then went back to his home to cook and eat together. kitaichi-san's home is friggin amazing. it's huge by japanese standards, all the rooms connected by modernized versions of japanese sliding doors, and a main room with a tall ceiling that can be viewed from the second floor. he and his wife have a huge, custom made table in the main room with a fire pit in the center for grilling. they heated up wood out in front of the house and brought it in by the bucket load, laid out metal grids, and started cooking all the beef, pork, fish, shrimp, oysters, and vegetables we bought at the market. kitaichi-san and his wife sang old old traditional japanese songs to each other across the table and looked at eachother like they just got married yesterday. it was so incredible to watch them interact. so i got to spend another evening in a japanese home with two people who seem like they've been totally in love for over 40 years. i had to almost block out thinking about how far beyond any of my expectations the whole night was, because i would have totally lost it, and crying and eating at the same time is nearly impossible and kind of gross.
other than that, i've been staying up late talking to new students, catching up with people that have been gone, and meeting people from australia, new zealand, hungary, norway, thailand, taiwan, korea, austria, denmark, and the u.s. sometime soon there will be more talking, more walking, a bike ride, and then classes start theday after tomorrow. i think i'm going to try cramming as many classes as possible into my schedule, and see how that goes...
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