Phil's Study Abroad: Hiroshima, Japan and Heidelberg, Germany

almost done.

2006-07-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

first a funny funny clip about a famous little Bush pilot.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3934788900154749704&q=bush+pilot&time=15000

Then pics...
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2103679287

and my grades are starting to come in, so far im doing good 3's in italian, art, 1.5 in art lit...now if i could only hope for passing the environmental econ klausur...

Klausur = Final Test = My Grade in Germany!

2006-07-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

current condition: a medium of procrastinating, while freaking out about environmental economics final. must learn 180pages of german text on the instruments of leading an environmentally oriented enterprise. i have til next wednesday.
the grades in germany are set up 1 through 6, 1 being the best. and last semesters class..nobody got a 1 from my professor.
seriously how hard can it be, even germans cant possibly cram 180 pages of vocab, graphs, examples and descriptions can they? but still, gotta study my ass off. oh yea and i got italian tomorrow, art and literature next tuesday, and a paper that's not technically due until mid august, but i need to have done and handed in by the time i leave on how japanese culture/art influenced french impressionists... :X!!! waahhhh german finals are so hard! ok i have to study. bye.

2006-06-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

awesome! both my teams are still in after the top 16 final match last night. Germany over Sweden 2-0, and Argentina over Mexico 2-1. It'll be tense now because Germany and Argentina have to play each other next round. It should be a good fight..

"Berlin! Berlin! Wir fahren nach Berlin!!!"

OOps

2006-06-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

almost forgot, but happy fathers day and happy anniversaries~

the sounds in the air

2006-06-11T04:17:00.000-07:00

Usually the only thing I listen to in my room is my music from the laptop, or the train that passes by my room way too often. But on some nice days, like today. I get to hear opera, chorus, or classical music practices and performances coming from the church a little way up the mountain. Then I just open my window and enjoy a free concert whilst I study my books. yay music.

Here are two new albums...
Schwetzingen
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2105649710
Mannheim, Worms, Heidelberg
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2105412648

Begin Weltmeisterschaft (WM) 2006~

2006-06-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Germany is intense right now. Kristen, Katy and I were in Mannheim tonight with Paul at his fraternity house watching the Germany vs Costa Rica game. Germany won 4-2 :D We didn't stay for the Poland vs Equador game for obvious reasons. People are already going crazy after Germany won...this is gonna be sweeeeeeeet.

New Pictures from Brussels

2006-05-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pictures from Brussels.
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2105886891

For this blog, whenever I say "we" I am referring to Kristen, Katy and I. We started our trip on Thursday because it was some sort of holiday, and my class on Friday is so boring. I never have to take notes in the class, and usually about 45 minutes into it, start to fall asleep during the prof's lecture. So anyway...we got to Brussels around 2-ish and had a bit of trouble finding our hotel, which is always fun :-/. We did find it, but we were in a bit of a crummy neighborhood (northwest Brussels) and our hopes weren't so high for the hotel, but when we got inside the hotel was really really nice!!! It was already 100x better than our hotel experience in Paris. The receptionist spoke to us in perfect English and was even able to give us directions to places that we wanted to go. We headed out the first night around 6ish I guess, because there was a free shuttle. Yea....free! We got out just outside of Grand Place (the main square in Brussels city centre). Then we were just walking around and looking at what was around, and the shops we went in were so cool. Not too overly priced I think. Lots of chocolates, frites (papa to the american french fries), belgian lace, and waffles~ Katy and Kristen were already planning the shops that we had to go back to for souvenirs so it was a good thing we decided not to be lazy on our first night in Brussels.
The next morning Kristen actually slept. She had a bit of insomnia last week so it was good to know that she finally got more than 2hrs of sleep. Today was the day to go to the EU and I had gotten instructions from the reeptionist on how to get there. Just take two trams to get there...sounds easy enough, except that when we got there, of course there are more than one EU building, but after going in and asking for directions to where we wanted to go, nobody could give us any good directions!! We were trying to find the visitors entrance to the parlament building, and after getting directions from the normal entrance, continued to search for the visitors entrance for another 40minutes. THEN!! we go in to see if we can't join up with the group for the tour and find out that there weren't any tours on Friday because the EU had some special extension for the holiday that was on Thursday! Needless to say Kristen was crushed because it was THE REASON that she had wanted to come to Brussels. She is a politics-geek.
So then we just went back, Kristen went back sadly, to the Grand Place for more shopping time. We first went for a pick me up at a toy store, which was one of the most fun shops we all went to. The toys in Brussels are so cool. What else did we do...we had a nice dinner at a place called EKXL or something like that. It was an organic restauant, I had some pasta with prosciutto and a bowl of tomato soup. It was really good.
Then on the Saturday we went into the Grand Place again after walking around to lots of other churches and palaces and parks. But when we got to the Grand Place we started seeing lots of Rainbow flags and umbrellas. We knew that there was a Gay Bar neighborhood just next to Grand Place, but we didn't know that there was a Gay Pride Festival on that day!!! So we had to go see, because we could already hear the music when we were a few blocks away and the place was crazy. There were maybe 5 or 6 long semis and the trailers were for dancing and had tons and tons of speakers set up on them. The whole thing was pretty cool. Katy and Kristen laughed when I got hit on by a transvestite. :-X It was a little awkward too, so I held onto Katy and Kristen when we walked.
Sunday we had our train ticket for 1:28pm so we had to find something to do before that. Sadly we had all of our purchases and luggage to pack with us so it was a little tiring to carry it all over. Turns out there are two markets in Brussels on Sundays, there is an antique flea market and also a huge produce and clothing market next to the train station. The antique one was a little small, and unless you are a collector (or at least not carrying your luggage through the people) it's a little hard to get into. The large market was good as far as food was concerned (there was a churro stand, lol) but the clothing was pretty lame. Every stand looked the same. I'm sure there is a lot more to our Brussels trip than that , but that's all I can remember right now, and I have an 8:30 Italian class tomorrow morning. You can look at the pictures and have a good idea of what we did. Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

I'll give you a topic.

2006-05-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

Wal-mart wants into the organic aggy market. Good or Bad?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/business/12organic.html?ex=1148097600&en=18919ca2bcc55711&ei=5009&partner=MSN_BUSINESS
Discuss.

My grandpa tells me I need to blog more...

2006-05-09T02:24:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while since my last blog. My hair is really really long now...maybe you actually dont want to see a picture of that. But the internet in my apartment is being stupid so I can't upload anything to the internet anyway.
The biggest thing was May Day. Some friends and I, Sascha, Erica, Amanda, Evan, John all went up the mountain on April 30 for a huge party. We actually didn't know how huge it was going to be. Just that it lasts the entire night. First you have to hike up the mountain though, so that was around 40 minutes...and we didn't see many people at the beginning climbing up the mountain, but around halfway up, you could tell there was a train of people all going to the top with backpacks, sleepingbags, grills, and food. When we got near the top of the mountain you could begin to hear the drums coming from inside the 1930s amphitheatre. The atmosphere was charged, and when you walked in through the giant doors, you could see a huge seating section and all the places were filled up, people had brought their own bongos and were playing just a drum beat which was really awesome because of the acoustics in the amphitheatre, the entire place was filled with sound.
Then we found our spot and had a little to drink. We felt pretty unprepared becasuse everybody else had grills and salads and that kind of stuff that they brought up the mountain, but we had a good time nonetheless. The craziest part was when the people started to come out of the crowd who knew how to juggle, except they didnt just juggle, they lit their sticks on fire first and were juggling fire. Then there were others who had the sticks on strings and would do a kind of club dancing thing that was just amazing, i have a cool video on my laptop, but you will have to wait for that untill i come back... and then just last weekend there was a wine festival. it was a pretty small thing, but you could sample wines and then have a small glass for just 1.50euros which is around half of what you would pay in a restaurant.
and then classes started i have italian, environmental economics, two courses in fine arts history, and a german class. aite i gotta go to the gym now and lift some weights before class starts....phil out!

My mommy told me I had to blog more...

2006-04-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

I was pretty sure I didn't like country music, but for some reason this song is popular here in Germany, and I think it's catchy.

Texas Lightning - No No Never

My love is stronger now than you’ll ever know
and it won’t ever let you go
My love is wider than the ocean can be
and it’s deeper than the deep blue sea
My love goes higher than a mountain can rise
and I see it there in your eyes
My love gets tougher when the going gets rough
and believe me, I’ve got more than enough

Keep tryin’ babe, keep holding on
There’s a place we belong
Where things are good, where love is strong

I’m never ever gonna leave you to cry on your own
Never ever gonna not go and pick up the phone
I’m never ever gonna let you be chilled to the bone
No, no, never
No, no, never
I’m never ever gonna leave when you’re lost in the storm
Never ever gonna not keep you safe where it’s warm
I never ever will desert you when your heart is torn
No, no, never
No, no, never

My love shines brighter than a twinkling star
baby no matter where you are
And my love keeps burning like an eternal flame
you can feel it, when I’m calling your name

Keep tryin’ babe, keep holding on
There’s a place we belong
Where things are good, where love is strong

My new diet...

2006-04-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

On the weekend with Heather I believe I found a very successful new diet plan...here is my dinner at Die Hirschgasse Hotel.

Fried goose-liver on rhubarb with brioche

Lobster in foam of wild garlic with sepia-spaghettinis

Badish asparagus with Sauce Hollandaise

Fillet of sea bass of friend green asparagus with Noilly-Prat sauce

Saddle of lamb in an eggplant crust on zucchini-mint vegetable with potato turnovers

Berries gratinated with Ramazotti foam with passionfruit sorbet

There were also hor d'oerves of oysters, and a leg, saddle, and liver of rabbit compliments of the chef. Did I also mention that with each course we had a separate wine. So...practically 8 courses, 6 wines...its a good diet. And if you are insanely jealous of me right now, good. You can thank Heather, Mark, and Richard for advising me to brag about this meal to anybody I meet.

Paris, France

2006-04-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

Feel free to peruse my pictures from Paris...
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2107414466

DSH and off to Paris

2006-04-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey just checking in letting you know that I'll be in Paris until Wednesday, then on Thursday Heather is coming from London for a few days. Should be a blast.
The DSH is like the test that says what branches of Heidelberg University I'll be allowed to take. There are three scores DSH-3, DSH-2, DSH-1. 3 is the highest and 1 is the lowest. Well the good news is that I passed with a DSH-1 which isn't bad for just coming back from Japan. But it does mean I have to have another meeting with Dr. Tracy about what classes to take. I'm pretty sure I don't want to change much, because sitting in a slow grammar class really isn't what brought me to Germany in the first place. oh, and out of our entire group of around 30students, only 4 or 5 of us passed the DSH. Which is sad for a lot of people...but makes me feel a little better especially when i use my excuse that I just came out of speaking Japanese for 4months.

Why is Heidelberg so crazy...

2006-04-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the first reason is that at the supermarket Handelshof, there is the section of the meat department where they slash prices on stuff reaching expiration....so that means I have experience in purchasing 4 different kinds of sausage at the same time, and eating all of it in less than 3 days :)
The second reason is the weather. Yesterday it was sunny, cloudy, hail, sunny, rain, then sunny....in that exact order...its so confusing.
I took the DSH (German Proficiency Exam) yesterday. It wasn't so bad I guess, but that's just me. a 3 hour test, that I fininished in less than 2....so i have to practice just sitting and doing nothing for a long time....wasnt too exciting. I'll know the result on Wednesday or Thursday.
I got an email from my host father, Mr. Nagasatou, from Kuchiwachou the other day. He says that he is quite busy because of the farm and what not, but the good news is that the asparagus is sprouting right now....mmmm....Spargel!
Last thing is that I'm reassured that I am at my 70kgs bodyweight again. The scale at Fitness-point was weird, so I thought I had lost like 10lbs from the weird diet when I first got here, and not being able to exercise regularly. But thanks to Evan and my 3 sandwiches-before-noon-plus-all-other-meals-a-day I'm doing good now. Ready to start growing again. [=] Aite, pz.

katy, kelly, cookie

The internet here works!

2006-03-25T05:02:00.000-08:00

I just thought I would throw that out there, but don't expect me to be online too much. I'm sure to be writing a lot about the last 3 wks...I just have to find time to do it, I don't always make it back to my dorm on the weekends. I went to Havana Club and did some salsa and bachata dancing..yea jasmine you heard me right...that means you better come visit me and we can go to Havana Club~ I stayed in my friend's room and I gotta go out to get more food for my apartment....ok? Bye Bye

Prepare.

2006-02-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

So, America is pretty much as I left it. I'm very busy these days with meeting friends. Last week I went to Kenosha to visit my friends, of course they were glad to see me, and I was glad to see them too. Funny though when they would try to start making plans to hang out, but I have to be in Germany from March 2, so it was a little disappointing. Although Dave and I did hang out with some girls from Pi Sig business fraternity. They were all in business suits, Dave looked half decent, I was in my gym clothes lookin hardcore. Well, maybe I just looked a little dirty. But it was a rugged dirty...

I also found out a little about the rowing team in Heidelberg. It's a little depressing because unless there is another club nearby, the person I talked to said that the club wasn't competitive, and just rowed for 2hrs on Saturday. Not quite my 20hrs of training that I'm used to right now. So I'm trying to see what else I could do in addition to rowing. I still need to find a good list of clubs in Heidelberg, but I have found a rugby club that might look fun.

I haven't started to think at all about packing...I guess it'll all just come together at the last minute.

My plane lands at 5:45am in Frankfurt..so I have to find some way to stay awake for the rest of the day..a nap may be in order, because at night we are having a party to meet with our conversation partners. :)

Well, I've still got a lot of stuff to do before I'm ready to take off for Germany...later

The Seoul Post

2006-01-29T20:45:00.000-08:00

Jan 24, 2006
6:30am- So this day starts off pretty much the same as most of the others...with Rowing team practice. Yea even on the day I leave for Korea, I go to practice (I'm that hardcore, and even my friends were shocked when I told them I had to leave at 11am when it was around 10am). Today I was on the ergometer (fancy technical name for the rowing machine) we did two sets one of 10min and the 2nd of 15min. For the last minute I went from a rate of 20 and average time of 2'08" to a rate of 23 avg 1'48" It was pretty good. But still not as good as the guys who were holding the rate of 2'00" for most of the duration. I don't really have enough time to go to my economics class, too bad. But I did have enough time to stay with the crew team for little while in the weight room.
11:00am - Met up with Zhang and Ton in front of the Ikenoue rotary and got the low down on how to get to the airport. Bus to Saijou station, Train to Shiraichi, Bus to Hiroshima Airport. We got there with plenty of time and exchanged our money for Korean Won. I brought 50,000 yen with me and exchanged 30,000yen into approx 230,000won. I guess the exchange rate was 732won per 100yen. We got hooked up with our tour group and got our tickets and all that stuff. Around this time, the hunger kicks in again (did I mention I had a sandwich on the train?) and after we go through security I gotta grab something.
2:30pm - Off to Seoul~ Not really much to say about the flight, funny to have the flight attendents try to talk to me in English and after my reply in Japanese, we just stick with the Japanese :)
3:30pm - I'm in Seoul!!! I've never really been able to tell the difference between different Asian people (Japanese from Korean from Chinese) and pretty much there isn't but here I think the style and hair and faces of people definitely seem a bit different than in Japan. Police are pretty scary. I am accustomed to see the police with guns..even sub-automatic guns from when I was in Germany, but here, the police just walking around are in bulletproof vests, pistols on the side, fully-automatic weapons carried on their back. I looked for handcuffs....none, at least I couldn't see them...not a good sign if something comes about.
We took a bus into the city and got our meal from a pretty decent restaurant I suppose. We had a common course of karubi. Karubi is Korean yakiniku..just cooked meat, but it is cooked over coals that are in the middle of the table. You take the meat and put it into a leaf of cabbage and add whatever else you want (Kim chi, daikon, some spicy sauce, tofu, kelp) to make a small wrap (think build your own fingerfood). Of course, we three guys, being guys, this single course doesn't put a dent into the hunger tanks so we got this other thing...I'm still not exactly sure what it is, but Zhang explained it was probably a tendon or ligament from a cows knee. Even without knowing what it was it didn't taste too great in the end. It was so chewy and lacking of most of the flavor..all we could taste was the spicy sauce put on it, and that wasn't quite enough.
around 8:00pm - We got to the hotel. But not for long, because I love the night life so we went to Dongdaemun. Wow! There is such a nightlife here. The sidewalks are covered with street vendors selling insanely cheap fake brand goods. Just everywhere! The places there aren't stores, there are trash bags full of the contraband goods. Even the normal stores are packed with this stuff at night. (These kinds of stores are only open at night, and the real stores are open during the day.) There is music anywhere you go and there was even a hip-hop dance stage around one of the more interesting areas. One of the nice places that we found is the river that runs through the city, you can go down some stairs and walk next to the river and there isn't much music here, so you can just listen to the water and enjoy this.
11:30ish - We don't know how long the subway runs around here so we decide we had better get back to the hotel so we can continue our antics for the next day~ Did I mention how cheap the subway is here!? To get from the hotel to Dongdaemun took around 20minutes but only cost 900won!! Maybe this is around 75cents.

Jan 25, 2006 - Woke up at 7:30 bright and early...not really but let's imagine it is. After my hearty breakfast of dry cereal and some water. We make our way down to the lobby. I checked the exchange rates, because I'm that much of an economics geek to care about it. Turns out that the exchange rate changed to a little over 800won per 100yen. We economics geeks get our kick off making percentages of cents.
So we are with the tour on the morning of duty free shopping malls...We went to two places that were duty free, which means that it was all brand name junk. Even without taxes it's not worth looking at it. Then we went to an area of town where it was the cultural goods shopping scene. Set up like a traditional Korean street, you could buy things like fans, masks, lacquer boxes, steel chopsticks (in ancient times the Emperor used the steel chopsticks because if the color changed, it meant that there was a poison in the food) and of course cell phone straps.
After the traditional street, we went to around the area that we went to last night alone, and afterwards was free time so instead of going to shopping, we grabbed some food from the mall food court, a krispy kreme and headed on our way to the Palace, Kyanbokkun, I think that's where we went at least. It was really huge! It's too bad that that most of the buildings look exactly the same, so unless you know specifically what the buildings purpose was, it's hard to distinguish one from the other. We also saw the changing of the guard.
5:00pm - Off to the Amusement Park Lotte World!!!! Woooo!!! What better thing is there to do when you get to a foreign country than go to amusement park? If you figure it out, tell me. First the indoor rides, you know its indoor so it can't be too spectacular. But inside it's warm and thats what we like. After the inside was conquered, we went to the outside portion! The rides were so great...Gyro Drop...Atlantis something...and the Flame. I'll admit it. I'm a chicken, I have no idea how high it was, but the Gyro drop..isn't really a Gyro at all...it just drops...and yea I was freakin out by about half way up. Falling at 9.8meters per second though doesn't take too long so we got to the ground pretty quick. Ohh...the mistakes we make. And ask me to do the Korean wave...I don't know how to explain it, but they just took the Western hello/goodbye wave and added their own Lotte World touch. One more thing about Lotte World is that each ride has it's own music..hip-hop, hyper techno, or anything with a strong beat and good kick to it, because all the workers who are working at the rides do their little dance non-stop. It's not too much, but I can't imagine if the people at six-flags are dancing for however long their shift is...5hrs of dancing before the break...I guess it does have its advantages,.like being warm..and looks a lot better than the 'i-love-what-i-do' face that people at magic waters or six flags have.
On another note, even being in Seoul I get the little weird "hey-is-that-really-a-foreigner-HERE?" look. Funny~
12:30ish got back to the hotel

Jan 26, 2006
8:00 - wake up
9:00 -take off from the hotel for Kim chi and Seaweed sampling place. Kim chi tastes good, definitely can tell the difference between the flavors. Seaweed is good too, but not good enough to be crazy about. Ended up I got a bottle of Korean Sake and a bottle of Ginseng Wine. I am deep in the souvenir debt, so I'll plan on giving the Sake to Harada-san, he is a good friend of mine. Also because of the heirarchy here, he is one of the oldest students in the club, so he and I being good friends really helped me to find my place at crew team. Then the Ginseng Wine I'll enjoy when Noriko arrives from Tokyo. Next week (Feb 3) she is coming to visit me for Thursday and maybe a little of Friday before I leave for Kuchiwachou on the weekend. We will go into Hiroshima city and do some sightseeing maybe a museum.

Next stop..

2006-01-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

Just got my address while I`m in Germany..

I`ll be staying in a private dormitory apartment
Schlierbacher Landstrasse 136 (Street name)
Jaegerhaus Zimmer 12 (Apartment and room number)

Still working on the Seoul stuff...busy busy..

Ane hase yo!

2006-01-26T03:24:00.000-08:00

this is Korean...well it's not written in Korean and it probably isn't even the correct romanized spelling, but it means Hello when I say it.
without further ado! phil presents pictures the first part is from Zhangs camera, the second part (when the pictures repeat) is from Ton's camera...I forgot mine in the hotel room, but no problem because Ton takes more pictures than I do anyway.
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2112943129

To Tim---look up the name of the black and white bird that is in the photos, this birds call is so weird!!

Seoul-ed Out

2006-01-23T00:46:00.000-08:00

I'll be in Seoul, S. Korea for the next few days. From January 24 til the 26th. Yea, I'll miss class, but class seems to be so much easier than real life. I already have a shopping list from my boat crew of stuff to bring back so we can have a party...oddly enough they want Korean seaweed.
Also the people who read this will also be pleased to know that Harada-san, Nagao and I (there may be others) are all gonna watch SpaceBalls (a Mel Brooks production) in Japanese~ A movie like this can only get better...the same way that watching Arnold in the Japanese dubbed version of Predator..

Might be fun to think

2006-01-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

This might be plagiarism, but I helped him pass computer science back in Freshman year, so maybe it's OK, and I just found this poem that he wrote for one of our assignments back then. From what I remember Namon wrote this poem in just 10minutes or so...this is the original poem by Namon Johnson
--
listening to the motion of the ocean
makes you think about the number one thing in your relationship, the devotion

living in the world can sometimes be ghostly
no one appreciates you or understand you, God only

what if we lived in a perfect world
ha you would love that wouldn't you but were not, we're curled up like a cinnamon swirl

tommorow is promised to no one
you can wake up tommorow morning next thing you know your done
but you know your not the only one

stepping into the world of an armageddon
you stepped into it, know where your headin
hell if you don't pray, trust I'm not trippin

now welcome to my world, the world of truth
are you ready! 1,2,3 close your eyes and think, the world there is no truth
--

Dazaifu Shrine

2006-01-03T01:28:00.000-08:00

pictures are worth one thoussand words right? So I'll keep this brief. We went to Dazaifu Shrine, I forgot where it is, but it is close to Fukuoka. College entrance exam students (Mika) to pray for good luck on their exams and for studying.

Phil and Mika

Shhhh!!! We are traveling incognito!

Giant Tree at Dazaifu Shrine

No, I didn't measure the tree, but I imagine the diameter was at least 10 ft. But, maybe the Keebler elves should be looking for a new house in Japan :)

We are the new zen.

2005-12-30T17:51:00.000-08:00

otousan

phil

Going to the Kaneko's

2005-12-27T17:32:00.000-08:00

So first, I gotta make picture time, I had a really packed day...this post is late, but talks about the events on December 25 and 26.
I woke up same as normal..frightfully and unreasonably early, 7am, without using an alarm clock. So I just did some cleaning and final packing getting ready to go to the Kaneko's the next day. Then I had coffee and lunch with Ryoko. It's funny, I could tell how nervous she was talking to me because she wasn't sure how well we could communicate, but actually since last talking to her, hopefully, my Japanese skill surprised her a bit. Anyway, so we just chatted over coffee (yea Bri, they have cafes here in Japan, so it's safe to come) and then we went to Sukiya (Miho you can rest assured, I've come to enjoy sukiya...but not as much as yoshinoya!) Yea, we were just having a good time talking in Japanese, I learned some Yamaguchi prefecture slang...here is the primer

bucchi = Yamaguchi
meccha = Kansai
sugoi = standard Japanese
very = English

nan shichoru - Yamaguchi
nanba shiyouto - Fukuoka
nani wo shite imasu ka - standard Japanese
What are you doing now? - English

ke - Yamaguchi
kara - standard Japanese
because - English

then we took a picture afterwards~

Ryoko and Phil

Right after leaving Ryoko, Dan and I met up to go to Hiroshima city for a nabe party with my host sister from Kuchiwachou, Hitomi. We played this really weird game on Dan's PSP (Playstation portable) weird, but at the same time, totally addicting...good thing I'm too mature for that kind of thing now. We met up with Hitomi, then met up with her two girlfriends Miu and Mie. We went to the Nabe restaurant and had sushi, some fried shrimp, then nabe, then from the leftover broth risotto, then ice cream!!! it was so much food...soo good. Afterwards, we were just gonna go to the trainstation, but I noticed and wanted to take pictures of the Christmas lights. It was so beautiful! Here are some pictures of the Hiroshima City Illumination...Oh and do notice how I've successfully involved myself in Japanese culture with the addition of the scooter goggles~

Mie, Dan, Phil

Phil, Dan, Hitomi

The man formerly known as Prince...this is actually what happens "when doves cry".

Illumination1

Illumination2

Nothing too special happened on the way back to the dorms...
Next day I woke up really unreasonably early again....nothing left in the fridge, so just rice and a little bit of soup in the morning. It must have been funny seeing me with my suitcase, laptop, backpack, and one more bag of gifts (bottle of hiroshima sake and box of sweets), walking about 10min to the place to meet the Kaneko's, but anyway, we can laugh about this later :) Like as soon as I got there, the Kaneko's arrived, what timing!! Then on the way back we stopped at a curry restaurant, which was delish, and just, otousan (miho's dad) would speak English, I would speak Japanese, then okaasan (miho's mom) exclaims how funny it is that we don't speak our native languages except her! Yea, and Mika and I are hanging out a lot, she's studying right now for the university entrance exam, I guess she'll try to go to Yamaguchi University. Yea, right now is just relaxing~

And now for something completely different..

2005-12-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

from YogaJournal.com
---"Goal making is a valuable skill; it involves envisioning a future outcome in the world or in your behavior, then planning, applying discipline, and working hard to achieve it. You organize your time and energy based on your goals; they help provide direction for your life. Committing to and visualizing those goals may assist you in your efforts, but neither of these activities is what I call setting intention. They both involve living in an imagined future and are not concerned with what is happening to you in the present moment. With goals, the future is always the focus: Are you going to reach the goal? Will you be happy when you do? What's next?"---

This article talks about the relationship between Intentions and Goals. To reach your goals you must have the right intention, but realize that goals can be accomplished or failed, this is the spice of life. Having the right intention, you can cultivate and work hard to reach your goals.

To read the entire article, which I recommend, copy and paste this address to the url window..
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/926_1.cfm?ctsrc=nlv184

Deep thoughts...

2005-12-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

So I`m walking back to campus today for Crew training, when I look at the lake to see a little duck freezing in the water swimming to the other side. Later along the way I noticed that it was lightly snowing, but also it was sunset with not so many clouds in the sky. I wonder why I have never seen this kind of thing so much in the states...usually during snowfall the sky is completely covered with clouds and you cant see the sun, but here it happens all the time.
Well, after yogic meditation in warrior 1, warrior 2, then back to warrior 1 again...I`ve concluded that the only possible answer is "magic" snow. . .

Oden Party from Sunday Night

2005-12-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

oden
Rou, Dai, Odoya, Gatch, Hiro
Hiro, Gatch, Me! Odoya, Rou, Chin
Chin!

The Carnage from Yukihassen (Snowball fight)

2005-12-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Tanuma-san
Yukidaruma
Gotou

iishuumatsuwo

2005-12-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

I had a good weekend. Starting on Saturday morning, I had rowing team practice. We had rowing machine time trials, I and the other people on the crew were pretty sure I am still not up to the same endurance as the other guys...but I really wanted to join in the time trials with everybody, so I did 1000meters instead of the 2000m. Takashira-san really went all out on it, and he couldn`t stand or walk by himself for about 15 minutes. Sad thing is that he wasn`t the fastest member!! I guess I did decently enough, I`m still not sure about what kind of pace we should try to keep to finish strong, or if there is any technique involved in using the rowing machines..but I did my 1km in around 3min 30sec...most of the guys were finishing the 2km just around 7min 30sec I think. I can catch up to them though~ Oh and did I mention that we were outside rowing while the snow was falling? Yea, we`re hardcore.
After that I had a nice lunch at the cafeteria with the crew team, and then returned to the meeting place to clean our area and hang out for a while. Didn`t take too long, then back at the dorm, and had some more food, my cheeks felt kinda weird so I think I maybe caught a bit of a cold or something and I took a shower after having a nap.
Then at night Garth and I went into Hiroshima city to catch up with Hitomi (our host-sister from Kuchiwa-chou) It was snowing so much! The snowflakes were the size of quarters! Anyway, we just chatted with her over a cup of sake before we realized it was already getting to
be around the time of the last train to the Saijou station. After running for about 5 min, we got on the train with like 45sec before departure.
We arrived in Saijou even with the heavy snow falling.....about this time there are no taxis and the last bus had already left, so Garth and I are stuck going by foot to the dorms. But seeing as we are hardcore (or at least I am) We decided to run/walk to keep warm and to shorten up the trip. Yea we rain about 2km in 3inches of fresh snow at 1:30am...Definitely felt the burn in the calves..its like running on the beach. I slept so well...
Today, we were supposed to have practice but it was cancelled because of the snow, most people don`t live on campus so snow is a little hard for people to ride their bikes in. I decided to sleep in til around 10 and then made some Rice Milk soup. This soup is from the German cookbook I got from my Aunt Carol (thanks Carol!) I found this recipe in a long-lost folder on my computer so I decided to try it...the measurements are all weird, so I just guess most of the time, but about 1cup of cooked rice, 2spoons of white sugar, dash of cinnamon, 2cups milk, and cornstarch to thicken it up. Funny story about not measuring things...I only wanted to put in a little bit of cornstarch...but ended up losing my grip on the bag,....about 1tbsp fell in, but the soup turned out delicious nonetheless!
Later, when I was listening to music I got a call from Tamagawa-san, inviting me to hang out with the crew guys. I hope to get the pictures from people, but Gotou, Satsumaki, Tama, and I made a snow man, then we met up with Takashira, Tanuma, Takahashi, Akira, and Kimura to see their snow man, and a bit of a snowball fight. Poor Gotou and Tanuma were the losers of this battle.
That`s about my weekend...next weekend I`m gonna have a nabe party (giant bowl of soup) with Hitomi and some of her friends, then on the 26th Miho`s parents are gonna pick me up from Campus to spend the Winter/New Year`s break with them in Ube city~

Bounenkai and Ensoukai

2005-12-12T15:39:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here....We had snow, but it melted the next day. Now it's just cold ouside. Nobody rememberd to tell Phil that Saijou is an especially cold place because it is at a higher elevation than Hiroshima City. Also, the school put up a tree and some lights in front of the Central Library, chuuou toshokan. Pic time!

xmas2
xmas
I'm pretty sure I found the happiest old lady in Hiroshima prefecture, too. She works at the Coop cafeteria next to the dorms..and when you enter she says "okaeri" instead of "irasshaimase" as if you were just returning home. She just has this big smile and warm feeling whenever she speaks to you. Now if only she could make fried chicken and cornbread.... :)

This weekend was absolutely intense...I was soooo busy! It was great fun though. I went to two performances (Ensoukai) and to the crew team year-end (Bounenkai). I didn't have to exercise at all, which of course is good, and bad at the same time. Love to move~ Anyway, I got up early enough on Saturday because I had to clean up my room. Ever notice how you have never seen a picture of my room? Well, there is good reason for it :) So after my room...eh...well it was "clean" I went to the local supermarket because I wanted to get some food for the refrig before I left...I was running on empty. I saw something amazing!! I finally know how to life cheaply in Japan, but I haven't quite acquired the skill yet...Apparently at the super, Saturday is fresh fish day. There is this one fish that I love called Saba (maybe Miho can tell correctly but I guess it is Mackerel) You can buy the fish pre-cut and packaged (they do it in the store so it's still ultra fresh) for just 400yen (a little less than $4)..BUT on Saturday you can buy the entire fish for just 200yen!!! It's insanely cheap! I know the rule on how to buy fresh fish...clear eyes, red gills, fish smell...but actually buying and preparing it is another story. Next time, I get to participate on Fish day...definitely getting some cheap mackerel, I have to practice my knife skillz~ :)
After shopping, I just had enough time to drop of the goods and head to the bus stop. Apparently I still haven't gotten the hang of the Japanese bus system, but there are so few buses on the weekend..its so hard to travel in town. I did meet up with the two Austrians Hannes and Erika, and another Korean girl. The Korean girl told us that she and some other HUSA girls were going to the same concert as us, so we changed our plan and took a direct bus to downtown instead of a bus and a train. Then 20min of walking, asking for directions, consulting a 1.5in map, asking for directions, and walking, and asking for directions...We weren't late though(by 5min) Everything was great! Oh, and Ryoko, Miho's friend, is how I found out about the performance. She plays the French Horn (which completely confused the Austrians, because they didn't know why the horn was French). I found out afterward that the performers wouldn't be greeting us as we left the performance hall, so I had to rush back in to give Ryoko the flowers that I brought. I always saw people at Carthage giving flowers to people after performances, so I brought my own. Also, I have to engage in the Japanese culture of gift giving...Ryoko gave me two tickets to the performance, so I had to figure out some way to get her a gift. Somehow, I'm always in gift-debt....
Then after the performance, I had to split up from the group because while they would be heading back to Saijou, I was bound for a train to West-hiroshima station, a street car to Furue station, and a 10minute walk to meet up with everybody at the boathouse. Somehow, without getting too lost I found the boathouse. I was supposed to be at the boathouse at 6..I walked in the door at 6:01. Then as soon as I found dropped off my stuff, I found that the restaurant that we were going to was...in downtown Hiroshima...so we all made the trek back to Hiroshima to this awesome Chinese restaurant...Chinese food is so much better here....we had fried gyoza (this is the staple of a Chinese restaurant in Japan....just say mmmm..Gyouuuuuza), rice, stir-fried shrimp and noodles, mango filled sweet bread, chicken, spicy shrimp...Then of course there was beer, and cocktails..I tried something called Anzu...and some Japanese potato liquor...it was so watered down though...it actually tasted just like water to me. I tried Kamichika's Chinese beer that he ordered...and I decided never to try Chinese beer again. We had lots of formalities, like little speeches from everybody in the room starting with the oldest member who came...I think he graduated in like 1947.
After the dinner, we tried to go bowling...tried...the lanes were reserved for the next 2 hrs...so what do we do, we break off into small groups...Akira and Satomi and I head of to a ramen bar because...actually, unless we were really amped to get drunk during the dinner there wasn't enough food. This was an awesome ramen joint. Then we all recollected again and headed to the Karaoke bar. I wasn't sure how long we were gonna be there, but I guess there is some special rate for people who are at the very last to go to the Karaoke....like midnight til 6am crowd...yea thats us...so listening and singing Japanese and English songs until around 5am, til we take a taxi back to the boathouse.
We sleep for about 3 hrs, and wake up to get ready for Osouji. In Japan they don't have spring cleaning but new year's cleaning instead. I was teamed with Tamachan, Inami, and one other guy who I can never remember his name, to clean up the sleeping areas. I only get to work until noon-ish though, because I had to get cleaned up and ready to take the train back into Saijou for another friend's concert. When I left of course I said "Otsukaresama desu" Kind of formal way of ending a meeting in Japan. Then everybody in the boathouse yelled back "Itterasshai" to see me off. It was a good feeling because I really feel like I've been accepted into the rowing club. I can talk freely with anybody in the club and nobody feels like my (what is to be debated) sub-par Japanese is a burden. So that was awesome~
I took the train back to Saijou, around 1hr, and went immediately to find the performance..only to learn that I was more than 1 hour early. I actually had forgotten what time it started, but I heard music when I was exploring the building. I was just waiting for somebody to recognize me so I could talk to them and ask when and what room the performance was in exactly. A girl motioned for the two guys preparing their instruments to assist me. They barely murmured "Hello", when I was already asking them my questions in Japanese. When I was walking away, I heard the guys exclaiming how they were so nervous because they really had no idea how to explain the performance details in English...lucky for them I speak enough Japanese. Enough to catch their exclaimation when I walked away. Sneaky~
Soooo....I just wandered some grocery stores and some shops...There is a kind of Japanese noodle called Soba. I love soba...ever since I learned that soba were in okonomiyaki...I can never buy anything in bulk in Japan..until I found one store. I was able to buy soba by the kg instead of 200g bags. I got two. Love soba....
So then I made it back to the performance. It was traditional Japanese music..I don't know the names of any of the instruments, but its just the very traditional instuments that are native to Japan. I went because the girl in my class invited me. She plays a kind of guitar instrument called 'sangen' This concert was really great! Even though I was running low on sleep, I was able to stay awake. I think I liked the traditional songs as opposed to the songs adapted to the Japanese instruments...like they played Vivaldi's song....and a Disney collection. I took some video during the concert so you can hear and see some of it when I get back. :) I met up with Daniel and David after the concert. In the lobbyl, Daniel's friend pointed us in the direction of an Indian restaurant. Yet another food I learned is really great...curry...its sooo good. Japanese curry, Thai curry, Indian curry...its all so good. Our threesome split the food we got, some chicken tikka, another chicken dish, two orders of naan bread, and indian curry. Then after dinner we tried to catch a bus back to campus, but of course...its still the weekend so the bus is hit and miss most of the time, we end up walking in less time than it would have taken the next bus to come. Ahhh....good weekend~

Here are some pics....Camera doesn't do so well in doing zoom and that kind of thing, but everybody likes to see pictures, so view at your leisure~
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116084547
Ah...and this week, practice Tues (morning), Thurs (night), Fri (morning), Sat (morning)

past life....bri you made me do it

2005-12-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

Last night`s max-out numbers...
Squat - 295.1Lbs (130kg)
Upright row - 124.85Lbs (55kg)
Standing Shoulder Press- 90.8Lbs (40kg)

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Forlorn Viking.

Where You Lived: Ireland.

How You Died: The Plague.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

yosh!

2005-12-06T00:44:00.000-08:00

nichiyou no yoru tochuuni yuki ga fuita! During Sunday night, it snowed.
nihongo ga umaku nattekuru youni natteiru no na! I am becoming better at Japanese, no?

Well the snow is gone now, but I guess my intermediate teacher said that such an early snowfall is strange even for a colder place in Japan like Saijou (Where I am). Maybe a white christmas here?! How about in the lower 48?

Hot Cake

2005-12-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hot Cake is how Pancake translates into Japanese.
Phil make pancake. Perfect pancake make Phil happy, and make Phil full. Full of Pancake!!!
Pancake = Delicious.
I'm pretty sure that Newton proved it through Calculus. It might also be the underlining element in American Midwest culture...just throwing out ideas here. One more thing, owning only a small fry pan and cooking pancakes takes lots of time...

Ah, just found out that this weekend I`m not gonna have boat practice on the River because there is a special little practice for the alumni members with the current boat crew, then on Sunday our marathon runners are competing. Too bad I still am horrible at running....but then again, maybe not. Hopefully I`ll get some time to write some letters and workout at the gym.
Then next week because the marathon will be over, rowing club is gonna be back in the gym lifting weights instead of always running! wahooo!! ::flexes:: I`ll take a picture sometime next week hopefully of what we running people look like in the morning after running...It`s cold enough in the morning now to get frost, so when we are running so early, there is a large enough temperature difference so that we start to steam...kinda like an aura of awesomeness,...that`s what I call it at least

Next weekend is another off weekend as far as boat practice will be concerened I think. On Saturday I`m going with Takuyan to see Ryoko play her French Horn. She is always so busy with this brass orchestra club, so I guess I can look forward to enjoying that. Then at night I`ll take a train and a streetcar to get there, but I`ll be at the boathouse to enjoy the Bounenkai (Year End Party) Should be great fun :) There might be a small practice on Sunday morning, but I doubt it will be quite the same workout as we would do on a normal weekend.
Then on Sunday, this girl Miho, from Analytical Study of Historical Landscapes class, and I (there may be some more people going, my ears couldn`t catch everything that she said.) are going to a separate string orchestra performance. She said its gonna be a Japanese kind of song, so it probably wont be like European composers.

Then I guess that will be my last week of class....on the 26th Miho`s (yes that Miho) Parents are gonna pick me up from campus to spend the holiday at their home.

Crew Update

2005-11-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yea, I'm still going strong with crew. This week however we started to have morning practice because Japan doesn't have Daylight Savings. Anyway, I woke up at 5am today to run 8k with the team. I'll be rowing this weekend, so tired...
I got my conversation partner this week. Turns out that I have two partners, both girls! Akemi and Airi. I'm meeting Akemi tonight, anyway, should be fun chatting with her. I guess she studied in Southern England for a semester. Hrm...that's all for now, I need to go eat.

Kuchiwa-chou Homestay

2005-11-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

Day 1
Friday, November 18
What a relaxing day I had. A great way to start any experience if you ask me. My Modern Japanese Language class was cancelled, so I was able to take my time waking and packing for the weekend. Our group was told to meet in the front of the Faculty of Education but it seems that nobody knew quite exactly where the "front" was. We always met in a 'usual' spot. Anyway, we were all in the wrong location, but quickly found our way. We boarded the bus and headed out on our way to Kuchiwa-chou in Hiroshima Prefecture. Our coordinator in Kuchiwachou, Mr. Shintaku, gave us all brief introductions about our host families. This was so much fun because you got to see peoples reaction. I'm sure nobody was disappointed with this trip. The introduction to the Nagasato family (my and Garth's host family) was pretty funny. First of all, we learned that Mr. Nagasato loves drinking alcohol (this is not a bad habit in Japan), and then that his two daughters would be coming back from Hiroshima-city. When we found out about the daughters' special return, the news was immediately followed by a series of howls and "Ohhhhhs" From the girls that is, they tried to make us embarassed. From the other guys, "awwwws". Jealous no doubt. Then we found out that the Nagasato Family owned a farm. Everybody thought that was funny because two guys going to spend a weekend with a farming family could be taken as an invitation to hard work in the rice paddy. However, I sometimes enjoy a hard work, and, as we all know, farmers eat well, so this must be a win-win situation.

It's interesting. I didn't realize that my fellow students had become so anxious and nervous about the homestay. Some of them had trouble sleeping last night. Maybe because I have enjoyed a homestay with the Jaeckel family when I was in Germany, but I didn't become nervous in the slightest sense. Just be yourself and let people get to know you.

We arrived in Kuchiwachou after a 2 hour bus ride. We were early so we had to wait a bit. I took the chance to reflect on the societal and social groups formed shortly after people started to mingle. One group was basically Korean, another US Americans, the 3rd a mix of the two. When I started taking snaps of everybody (there was nothing else to do right) two things happened. First, I was bombarded by cameras to take more pictures. Second, everybody started to aggregate into the same group. A nice feeling to think that we are all friends taking pictures together and that the groups we form may well be based solely on language, something more easily overcome than some other problem.

We began the opening ceremony with a speech from Mr. Shintaku and pictures with our host family. Soon afterwards we all departed to our new homes. Much to Garth's and my surprise, our host family's home was so huge! Just the genkan (entrance hall) was like the size of my dorm! I never expected a farming family to have such an amazing traditional style home! We met more family members and learned that the girls would return home during the night because they hadn't left Hiroshima City, yet. Garth, Mr. Nagasato, and I sat under the kotatsu (a table with blanket and heater) introducing ourselves and small talk in Japanese. I'm starting to wonder how I really sound in Japanese. It's very common to hear Japanese people tell foreigners that they have great Japanese ability even when they only know how to say greetings and introduction. But, to hear Japanese people tell me that I have a great pronunciation is a little different. Mr. Nagasato was often directing his questions toward me so that I could explain something in English to Garth or some other translation. (Bri, I know how you felt when your family visited you, translating takes a lot of work!)

A little later Mr. Nagasato, Mrs. Nagasato, Obaasan (grandmother), Garth and I sat down for our dinner. I remember that there is always so much food when company arrives in a Japanese home, but still it's hard to imagine just how much food we actually ate. We had so many delicious things, sashimi, sushi, fried chicken, pickled cucumber, oden (a traditional winter soup). Oh and of course we had alcohol Asahi Super Dry beer and Seishu (a kind of sake), it's Japanese culture. Moreover, I came not only to learn Japanese, more importantly (as is potentially a 30 page thesis) to experience a non-Western culture.

After dinner, we resigned to the kotatsu for more talking and some TV. Garth and I were a little surprised when Mr. Nagasato placed cups of whiskey in front of us. So much alcohol...Anyway, the girls came back around 10pm and we kept up chatting with them after Mr. Nagasato went to bed. I don't quite remember what time we all went to bed. It's interesting how much heat can change from just one room to the next in a Japanese home. One room can be quite comortable, but as soon as you go into the hall it is freezing.

Day 2
Saturday, November 19
We woke up just after 7. We had a nice Japanese style breakfast: rice, japanese pickle, miso soup, green tea, some small leftovers from last nights meal. Apparently Garth is just eating one meal a day at Hirodai so that he told me he was full even from last night.

Our first event was a Shinto ceremony at a local shrine. The Shinto priest said a prayer as we students struggled to sit in traditional style. It gets easier to sit in this way every time you try, but still by the end of the ceremony, all of the students (myself included) sat cross-legged. During the ceremony we offered a tree branch for a good fortune. Then after everybody had finished, we drank a saucer of Omiki (sacred sake...do you sense a pattern?) Then afterwards we soon found out that the priests daughter was actually the most popular girl in the shrine. She was very cute in her white and red kimono. I'm sure she was enjoying all of the attention. Everybody took their picture with her before leaving the shrine.

Leaving the shrine we headed towards Mou-Mou Sanbutsukan (I don't know the translation but this building was a farmer's market and coffee shop.) We had a nice cake and coffee. My cake was banana-yogurt :) Then I mingled with the other students. Oh! Actually outside of the building they had a brick pizza oven! Everybody was using it for a heater though because the air still had a bit of a bite to it.

The second event on our schedule was the Shoubouten. Japanese Firemen Training. Well it was not like training, but just a presentation and participation to get to know how firefighters in Japan work. Good Japanese practice. The first part was like military drills, to stand at attention, and how to turn and that kind of thing. Then we did a little run to the end of the street in back with the leader keeping our feet in rhythm. Then we were able to change wear a fireman's uniform and spray the hose across the river next to us. Kim Eun-Young and I were the first team. We are both in the same Japanese level, so it's funny whenever the Sensei calls our name, we both answer. After Team YOUNG successfully extinguished our imaginary fire across the river with superb style and pinash, we just enjoyed watching everybody and taking pictures. It's always picture time when we have a free moment. When the entire bank had been thoroughly drenched we resigned to our homes for lunch. This meal was curry rice, sweet-and-sour shrimp with egg, tuna and cabbage salad, and of course rice and pickle. Then we relaxed a little under the kotatsu, until our next experience.

Mrs. Nagasato came with us this time, for our Kimono and Tea Ceremony event. It was interesting to watch all the girls. You could tell how excited they were to get dressed up in kimono. Nearly salivating at the chance to choose their kimono and obi (belt/sash). We guys only had to choose a belt, our selection from kimono was blue, or dark blue. Garth somehow got a blue and white striped one. I liked my dark-blue one. When the girls finished putting on their kimono, they were instantly turned into models. Blinded by the light of cameras. Then when we guys put our kimonos, we were surrounded by girls! To have our picture together. Then we were surrounded by cameras (but the girls came first). It's kind of the same effect when guys are wearing tuxedos or girls are wearing night gowns in the States. Then while wearing our kimonos, we went to down the hall of the building to a tea ceremony room. It wasn't quite the same experience as the one I had had two years ago with Miho, because they had to serve tea to so many people. It was a bit rushed. We took lots more pictures before disrobing..um..dis-kimono-ing that is.

More feasting! And what is a good feast unless you start before with a little beer. We had Sukiyaki. It's just an insane amount of food. You start with a pot of stew, then as soon as you think you've made a dent in it, you learn that it was less than one half of the entire amount of food. You just keep adding more vegetables and meat. When that is gone, you think you've made it. Then they add Udon (buckwheat noodles). We also had a small bit of salad to go with the sukiyaki and also some beef sashimi (kind of). Oh and we had more beer and warm sake. Ahh...so much food. So delicious, but the stomach does have a limit. Afterwards we had a lesson in Japanese board games "Go" and "Shougi." It's hard to explain how to play a game like Go or Shougi in writing, but we could play sometime I guess, except for the face that we really didn't play Shougi, but a completely different game but using the shougi board and pieces(think Jenga). It was funny, Garth really liked playing Go. Mrs. Nagasato likes it too I guess. I'm really curious how modest a Japanese woman can be. I mean, Mrs. Nagasato doesn't lose, but she always says "Oh it's such an easy game!" or "How fast you catch on!" No matter how long a game would last, Garth would just be annhilated every match. I didn't get the chance to play Go against Mrs. Nagasato, but the thought of the terrifying "go-power" of Mrs. Nagasato could give me nightmares. OK, but seriously go is a fun game, but beware of Mrs. Nagasato. Mr Nagasato is also really good at Go, too, but he went to bed early as usual so I'm not as sure of his Go skill. Anyhow, I suspect he has some chore to do on the farm in the mornings, maybe it's that he and Mrs Nagasato have early morning Go sessions...hehe...

Day 3
Sunday, November 20
Woke up around 7:40am on account of staying up late watching TV after games and talking. Breakfast was delicious as always. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day right? So why shouldn't it be the most flavorful?! We had fish, rice, miso soup, a salad from banana, apple, kiwi, and yogurt, grapes. Then just chilling watching TV and chatting like usual. We were watching a kind of Week-in-review type show. They were first talking about political economy, President Bush, and Prime Minister Koizumi. I was surprised at how much I was picking up! I thought I was gonna be understanding like 30% but maybe my auditing of the Political Economics class is starting to pay off! Awesome!!!! Anyway, we did that until around noon when we went to the community center for a group lunch and closing ceremony. You'll never guess what was served for drinks...Asahi beer and Oolong Tea. Hey! At least there was a choice this time. When the bottles started to be empty, they started to pull out boxes from outside the door. I have no idea how much they thought we could drink, but I could only imagine how college students across the US would love to be in my shoes when they see the beer coming in by the box.

Ahh...shuppatsu (departure) came too soon. Garth and I both received too many great memories and far too many gifts from the Nagasato family. What a amazing weekend we had!

please view photos of my weekend homestay here>>
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2117329630

The results are in, fish recipe, signs of autumn

2005-11-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

OK!! First of all, the wasabi-soy chicken had too much soy....maybe next time, right?...who knows, if you have a tip, post it! Now for the Protein/Calorie Challenge!!!
Percentage of Protein per Kcal
Octopus 18.18
Squid 16.93
Clams 17.26
Oysters 11.67
Chicken 14.36
Pork 6.42
Beef 6.76
Salmon 10.87
Tuna 16.20
Trout 14.03
Oats 3.56
Rice 1.84
Wheat 3.14
Mussels 13.84
Scallop 19.07
Whelk 17.40

So after reviewing the notes, it seems that octopus somehow has a higher protein/calorie ratio than just about everything on the market except scallops, but scallops get expensive pretty fast. Chicken will always be a good source of cheap protein, but octopus...boy oh boy if I get a recipe that works for octopus....[=] Oysters and clams are also gonna be a good food for me because actually the oyster harvest is coming up soon I heard so maybe there will be lots of oysters around in the market. Then of course I have my fish recipes brewing, and as always have the wheat or oat meal for breakfast :)

So I had my first experience cooking fish, it turned out pretty good, I made a bit of a honey/mustard baste for the fish, and just panfried it. here is a picture...its the fish with two slices of sesame/poppy seed bread from Little Mermaid in Youme Town, a bowl of rice that I cooked without a ricecooker, and a cup of miso soup.

Rice, Miso Soup, Poppy-Sesame Bread, Honey Mustard Fish :)

There isn't really much of a recipe here for the fish (I don't know the name of the fish, it was about 7inches long and grey with blue striped skin), just mix the honey/mustard together in a bowl and then dip the fish in on both sides and throw it into the fry pan. Cook 2-3 min each side.
I think I had a little too much honey, didn't taste like it when I first made the stuff, but after cooking, the sugar in the honey really intensifies.

There are somethings that don't change when you go to a different country. Today I noticed that the scent of Autumn is pretty much the same here...the biting cold when you breath, cutting the back of your throat. Leaves falling doesn't feel like Autumn until the leaves start to crisp and decay into the air. Half the leaves are gone from the trees on campus, in the forests on top of the hills across from the dorm, rich burning yellows and reds spread to the last few green acres. Now it is Autumn here.

Crew Team...

2005-11-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I was with crew team for both saturday and sunday practices....I learned something this weekend. For every little bit that I get better at rowing, the practice gets harder. I mean the first couple of practice were really just basic getting in the boat and getting used to the feeling. But now as I start to actually have rowing technique...we row more and more. Yesterday I was double-skulling with Yuta for 1hr in the morning (water was choppy so we went in early) then for 3 hrs at night. Now I was sore even from just Saturday`s practice...After this long practice weekend...My body is sore everywhere!!! Back, legs, shoulders, abs...arms....pretty much every muscle group can be associated with some kind of muscle tissue repair right now....time to hit up my chicken from the freezer tonight and get ready for tuesday practice!

Today`s grocery list

2005-11-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well I bought fish today. I`m not exactly sure what kind of fish it is, but it has some blue lines on it and didn`t cost too much. I also bought an ocotopus tentacle, non-gm milk, eggs, soy sauce, sausage, broccoli, soy beans, and lemon. I think I`m gonna try to do a hard core study tonight, so I`ve got chicken in a wasabi-soysauce marinade in the fridge and a pile of rice on hold.

Last night I started my research on how to get the most bang for my buck on protein vs calories and fat content. (I`ll post my chart later) I found out the percentage of protein vs calories and then wrote down the fat and cholesterol levels of the foods. Quite interesting stuff....I will tell you right now that my diet is gonna be even more interesting once I get the rest of my food eaten in the dorm...oysters and clams here I come!

Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs

2005-11-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

As many of you may know, Japanese food is actually different than American food. Who knew? Anyway, cooking has always been one of my passions so I've been experimenting with making lots of food. I"m keeping a notebook of all my recipes that I make, because I often forget just exactly what I put in the bowl. It's always exciting to imagine a kind of food, then decide how much do I put in?, should I add spices?, what kind of flavor will it have if I dont? If I do?

Just last night I made Chicken Meatballs...here's the recipe! (by the way) I don't actually measure anything, it's just an eyeball guess in most cases, so if you actually try to make this...well, more power to you for trying :)

1tsp Salt/pepper mix
300gram Ground Chicken (can you get ground chicken in America, I've heard of ground turkey, but not chicken)
2 slices of white bread, cut into cubes (should be bought from a bakery)
1 egg (helps to keep everything together)

So all I actually did was to put everything in one of my handy dandy Glad containers and mix everything by hand. It must be mixed by hand. First, because I think it's easier. Second, because its so much more fun to mix with your hands! [=] Roll into around 1inch balls.
After that, I just cooked them in my fry pan with a lid over them. I guess it might be around 8 or 9 min (4min on each side) in the fry pan. You'll know when they are done, if you don't know, cut it open and look.
I'm not really sure how to truly cook meatballs, maybe you boil them normally to keep the ball shape, but if they start to look like thick patties, don't freak out, it'll still taste the same when you eat it. As long as my measurements are the real thing, you should be able to make around 8-10 chicken meatballs.

Centrique Fall Arts Contest Help!!!!

2005-10-31T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today's blog is gonna be a short survey. I am going to enter some photos (around 5) to the Carthage College Centrique arts magazine. I'm wondering which ones to use, so please post a comment about which pictures you think look good from this set. The entry date for the contest is November 15, so hurry up and comment already! Thanks~!
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 9 8 17 15 14 13 19 18
16

Omens, Crew Team, and Why I feel a little more like Napolean Dynamite

2005-10-31T09:19:00.000-08:00

So on Friday, while I was walking to my dorm after class, and later walking to meet up with crew team to head to Hiroshima. Walking to the dorm I was met by a snake. I just stood and watched the snake as it stopped, turned around, and slithered into the grass nearby. I thought this could be a sign. Then later I was talking the walk by the pond to meet up with the crew team, when I was met by this!!!

creepy crawly

Ahhh!!! It had pretty good speed, but when it saw me (and I saw it) we both stopped. I grabbed my camera to let you know about the creatures which rule the night in Japan (no I'm not talking about THAT night life). I admit it, I was a little freaked out..but then I started to feel like Steve Irwin, hypothesizing about its manifest destiny and possible adaptations and diet, my curiosity and "croiky, have-a-look-at-this-sheila" engine firing on all 12 cylinders. Luckily, I had my umbrella just incase the creepy crawly got any ideas. If I didn't have my umbrella with me, I'm pretty sure one of us would have sprinted home. :)

I had my first crew team practice in Hiroshima City on Saturday. I had planned to stay for both Saturday and Sunday's practice, but I had plans to meet Takuyan because I had to get some shopping done and see about going to the city hall to get my alien registration card. Saturday's practice started out easily enough. Wake up at 5am, grab a little bit of something to get the old glucose levels goin', you know. Practice starts at 6am, but warm-ups start at 5:15!! I learned this at 5:13! We did a little run followed by some stretching and bodyweight plyometrics, enough to start a little burn in the legs, some of the other members actually broke a sweat doing these, I think it was just that they were over dressed. Sure it was cold, but I was fine in shorts and a Tshirt. Nobody could believe that I wasn't freezing. Feels good to not be cold when everybody else is freezing :)
I got my first experience in a boat during the morning practice. Yuta, my rowing instructor, and I just kinda grabbed a boat, and Yuta showed me just the basics about oars, feet position and how to carry and replace the boat. After we were in the boat, I started to learn the technique. Legs, Arms, Arms, Legs. This is something that has to go into my system before I can join the rest of the team in the 8-man sweep (each person gets one oar) boat. Yuta and I were in a 2-man skulling boat. Skull is where you have two oars. I guess I did OK as far as my first time goes. We didn't capsize :) Learning a completely new sport is definitely difficult in a new language. Learning the ultra-focused terms for boating is pretty exciting.
During practice our crew managers make us all a huge meal. Huge in regards to the fact that they are cooking for 20 people, and also huge that there are 3 different sizes small(200yen), medium(250yen), and large(300yen). If I was eating at a normal restaurant, each meal would cost me more than 1000yen for the amount of food which is served. I had the medium, just because they didn't know if I had what it takes to finish the large size. I'm sure as I progress into the crew world, I'm gonna get a hankerin for some large size crew team grub. It really is a lot of food, too. We had rice, fish, and 3 more kinds of food served cold. There is also egg and soy sauce to mix into the rice (mmm...raw egg).
Afterwards, we had Hiruyasumi (afternoon break) until 3pm. This time is reserved to catch up on sleep, do a little bit of organizing on the webpage, discussing crew stuff, going into the city for a little shopping trip, pretty much anything as long as you're back by 3pm. I just hung out in the boathouse with the crew and looked over some magazines from Puma to get the new team uniforms.
Afternoon practice with Yuta was the longest practice ever!!! We went over the exercise routine so I could mesh with the flow a little better and know which exercise is next. Then for maybe 3hrs we discussed rigging. How to use the balance and protractor (Billy boi, this is for you,....protractor) and different measures to know the length of the oar, angle of the clutch pins, which hold the oars, and to set up the stretcher (place to put your feet). I think it was really a lot to take in all in one day, especially in Japanese! I don't quite know how long it will take to catch up to being able to practice with the rest of the crew, but right now I will be in the stroke seat, with Yuta in the bow seat, so my rigging numbers will just be the same and I have to memorize the process and the numbers.
Well, it was really a lot of fun...making a lof of great memories with these guys everytime we meet and remembering our outings at Carthage with my ppls over there!
>>>cough cough, I wanna give a shout out to uh..Big D, Billy Boi, Bubolz, Midnight, Sy Sy, Nasty Nate, Yoder Bear, Seb, Frau Jaessing and all my fans out there, keep it real!

souteibu1
Yuta, Satomi, Ida
souteibu2

And now for the part you've all be waiting for, why I feel like Napolean Dynamite. Let's face it, the reason we like Napolean Dynamite is because we all see a little bit of his awkwardness inside all of us, except me that is. I am like Napolean Dynamite in a complelely different paradigm. "How so?" you may ask. Well, the suspense is killing you by now, so I'll just tell you. It's because deep down, we are both country, straight-country to those of you urban folks. Today I noticed how much I love milk and potatoes. Two main staples of my diet and I know of Napolean Dynamites. I made a soup with some potatoes and a soup mix I had lying around. The potatoes were so good, could be something to do with being in Japan, but I mean really, can potatoes change flavor just by being grown somewhere else. I don't know how these are called, but they look like smaller versions of our Russet Potatoes (note that Idaho, Napolean's state, is the home of the potato). After the soup, I decided to try out my milk that I bought, and wouldn't you know, this milk had a totally different taste!!! (Remember Napolean Dynamite was in a milk tasting test) Granted it's a different company, but it's the same 2% Milk, with a completely different taste. I immediately reported the amazing information and newfound love for Japan and its milk selection to my next-door neighbor Daisuke, which he found less exciting than I did. The one that I had before was a rich smooth taste, but this one was actually, dare I say, sweet! No additives, no preserves, straight milk,.....different taste. I'm pretty sure most of you who didn't grow up in the country have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, but to my family and those of you who have lived in America's Heartland....this is a breakthrough discovery in Japanese culture, I believe :) I'm tempted to buy a different brand of milk each week now just to experience the rainbow of flavors which milk in Japan has to offer. (Then for my senior thesis, figure out a way to put this milk production into the global market place and later overthrow Wal-Mart, haha!) Moreoever on a short-term projection, I can safely say I feel closer to Napolean Dynamite than ever before.
Sore de, mata!! baibai!

Crew Team Go!!!

2005-10-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

I just talked to Tasegawa today. I guess I don`t have the weekend off to train on my own. Instead there is practice in Hiroshima City. I wonder how this is gonna be, even Tasegawa said this is gonna be hard. Let me translate a part of my schedule...
Friday 9pm (yes, PM) leave campus for Hiroshima City, spend the night in boat house.
5am (wake up), 6am (start training), 9am (breakfast), Afternoon break, 3pm (back to training), 7pm (more food)...sometime after that we sleep...then on sunday we go through the routine again! I guess we won`t get back to Hirodai campus until early on Monday morning, so I wonder how much fun I`ll be having in Intermediate Japanese that day. :)
Oh, and on the race last weekend, we got 3rd place. Goo team!! woooo!!!!

Genki

2005-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

What`s going on?? Right now it`s Wednesday 7:30pm, and I`m in the West Library. Pretty much things are in a general flow right now. Crew Team (rowing team) had a race on the weekend so they get a week off from training. I on the other hand have to keep running and working out in the gym so I can try to start catching up to their level of endurance. People are always in shock when I tell them that I`ve joined crew for some reason. I guess it must be a very hard sport. But, I guess it wouldn`t be much fun if there wasn`t a challenge would it? :) I haven`t even been in a boat yet to practice that aspect, but I guess that will be coming up next weekend.

Classes seem to go pretty well. It is true that Japanese classes are pretty laid back. We just go to lecutre which lasts 1.5hrs and I only get homework for one class. The rest of my studying is just additional as far as the what I do to understand the lectures and notes from other classes.

I decided not to buy a rice cooker since I`ll be here just 4 months, but I think I should still get some rice to boil in a pot. It`s so much cheaper here and rice is practically the only thing that you can buy in bulk. I did find some stuff that looks like oatmeal, but I`m not quite sure about it yet. This would be good as far as breakfast. I`m sorry, but miso soup for breakfast just isn`t filling enough and doesn`t have enough calories to start me in the morning when I have been exercising the day before. I want to try making some kind of small stew or bbq (along the lines of nikujyaga) when I`m here, but I actually don`t know what to do for it other than throw everything in a pot and let it cook for a while. If you have a simple recipe, send it this way :)

I haven`t seen Takuyan in a while because he had a test this week and he is often playing with his chou kyoukoudo concrete. He and I are gonna meet next week to hang out, at least long enough to get my Alien Registration Card from the City Hall. Hrm...I guess that`s all for now,
jyaa, mata!

Phil`s Schedule (Revised)

2005-10-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

So, I was able to successfully join Photography Club and Rowing Club. Now my schedule has filled up so much. Photography club is much easier to work around because photography is generally an individual activity anyway, and they don`t mind much if you miss out on their weekly meeting so much as long as you keep in touch with them.
Rowing club on the other hand. I`m sure that I`m going to devote a lot of time to this club and hopefully make friends with these people too. Here is a funny story....I had 3 classes on Tuesday and also set up to meet with photography club for dinner and rowing club. I went to my two classes in the morning, then went to the gym with Carlie. I had my Historical landscapes at 3. Right after that I went to meet with the rowing club. Little did I know that I was meeting them to practice! So, I lifted weights already but now I was in for the real workout. We went on a 4km run (2km uphill, 2km downhill) then we lifted weights in the training room. It was just light weight but we did 20 repetitions. So I did 60 squats and 60 barbell lunges.....
The next morning I could barely move my lower half. Upper half was just fine. The best part is that at night I still have another training with Rowing club....
So now to revise my weekly schedule, I have running and lifting with rowing club Tues, Wed, and Friday from 5pm-7pm. Then on Sat. and Sun. boat training in Hiroshima city.
OK, I gotta go rest now.

Mixer

2005-10-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night we had a kind of mixer party for Japanese and International Students. I didn't show up until 7. Actually I thought this was the beginning of the party. But I was wrong. The party was already going when I got there. I didn't have enough time to get a name card until I was already speaking to one of the Japanese girls there. Soon I got my name card though, and started to rummage through the food:) I also met up with Aki and Yousuke. I guess Yousuke was a drummer for a kind of popular band called High Maintenance.
The most unexpected thing happened today. The girl who I talked to first at the party came up to me and we were just talking for a little bit. I was so surprised, I didn't know that Japanese people would come up to talk to me like that. Usually nobody even looks at me when I walk by on the sidewalk. We just had a small conversation like "Hey, whats up" and where my class was, but I was too shocked that anybody stopped to talk to me, I couldn't remember any Japanese at all! Anyway, making Japanese friends is fun...peace!

Phil`s Class Schedule

2005-10-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

Monday
1050-1220, Intermediate Japanese IA
Tuesday
900-1030, Japanese Economy
1050-1220, Elementary Japanese IIC
1500-1630, Analytical Study of Historical Landscapes (Japanese, auditing)
Wednesday
900-1030, Elementary Japanese IIA
1050-1220, Intermediate Japanese IB
1500-1630, Political Economics (Japanese, auditing)
Thursday
900-1030, Elementary Japanese IIB
1050-1220, Intermediate Japanese IC
Friday
900-1030, Modern Japanese Language (Japanese)

That`s 8 Classes for 16 Credits
and 2 Auditing Classes for 0 Credits.

I`m also joining photography club and possibly rowing club...but they aren`t classes, just something to keep me occupied. (As if studying Japanese wasn`t time consuming enough!!)

Mystery Markets, Okonomiyaki, Sake Matsuri

2005-10-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

I found my first snake. I decided to venture out into the outlands of the map we were given. I had already been to the grocery store called Youme Town, but there was another place on the map that said "Market" so naturally, I expected to be able to find something. Well, I guess I must have followed the map well enough, but maybe just the map is wrong, because when I spoke with these 3 elderly Japanese women, they were confused by where I wanted to get to. They sent me off to the Seven Eleven. By this time of walking and heat I decided at least they know that there is a Seven Eleven in this direction so I went there and bought two subs. A lot different kind than in the states...these were with soba noodles, egg, ketchup, and maybe a little mayonaise. Tasty nonetheless. Afterwards, to satiate my curiosity about this mystery market, I took off in the direction of where this market should be. Turns out there was also a convenience store on the map, but it seems the convenience store is being renovated because there was a construction crew there, I guess my market could have had the same fate. Well, I guess that attempt at shopping went completely wrong. Oh well, I did get to have a nice conversation with the 3 old ladies :)

I had classes today, Japanese Economy and Analytical Study of Historical Landscapes. Japanese Economy was very fine, it's in English. Then, I had Historical Landscapes. This class I found out is completely in Japanese, while the texts used are in English. Well, maybe if it was just in normal Japanese it could be fine, but the class is using very specialized terms, monastery, abbey, fief, knight's service so I cannot understand much at all. I talked with the professor about my taking the class. I decided that I can take this class, but just not worry about the assignments. It would be much different but I feel my speaking skill is really not up to par for this kind of class. I'll just audit it and learn from reading the texts and paying attention in class. I'm sure I can still learn so much from this class even if I don't receive any credits from it.

Then! When I returned to my dorm, I opened the door to the floor and these two guys were peeking out of their doors. Turns out they planned to have a kind of introduction party with me! My Japanese skill is still a problem talking wth these guys, but I hope I can become their friend and speak lots and lots of Japanese. Tonight we are going to drink Osake at 9. Everybody is giving me a nickname to call them by, so I just met Dai and Gatchi. I guess one guy a few doors down is studying English, so hopefully we can communicate much much better tonight when he comes. Wow, I don't know that this kind of thing would happen in USA... I'm very happy to meet everybody. Akihiko, Dai, Chin, Low, Hiro, Gatchi, Odoya kun, hajimemashite, douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

On Wednesday night we all went to Hibiki for some Okinomiyaki...all I can say is that I wish I had a bigger stomach like Gatchi. He ate his, and one piece of mine and one of Chins. This stuff is soooo good. Its got like egg, cabbage, noodles, cheese, and special kind of teriyaki sauce that you can only get in Hiroshima. Actually this Hiroshima style Okinomiyaki is special to Hiroshima. Oh man, it's so good! The moment it hits your lips is pure bliss..haha. Well maybe not that good, but pretty good.

Saturday, I went to Sake Festival with the international students and met up my tutor there. Pretty much we just walked around for a while until Takuyan showed up from his experiment. The people I was with up until then just wanted to get small samples of sake from the breweries and we did that. Then we hit up the ethnic street for a little food. I had a Sri Lankan style chicken roll. Funny that there was a Canada stand there, and I said "Oh, Canada, what could they have to contribute to ethnic cultural activities?" Hehehe. A little later Takuyan showed up and we got some more substantial food. I forgot the name but its Chinese bread with pork inside. Then we asked the group if they were ready to go into the Sake area, but I guess they didn't want to. It cost 1500 yen to enter, but you cannot re-enter at will. Well, Takuyan and I went inside, as part of the 1500 yen we got awesome little sake glasses. Our personal sampling cups. There were more than 150 shops inside the sake area! Thats a lot of sake! Inside was a little weird, because just you could tell people had been there all day and had too much. Ippai nonda, na~. We can't have Joe Camel anymore, but the Sake Matsuri Raccoon is sure a hit with the kids!

Carlie, Danny, Conspicuous Sake Raccoon

A funny story about the drunk people. I wore my Yoshinoya T-shirt, and I got so many compliments on it. But, there was one old guy he came up to Takuyan and I and pointed to my T-shirt and said that he liked it. Then he continued to talk about something, I could not understand because he was obviously drunk and, coincidentally, that doesn't help Japanese speaking skill. Well, he talked for maybe 10minutes about something, Takuyan and I nodding our agreement. After he left, I expected to get some kind of translation about what the old guy was saying from Takuyan, but the old man was so drunk. Even Takuyan only understood that he liked my T-shirt! Haha! Both Takuyan and I didn't understand any word that came out of his mouth besides for his pleasure from my T-shirt.

A little afterwards, we got out of the tent. We went to see his girlfriend's restaurant. It's such a nice restaurant, I think the name was Fugumai. It's a very traditional restaurant and all the waitresses are girls in kimono. It's such an expensive place because of this and you can buy pufferfish! Yea, the poisonous one! Takuyan said he and I should go there sometime. Alright! I could also tell how nice of a restaurant it was because Takuyan started using such formal humble Japanese when he was there. I followed his example, bowing and saying my arigatoo. I got to take a picture with the girls....

Takuyan's girlfriend is on the far left...(I am in the middle)

Sayonara!!

Taikukan no Training Room, Keitai, Yoshiura Matsuri

2005-10-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

I met up with Takuyan yesterday at 1pm. He actually went to rugby practice this time, while I went to the gym on campus. Actually, I went on Thursday, too. The weight room there is ancient! It's so hardcore. Some of the benches are made from plywood and carpet. The plates are a mish-mash of old and new, and the heaviest dumbbells are just 22kg. I don't think that's quite up to my level :) The other rooms like basketball courts and dojo are very well kept because the clubs and teams that use them are sure to clean up afterwards. Even if the weight room is not top of the line, I managed. So sore...

When Takuyan and I met up, we first had to fill out some forms for my Ikenoue dormitory pledge and registration kind of stuff. Then we went to get my keitaidenwa. Cellphone, that is. It's funny that the Aussie's call them mobiles, Japanese call them keitai, and USA call them cells. Somehow we manage. :) So I got a yellow one. I actually received this phone for free with the calling plan, which is not too bad I think. Just $30 each month. My phone has internet, email, takes pictures and movies, and GPS locator!

The Yoshiura Autumn Matsuri was amazing! They had been a town of mainly crab fishermen, so that they began to have this Shinto festival. It takes place in Kure-city, just one hour by bus away from Higashi-Hiroshima. I took so many pictures, 135 to be exact, as well as around 5 short movies. The first thing we saw when we got there were three guys wearing kind of demonic costumes. I guess, it must have been to scare away bad spirits, but in this case it was just scaring little kids. Actually, one little girl was so scared that she ran behind me, holding onto my leg, thinking that I was one of her parents. It was too funny. I can only imagine that parents love these matsuri. The parents chuckle at how scared they little ones get. I guess I laughed a little, too. A little scared also though, because they like to scream and run at you! I admit I jumped when I first saw them scream at the top of their lungs, running toward somebody. Also, the Oni (demons) carry long pieces of bamboo to hit people when they got in the way of the procession. I didn't get to see any of this, but from Tsunematsu-sensei, I heard that one time somebody's finger fell off from such a blow. No, not broken, not hurt, not even injured...FELL O-F-F!

Oni-san

So Steve, an art student from England, and I found decent enough spots on the stair case up to the shrine. The people have to carry portable shrines. The first one was the biggest and housed 4 children who were playing the taiko drum. It was a really amazing feeling when the largest shrine arrived at the foot of the steps. Everybody was getting ready for the big moment when the wheels were disconnected and the shrine raised onto the backs and shoulders of the Japanese men. The tension was running high as the men swayed with the shrine, from side to side. It's a very dangerous thing to carry this shrine. Shouting orders among the chanting of "sora agete" or "sora sugite" I can't remember. Then once the shrines reached the top of the steps the people went crazy I thought. They would start shaking the shrine up and down as hard and fast as they could, it was not uncommon for peoples' bodies to give out during this, in which case the men with whistles would jump in to put the shrine up into the air again. Lastly, the portable shrines were brought into the main shrine building.

Portable Shrine
Going Up the Stairs

What was more strenuous than taking up the portable shrines? Taking them down. Not only is this seemingly harder to control, but the direction is always changing. The shrine changed directions, upstairs, downstairs, upstairs, downstairs. This must have been at least 15 times. Each time you could see the exhaustion on the men's faces, coming so close to returning the portable shrine to the cart. Not just exhaustion on their faces, but dripping sweat soaking their clothes, running the ink from their sash.

Did I mention that Steve and I had the chance to partake in pulling one of the carts through the street? We were eating Takoyaki when a group of small children came by pulling their taiko drum. Their leader said something, then all the students turned and said "Hello, How are you?" It was so funny. I guess we were feeling really like USA tourists, even if Hannes and Erika are from Austria. Then one of the older men of the group, the last person holding the rope turned to Steve and I and motioned for us to join. Needless to say we both dropped our Takoyaki and bags and jumped right in! No way we could pass up such an opportunity to join in this Matsuri (festival) so we helped pull the cart and chanted "sou orei." Well we didn't know quite what to do. With my Japanese I got the jist of what they wanted us to do and talked to the old gentleman telling him where we are from and learning that the small children were actually just in kindergarten! When we got to the stairs the rope becomes separated from the drum to go up the steps. Steve and I awaited the call to help carry the taiko, but I guess they would be OK without us. The teachers carried it. We watched proudly as our taiko climbed the steps.

It turns out that because of the aging population in Japan, there aren't enough people from the city alone to do the matsuri. There is a group of people who specialize in performing matsuri as their job! What an amazing job it must be!

After all the shrines had come down, there wasn't actually much to do. All of the people were heading home. So we international students just hung out on the steps of the Yoshirua train station. Then, on the bus ride, some guys started to sing, and Tsunematsu-sensei mentioned that we should do karaoke sometime. Then she reached down and turned on the Karaoke machine. Yea, our coach bus has karaoke, I wonder if Pharrell's bus has this. So everybody -had a medley of YMCA, Hey Jude, Two Japanese songs from Tsunematsu-sensei, Living on a Prayer, and one Swedish song about talking to frogs...It was a lot of fun, the entire day. I wonder if the soon-to-be Japanese Club at Carthage could organize to carry a portable shrine for the homecoming game or something [=]

Hm...this weeks list of things to do...find out about Photography and Rowing clubs, Part-time job, Starting Class, Handing in more Forms?? Japanese placement test, Sake Festival, Figuring out how to eat economically on campus, making plans with japanese friends :D

Meet Takuyan

2005-10-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is my tutor :D Oh, and this picture was taken by cell phone camera...

Takuyan

Nature Around Us

2005-09-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Let me talk about how awesome this campus is. You might think that Carthage Campus is very natural and great because of all of the flowers and sparkling clean sidewalks. Well I might say it is good in the sense of an English Garden, but Hirodai's campus is like a Japanese Garden. The whole thing is amazing. Just look at the walk I took to get to campus today...

Pond
Path to Hirodai Campus

It really feels like I'm living in a forest, or at least closer to nature than ever possible in the US. Dense foliage, birds, trees, ponds, streams, rivers, fish, shrubs, insects. Outside is actually very noisy because of all of these animals. Let me tell you, that there signs to beware of snakes. I haven't found any snakes yet, but I have spotted myriads of species of grasshopper and crickets, at least 6 species of butterfly, swarms of dragonflies, two praying mantis (one dead and one live), spiders tucked into every open crotch of a tree. Oh, and did I mention there were 3 Japanese guys chasing after a small lizard in the middle of campus?!

One web near the pond is above my head. The main part of the web is 2ft in diameter, but two of the main supporting web lines are connected roughly 4ft away across the path. Overall, I expected many more bothersome insects like mosquitoes, but I guess having this true ecosystem alive on campus (SPIDERS!!!) keeps many of the pests at bay.

Let me just show you the picture of the spiders so you can understand how amazing these creatures are, and why I can never walk through the woody area on campus....

Spidey-Man

Jeez, those things give me the willys. These aren't run-of-the-mill house spiders like we have in the US, small and brown, but thriving wild spiders, yellow and up to 4 inches long if you stretch out their legs. No, I didn't touch it. It's just my guess. The smallest one of that kind I've seen is just 1 inch long.

I'm sure my Dad would be lost for hours on campus here. Well, it's not that he would be lost, but that he would be feasting on Japanese wild berries and fruits. Yea, they are here, I wonder if they are edible. There is one fruit tree on campus so far, I guess it might be a citrus fruit kind of like a lemon or orange.

I've been blogging pretty well so far, tomorrow I don't have much of a plan. Maybe Takoyuan is going to pick me up. I've still got to buy some things to get settled in. Let's see, cell phone, futon...That could be the last of my big purchases for a while. Ah! I'm going to the Yoshiura Autumn Festival on Sunday. I'll bring my camera with me, don't worry so much~

My Japanese Tutor

2005-09-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

My tutor Takuto. His nickname is Takuyan. At least I think that it is, I am having a hard time remembering this name even though we are always hanging out together. He is 23 and a graduate student of Hiroshima University studying Civil Engineering. Currently he has no classes, but is just doing research and experiments on Super Ultra Strength Cement. He said it was something about being able to create cement beams for buildings. Sounds interesting :) Originally Takuyan is from Hyougo, which is near Kyoto. Actually I have been to Hyougo before when I came to Japan last time to see Himeji Castle. Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad last time, I did not get to tour the castle. He does play sports, rugby, but he also smokes, Aki and I had a nice joke about this. Takuyan has studied English for just two years, but he studied very hard this summer to be able to help me better as a tutor. Still his English must be better than my Japanese. I am trying to speak in Japanese as much as possible and he helps me with it always, like trying to teach me how to say "choukyoukoudo konkuriito" (super ultra strength cement). He is also helping me with all of the applications I have to do like setting up a bank account, alien registration, buying a cell phone, and temporary hiroshima prefecture cultural activities card. This activities card could be most useful to me. Whenever I go to a public museum, park, temple, shrine it will either be completely free with this card or for a discounted price. ::greedily grabs camera and runs out the door::

Oh, you're still here? Takuyan and I gotta go now, Peace out!

Day 1 - Not so Lost in Translation

2005-09-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, I woke up so early. It must have been around 7am. I guess the disadvantage of living around so much nature is that the birds and insects get pretty unruly when it's sleepy time. I took my shower in the morning and had my breakfast that I bought from Lawson Station the night before. Egg sandwich and vegetable juice never tasted so good. Then, I decided to start my trek around campus. Fortunately, I was not the only one alone walking. When I got to the pond at Harada Park, I met up with this guy Luca, from Alberta, Canada, and Sheng, from Minnesota. So once we met up we were just all hanging out walking around campus. We went to Nafco, a spin-off from Wal-mart I guess. They have a little bit of everything there. Then we went to Deodeo the electronics boutique. I never really expected the dorm not to have a 3-prong outlet, but my dorm has only 2-prong outlets! So I ended up having to buy a power strip that had a 3-prong slot to it and now I don't have to sweat TH3 dying on me (Oh, my laptop is TH3. Thurston Howell the Third). My tutor had to do some experiment with cement today so I went to the 100 yen shop with Luca with his tutor Yasu and Mabi, from Philippines, with her tutor Kana. I crashed at 4 after 7 hours of walking. Then woke up to meet some other friends David, Eve, Danny and Danny's tutor. We ended up going to McDonald's! I didn't eat anything because I'm in protest of USA food and because I had sushi for dinner [=]. After that we hit up a CD store where there is also old VHS tapes. We found stuff like Terminator, Star Wars and all the James Bond movies all with Japanese titles. I wonder if they are dubbed or subtitled, I want to hear the Japanese Schwarzenegger.
Well orientation begins tomorrow for we international students, I had better hit the sack! Oyasuminasai!

Luca - Sheng - Me
Hirodai (Hiroshima Daigaku) Tower

The Flight to Japan!

2005-09-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

Well my flight was no so bad, just 13 hours. Well that is, 13 hours to Tokyo, then I have another 2 hour flight to Hiroshima after that! I'm wondering where all my fellow HUSA students are. There were supposed to be three of us on the flight from O'Hare, but there are so many people on that flight it was too hard to tell. Now I'm waiting in the terminal for my Hiroshima flight. I'm wearing my USAC shirt, which all of us received. I thought that would be a big enough give-away as to my participation in this program, but they are either MIA or just too shy to come up and ask me my name. One guy David said that I should be able to find him because he is gonna wear some goofy hunting hat, but still unable to find him as of late. I wonder when my partners will join me...

Now, I'll tell you a story of how I met Pharrell. Yes, that Pharrell. The one that works with David Banner and Snoop Dogg. Well I was going through immigration, when I noticed these 4 black people all together. Well, just noticing black people is not enough, but when you see a 350lb 6'6" black man carrying a genuine Louis Vuitton suitcase, which I believe couldn't possibly fit even this guys boxers. He was big to say the least. He was led by a another guy jamming to some music, decked out in shades and what not, very pimp. Then Pharrell had on this sweet hoody, you could tell he was trying to stay on the down low, but to no avail. So while we wound through the line, I would catch a peek to see if I could confirm his identity, when suddenly there was a dead give-away. The neck tattoo! So we wound around one more time, then I went up to him

"I gotta ask...Pharrell, right?"

"Yeh."

"I just want to say I love what you do. I love your music," while shaking his hand.

"Yeh, Yeh."

It's too bad we were standing in the line, or I would have asked him to get a picture as evidence of our encounter. :) But hopefully this blog post will be enough. To all those who are studying abroad, did you meet any famous rap/hip-hop artists yet? I know I have [=]

2005-09-24T21:23:00.001-07:00

This is my brother's new kitty! It's awesome!! The kitten's name is Patch because of a white
spot on its underside.
Yes...the cuteness is too much for you...give in....jackpot!

playing space-ship WOOOO!
shoe-size kitty
on the prowl...

pix from Fargo, ND

2005-09-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

philmiho
mihochan

T minus 3 days and counting...

2005-09-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

I leave on Sunday!

Life in Fargo cont.

2005-09-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

So what else was there to do in North Dakota? Well, there was a techno party downtown, but
it didn't seem like such a good idea. Miho and I both didn't know enough people to go there safely, when there would be alcohol there. She was worried about the police showing up. I guess the downtown is pretty cool though, even if I didn't get to see it. I imagine it can't be as bad as Rockford.

We met up with her friends Taylor and Mark. They are such a weird duo. Taylor is very vocal and always doing something, then Mark who is Japanese, but with USA parents, is so quiet. When Miho and I met up with them, just Taylor and I were speaking, while Miho and Mark listened trying to catch up with our slang-filled English. They are both pretty cool guys, too bad we couldn't have anything better to do than just to go to the Dining Center with Taylor. I did get to hang out with Mark for a while though because Miho, Mark and I went to the grocery store (its so small!!! Their selection was very limited) We picked up some ingredients for Nikujyaga. It is a Japanese dish of potatoes, beef, onion, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, seasonal green vegetables. When making Nikujyaga, you add water to the pot to cook down and cover the ingredients with a salty-sweet coating, but for some reason our pot had too much water..cough cough..and it started to turn into more of a stew than what I remember Nikujyaga to be. Miho and Mark said it was a good job though, and it did taste good. I have to remember this recipe for my senior year living off campus. Make a giant pot of Nikujyaga and just dig in!!

Monday was my last day in Fargo...
I went with Miho to her Chem 121 and Acting class. I'm sure now that these classes are too easy for Miho, well, because they are too easy for me. I suspected that I might not be able to understand anything in Chemistry, but actually it was a review of Mr. Mena's class. They were just talking about Molar Mass and the Law of Conservation of Matter. The only part that Miho is gonna have trouble with is the English. Then in Acting class I participated with their exercises then I watched as they did their assignments. It was fun to watch these acting exercises :) Then after classes Miho and I went to the airport and said our goodbyes...until we can meet again...

週末の思い出すは僕の心を気持ち良く暖かくなる。　　愛してるみほちゃん。

Multifaceted Life in Fargo, ND

2005-09-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yatta!!!! I made it to see Miho, and we are both having such a good time. We first went to a car wash for her international students` organization. It was funny because Miho is such a quiet person up here, I actually introduced myself to people just because Miho actually didn`t know who they were, let`s see I met Deji, Bola, Stan, Nini, Neggie. Maybe a few more. Then even funnier, I was seeing these people around campus the next day and they were all like "Hey Phil!!," then I`m like, "Sup, Stan!!" Nobody was even saying much to Miho...I must just be that popular, hehehe. OK, I`ll make an update on the situation up here in Fargo tomorrow when I return to R-town.

Ein Woche und Zwei Tagen

2005-09-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

yea..that's how much time I have left in the States, just a week and two days for those of you who don't comprehend the elegance of the German language.
This week was clean-up at Magic Waters, collecting and cleaning garbage cans, cleaning the entire Dippin Dots building...finding out just how deep the grime has become at Magic this year. I logged 37.3 hrs over the week, so I can have a little bit more money for the time being. I've still got to work on Wednesday and Thursday. How funny would it be if I forgot to return my keys to Magic...hrm let's see, outer gate key, inner park key, dippin dots keys, all food outlet keys :)
Tomorrow is gonna be a long day. I'm going to Fargo to see my girlfriend. I can just see how much
there is to do in Fargo, ND. I'll make detailed reports for those who are interested. I mean seriously, it can't be that deserted right?

toot

2005-09-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

ok you folks, now anyone may submit comments, no registration needed

saishuuteki ni

2005-09-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Finally! I received the itinerary from studentuniverse.com about my flight. Yes, it's true. I'm going to see Miho in Fargo. I'll be there from the 17th until the 19th.
My mom asked me why I wanted to see Miho when I had just seen her barely one month ago. My reply was that I hadn't seen Miho for one and a half years and now that we are in the same country, the distance and cost is so much less. My mom replied that since I had been able to wait one and a half years already I should be OK until February, when I have the chance to see Miho again. Well, I don't like to be such an idle person waiting for the opportunity to arrise, it has to be created, especially with my experience in my relationship with Miho. Time is too precious. Money is not. I guess it must be my answer to "Would you rather be broke and happy, or rich and miserable." I choose to be happy, because I decide it.
I'm looking forward to spending time with you Miho, even if it's for a very short time. :)

To See Miho-chan

2005-09-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

I have just one more chance to see my sweet girlfriend Miho Kaneko. She is a biotechnology major for the time being. It's great to have such an amazingly smart girlfriend who is so smoking hot at the same time. Also hard because im the jealous type of guy.

For some reason she decided to go to school in Fargo, ND. This is such an isolated town. It is so difficult to try and travel there. It isn't as difficult as trying to go to Japan, but the plane ticket is gonna be something like $180, but that is if I can get a ticket from Madison to Chicago to Fargo. If I try to buy a direct flight from Chicago to Fargo, it's $240...pretty crazy. So my day was spent searching other airports..Des Moines, Cedar Point, Milwaukee, Midway, even Rockford...but still this Madison flight is the cheapest. Then I tried to see how much a bus would cost to go to Madison...but there is no direct bus route to Madison from Rockford, I would have to be dropped off in Janesville and ride the bus from there, then walk to the airport. It's so hard to be so much closer to Miho but not being able to see her just the same...

First Post

2005-09-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I returned from Kenosha. My last time to visit my friends from Carthage for a long time. I used to think that it would not bother me to leave everything here behind, but hanging out and seeing all of my old friends brought back some great memories that I don't want to fade away. Just the time that I've spent during my college life has been great because of my friends there, making each day a little more exciting than just going to class and studying alone.
I left many jobs for people to do while I'm away. They are not small ones either. Setting up an essay competition for students who have studied abroad, founding a Japanese club, keeping certain people in line so that they don't stress out when I'm not there to whip them into line...I can't help but feel a little guilty for leaving them these jobs, because they truly are my brain-children and to just leave the country, unable to finish it, motivating others to succeed in the time while I'm gone. I hope it's not too much work for them and that they keep in contact with me, so I can keep my grasp on the alternate reality which takes place on Carthage Campus.

2005-09-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

Phil