Ensoku

Today was the ensoku (field trip) to Motto for a BBQ. All the second years met up in Motto, which is like a suburb/town a couple of train stops away. I was finally able to ride the train in Japan! It was crowed going there and coming back, but coming back we were able to get seats :D. We were allowed to wear whatever, as long as it was long pants and the guys couldn't wear sweat pants because they’d look like Yankees. When I first heard that, I was like "Eh? they would look like americans?" but it's not only derogatory word towards people from the US. Yanki (delinquent youth) also refers to rather sketchy/ up to no good looking people who “normal” ppl in Japan try to avoid.

 I wore jeans, tank top over long sleeve shirt, coulourful hoodie, my rainbow scarf and converse. I also braided my hair. Otousan (host dad) drove me, host sis and a couple of friends to the station. I felt over dressed, because they were just wearing a baggy sweater and track pants. It turned out almost everyone was like that. I felt better when we met one of our other friends at the station and she was dressed rather colourful too :D. I don’t quite understand why, when they had a chance to dress up a bit, almost everyone just wore their sports uniform/ sweatshirt and track pants :S ??  However, I got kawaiis from people and called oshare (well dressed) but it could have also refered to oshare kei, which is a really colourful style/ type of music that I like. Either way it made me happy.

So we ended up walking to a park about an hour away from Motto Station. I didn’t really mind the exercise, but it was kinda hot >.<. When we got there, the park was actually right next to the ocean! It was soo beautiful!! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera battery in the charger T.T Baka (idiot/stupid)! It was awesome standing on the beach and being able to see the ocean and the mountains. :D

We had yakisoba again :p. It was kinda funny, because everyone else’s fire pit thing was really clean, while ours had food spilled all over it XD. My face ended up getting sunburned, but not too bad. Being a ginger, my freckles have really come out though. ><

I had a really good time hanging out with everyone, but by the end I was soo tired. I think it was all the sun.

AFS BBQ and Hanging out in Kanazawa

I have been in Japan a little more than a month now! Time has gone by so fast, but it also feels like I have been here forever.

Today was a holiday, so we had a kind of welcome BBQ with everyone from AFS. It was in a park outside of the main city. It was soo beautiful! All the green, and being able to see the mountains!

Unfortunately, my camera died, so I didn’t get very many pictures. My cell phone (pics of phone here) camera is only 1.3 megapixels so the pics would suck... plus I'm not sure if there is a way to get them on to my computer. Also, it was pretty cold and windy, but it was still a lot of fun hanging out with everyone. We had yakisoba for lunch. Yakisoba seems like what you have at every BBQ. You have a big pan thing over the fire, and then grill the vegetables and meat and soba (noodles) and mix it all up. So tasty!

I met one of the Rotary exchange students from Canada at my Japanese Lessons, and so after the BBQ, us 3 AFSers met up with him and two other ppl from rotary (a girl from Canada, and a guy from the US). Since they have been here since last August, they showed us around Kanazawa. We went and did purikura! I finally got to go! Purikura is like a photo booth, except so much better. You take pictures, and can have the backgrounds and then afterwards, you write/decorate the pictures.

Afterwards, the Rotary girl left and the rest of us went and did karaoke for about 3 hours. It was a lot of fun. We sang everything from Jpop to hardcore rap to Circle of Life and Barbie Girl XD.

We had okonomiyaki for supper. Sooo delicious! I think it is my favourite food in Japan, tied with Curry Rice XD. It is kinda like a pancake pizza thing. You get all the ingredients in a bowl which are the batter, shredded cabbage, egg and some other vegetables. You also get some kind of meat you grill first, and then stick in to the batter. I had shrimp. You mix everything yourself, and then stick on the grill to cook, and flip it once. After there are different sauces and spices you can put on top. It tastes really good with mayonnaise :D. I love Japanese mayonnaise! It tastes so much better than the stuff in N. America.

The AFS girl left right after, and the rest of us walked around a bit before we went our separate ways. Kanazawa is quite a lively city. I unfortunately missed the last bus home, and was going to walk (only about 15 mins) but my host mom came and picked me up instead. I felt bad that she had to come and get me… but everything turned out all right.

Everyone at school is busy with clubs, so they can't really hang out. It was great to finally be able to go out and hang out with friends.

Hopefully I can hang out with everyone again soon, it was a lot of fun!

Blueberry Frappuccino

On the weekend, my host sis was away. Okaasan and I went to this dance festival nearby. There was everything from break dancing to more traditional dances. Everyone was so good! It was cute seeing the kids - some were like 6 or 7 - break dancing. We also ran into my friend (from school)'s mom. Okaasan and her have been friends for awhile. She was really nice, and kept saying how cute I was XD. She also asked to borrow my skirt, haha. Everyone in Kanazawa seems to dress well... like really fashionable, designer jeans and whatnot...

It was really cold so we went to Starbucks to get something hot, but I ended up getting a Blueberry Frappuccino XD

It was soooo delicious!!

People at school found it funny that I hung out with 2 moms, but I had a good time with them. It was nice to be with japanese people that were a little more...mature... but only a little XD.

Biology

So in most of my classes, the teachers just ignore me… which is okay I guess since I don’t understand. However, in Biology, the teacher tries to include me and help me understand. She writes the main vocab in English, and will write the hiragana (reading) of the kanji. She is so nice, and I really appreciate the extra effort she makes to help me understand. I have already learned what they are doing… which helps too.

Anyway, we had a test in bio yesterday, on the parts of an animal and plant cell. I had to write it as well. I ended up getting….*drum roll* … 9/13! 4 questions I couldn’t answer because it was a whole bunch of complicated kanji. I wrote all but one of my answers in Japanese. When my teacher saw my mark, she was pretty shocked that I was even able to answer, let alone pass (and do better than about half the class XD).

Yes, I know the parts of a cell in Japanese, but I’m still having trouble having a simple conversation >.<

Ninjas and cell phones

So this past weekend I had an AFS orientation (Saturday) and then stayed the night at my LP's (liaison person) house.

On friday, me and the 2 other exchangers met up with the AFS Kanzawa chapter volunteers. We had lunch in some international exchange building, but it looked like a traditional japanese house. We all spent some times talking about the rules.

I finally got a cell phone!

It's definitely not one I would pick - I wanted a bright colored one - but it has unlimited messaging and works for what I need. I am very grateful that AFS set it up and so quickly too. I haven't even been here a month.

Afterwards, we went to Ninjadera (aka Myoryuji Temple). The temple doesn't actually have anything to do with ninjas. Myoryuji Temple was built as a prayer place of the Kaga Domain soon after Lord Maeda Toshiie, founder of the Kaga Domain, moved to Kanazawa Castle. Later, in preparation for an emergency attack of the central government (Tokugawa Shogunate), the Maeda family considered the temples in Tera-machi as a shield. Then the family added a number of functions to Myoryuji Temple so that it would work as a lookout post and fort. To countermeasure the invasion of enemies, Myoryuji Temple is provided with a variety of mechanisms. That is why this temple is also called Ninja Temple. -Kanazawa Tourism Guide
It was so cool seeing all the secret rooms and hidden staircases. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed, but if you search it, you would probably find pics on the internet. After we went out for supper. We had yakiniku (lit: grilled meat). You have a grill built into your table and then your order the meat and vegetables and grill it yourself. It was oishii (delicious)!

I went to my LP's house after (LP is kinda like your counselor, makes sure you're doing well, etc.) She was really nice. I also met her husband. He was quiet, but really nice. He even gave me his business card. I am making connections XD ! They were really hospitable, and I felt really bad that I forgot their gifts >.<. Oh well, I will give it to them next time we meet.

They also have a dog. His name was Asa-kun... (i think). He was sooo adorable, and really hyper and friendly. From what I've heard, I always thought shiba inus were kinda... not friendly XD. But he kept getting in my face (ie: jumping in my lap) to get me to pet him. We also played ball for quite awhile.

Sunday, we went to Daiso! It's a 100 yen shop. There was sooo much stuff, and it was actually decent quality, rather than the crap at the dollar stores in Canada. I bought a Stitch handkerchief, some school supplies, a makeup case and a compact mirror.
Afterward we went to a play all the way in Komatsu. her niece's school had guests actors, and she invited us. The play genre is called Kyogen. It's a comedy, in old japanese. I didn't understand much, but their expressions, actions and the way they talked still made it funny. We also went out for Curry Rice after. I had shrimp in mine, and it was sooo good! I know it's not japanese, but curry is my favourite at the moment :D.

Time for bed... I'm starting to get super tired again. Back home, my sleeping patterns were really screwed up - take 1 or 2 hours to fall asleep and wake up at 3:30am and almost hour after until about 9am. It wasn't like that every night, but happened quite often. I have realized that lately (last week or so) I wake up between 3:40am and 3:55am every morning. Luckily I can fall back to sleep within an hour. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse >.<

Klutz

So it finally happened. I was kinda expecting this eventually. For those who don't know me, I can be quite... accident prone/klutzy...whatever you wanna call it.

Last night, I fell asleep after my bath (10:30pm). I woke up at about 11:30pm and realized that I had forgotten to wash out my bento box (bad exchange student, haha). So I got out of bed and was going down the stairs half asleep and in the dark. You can probably guess what happened next. I missed a step and fell down 4 or 5 steps. My host family heard all the noise and opened the door of the living room to find me on the floor laughing XD. I don't know why, but whenever I have an... accident... I laugh - at myself I guess, lol.
They were all worried if I was hurt. In Japan, it seems every cut or bruise is made a big deal about. I'm fine, except for one or 2 bruises on my knees. I had not had a problem being klutzy until now >.< Iya... (not good)

Then this morning waiting for the bus, I found a cut on my leg that was still bleeding. I have no idea how I hurt myself :S I have also noticed that I have some bruises on my legs and I'm not sure how they got there... maybe from my bike??