JAPAN | Tuesday, 24 May 2016 | Views [471]
I haven't mentioned it in a while, so I bet you forgot about the projects that we had to do for class, didn't you? Yeah, me too…
A few weeks ago, there had been a takoyaki party at CET, with a lot of roommates and CET+ plus Japanese people ... Read more >
Tags: authors, japanese, literature, projects, survey
JAPAN | Saturday, 7 May 2016 | Views [542]
Although I would never want to be one of those people who goes to a country and only ever eats at McDonalds, I see nothing wrong with occasionally wanting a literal taste of familiarity. In Paris, this took the form of a Friday routine of getting a ... Read more >
Tags: burger, cafe, food, fries, reading
JAPAN | Thursday, 5 May 2016 | Views [521]
Sunday we were supposed to leave the house around 8:30 for karate class. So I got up at 7:30, which had the perk that it meant the bread I got for breakfast was still warm. Other than that, there wasn't much of a difference between getting up at 7:30 ... Read more >
Tags: exercise, host family, karate
JAPAN | Tuesday, 3 May 2016 | Views [577]
Saturday, I got confirmation that the children woke up early when I woke up to the sounds of little feet running around the house. I checked the time, debated whether or not it was worth getting up this early and decided it wasn't. Two hours later, ... Read more >
Tags: food, mountain, nature, oni games, tag
JAPAN | Monday, 2 May 2016 | Views [643]
Do to a miscommunication, we ended up showing up to the place to meet with our host families at the same time our host families were arriving. This was a mistake, because they were supposed to have a brief orientation before meeting us. So they went ... Read more >
Tags: beds, food, host family, jangken, sleep schedules
JAPAN | Saturday, 30 Apr 2016 | Views [536]
Before class began on Friday, Dan asked me if I’d gotten an omiyage (literally “souvenir,” more generally, gift) for my host family this weekend. Which stole the exact question I’d intended to ask him, simply because the program ... Read more >
Tags: children, crafts, omiyage, oni games, self-introductions
JAPAN | Saturday, 30 Apr 2016 | Views [746]
Technically the theme of chapter seven was “Japanese pop culture,” but in reality, onomatopoeia would have been a better descriptor. Because that's what the reading, dialogue, and large amounts of homework focused on.
This might seem ... Read more >
Tags: grammar, japanese
JAPAN | Thursday, 21 Apr 2016 | Views [575]
Sunday morning, Rachel and I planned to catch ferry to Nokonomishma. This required catching a train, then either a bus or a ten minute walk, buying ferry tickets, and getting on the ferry. Which wasn’t all that complicated until the last step.... Read more >
Tags: coffee, flowers, gardens, hamburger, kyushu, shinkansen, transportation
JAPAN | Friday, 15 Apr 2016 | Views [434]
The AirBnB hostel that Rachel and I were staying in seemed like it couldn't make up its mind about what kind of place it wanted to be. On the one hand, there were 8 beds in one room, and there were rules like “be back by 10” and “don't ... Read more >
Tags: math, ramenn, sakura, shrine, study
JAPAN | Friday, 8 Apr 2016 | Views [524]
Rachel's best friend's mother lived in Fukuoka. This meant that, even though Rachel's best friend was not there, the mother, Chiharu, still came and showed us around with traditional Japanese hospitality.
First of all, Chiharu had a car. So we ... Read more >
Tags: fukuoka, gardens, guides, ice cream, koi, sakura, towers
JAPAN | Wednesday, 6 Apr 2016 | Views [591]
“I want to go to Kyushu,” I heard myself say while video chatting with my parents. It was a weird thing for me to say. Like someone in Chicago saying “I want to go to Minnesota.” There’s nothing wrong with Minnesota, it’... Read more >
Tags: bus, coffee, fukuoka, kyushu, transportation
JAPAN | Monday, 28 Mar 2016 | Views [425]
On Wednesday my religion and culture class was cancelled, which should have made the day seem shorter and better by comparison. It didn't.
In part this was because we had our second Japanese test, immediately followed by two hours of project work.... Read more >
Tags: castle, cat, coffee, plum trees, tests
JAPAN | Wednesday, 23 Mar 2016 | Views [567]
On Friday we had a class excursion to Kyoto to make pottery. I love that that's a thing we can do. Not the pottery so much as just going to Kyoto for a class excursion. My parents were notably less thrilled about the entire thing, and advised me to ... Read more >
Tags: kyoto, middle schoolers, namesake, pottery, temple, views
JAPAN | Saturday, 19 Mar 2016 | Views [532]
On Thursday, I decided to celebrate my birthday in some kind of imitation of tradition. One part of the tradition was getting pancakes. (Another part was going to a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you, which sounds like it should ... Read more >
Tags: money, onsen, pancakes, water
JAPAN | Thursday, 17 Mar 2016 | Views [536]
On Tuesday we started chapter six. Which was sad, because six is a multiple of three. We have chapter tests every three chapters. So even though it seemed like we’d just finished a chapter test, we were already nearly due for another one. Joy.... Read more >
Tags: cats, host family, japanese, math, programs
JAPAN | Wednesday, 16 Mar 2016 | Views [616]
Following class on Monday, I took the now-familiar train to Nagahoribashi as if I was going to Mondial Kaffee. (Spoiler alert: I wasn’t.) Then I walked the same way I had last time when I was just looking around until I found the Sketchers shop ... Read more >
Tags: chocolate, heart, nanoblocks, shoes
JAPAN | Monday, 14 Mar 2016 | Views [523]
On Saturday I returned to Osaka Castle. It was a rather impulsive decision, since I’d been most of the way towards just taking another walk by the river when I decided I’d rather go back to Osaka Castle and see if I could find the plum trees ... Read more >
Tags: cards, deer, manhole covers, nara, nature, shrine, temple
JAPAN | Friday, 11 Mar 2016 | Views [585]
On Wednesday, I was exposed to several small but very odd things about Japanese culture.
First of all, we were practicing new kanji. One of those kanji was the character for rice, which, for whatever reason, is also the character for America. So ... Read more >
Tags: beer, chocolate, coffee, commercialism, culture, wedding
JAPAN | Thursday, 10 Mar 2016 | Views [494]
One of Suzuki-sensei’s favorite starts to the class is asking “what is today’s date? What day is today?” The first is a straightforward question, the second is a question that only she knows the answer to. Usually it’s ... Read more >
Tags: akutagawa, chopin, dates, japanese, literature, music, numbers
JAPAN | Wednesday, 9 Mar 2016 | Views [561]
Sunday was the CET trip to Arashiyama, near Kyoto. So we met at 8:30 (on a Sunday!) at the train station and caught a succession of trains to Arashiyama. It was pretty uneventful, with the most interesting part probably being watching a woman come to ... Read more >
Tags: buddhism, meditation, monk, spirtuality, sweets
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