For Halloween JCMU had a small costume/こども party! We had about 90 kids from neighboring elementary schools come to the school where we had various activities planned for them. I was on the face painting committee, and I got to paint lots of various things (I thought people were going to kill me since I put Spiderman up on the board for things we were willing to paint/he isn't the easiest thing to fit on a little kids cheek). We also had a haunted house (which I helped set up), bean bag toss, and trick or treating. The kids were adorable in there little outfits and overall we had a blast.
Afterwards we had some college kids over from Shiga Dai, sushi, and some other activities like our own costume party with prizes. An overall fantastic night!
Yeah I know I suck, I haven't done any posts since... well a long time so it will take a while to catch up. The good news= You don't have to listen to me talk so much The bad news= it's going to take a longggg time. I'll try to make entries short with lot's of pictures and videos! Again sorry for those who have been checking often. Leslie
The 12th and 13th I had a weekend homestay with the Ueno family. It was an amazing experience. They treated me very kindly and we did so much. I was lucky enough to stay with them during the time I did, because they lived in Nagahama, and that weekend that had a large festival in the city. Many girls, dressed up in Kimono came and participated in the festival. We also got to see many musical performances. I list what I did Friday night -met the family -went grocery shopping -ate with the family -helped out my homestay Okaasan with some english, had a lengthy conversation -got ready and went to bed
Saturday -Woke up early took a shower -Had another delicious meal -went into Nagahama city -did a little shopping -saw the kid's kimomo festival floats -went and saw a glass museum (very pretty) -Ate dinner out at an expensive restaurant (there was like 12 courses) -went back and watched a little tv and went to bed
Sunday -woke up for a huge amazing meal again (very full by this point) -Went to a special shrine with an amazing Kannon statue that is regarded as a national treasure to Japan (it was very interesting, my Okaasan had to give an explanation of it in english soon so I helped her work out what she was going to say) -Went to Nagahama castle where I got to view the inside which was a gun exhibit and then around 11am I saw an actual gun shooting performance. -Walked around the city and saw a famous temple (the name escapes me) -Went through the city (with ice cream) to see all the girls dressed in Kimono -Saw a lot of musical acts -went out for an early dinner late lunch -back to JCMU!
You can see why I chose to list everything, I did alot. Also remember this entire time I'm utilizing my Japanese speaking skills to talk to my family, a once in a life time kind of experience if you know what I mean. It was fun, amazing, suteki! Ja ne Leslie
This is Japan's top Shamisen player. We actually got to see her perform!
On the 11th we took part in a traditional Japanese Tea ceremony. We got to see one actually done in a professional sense and then we were able to participate in one that was much more laid back. We drank Mochi (I think that's right) and had some japanese sweets as well. It was a very nice ceremony, but there really isn't much I can write about it. I was going to post up the formal ceremony video, but it's around 8 minutes long and kind of boring. If anyone wants to see it though, please comment and I'll throw it up there. Ciao
I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I really should have this weekend... but I was lazy. Really I have no excuse, except I bought a new video game for my DS and I have been hopelessly addicted to it. Oh how I love Japan. Anyway now it's time to talk a little bit about Osaka! The city known for its industries and also the home of many Yakuza (Japanese gangsters). Often Osaka is known for producing energetic people, and ones that can be over friendly (which can be viewed as insultive in Japan). I really had a blast, so I will briefly go over what I did and saw, but excuse me if my memory is a little foggy, it actually was about 3 weekends ago... so again I apologize for not updating. I went with my roommate Jenni, Neil, and JP. We left the train station fairly early (I think like around 11-11:30, and we got into Osaka around 1:30. The first thing we did was walk over and view the Umeda Sky Building, another piece of modern Japanese Architecture. The style reminded me a little of Kyoto's main train station, a style which I myself really like. It has a futuristic quality that still fits in nicely with the here and now of today.
We stopped for a short lunch in the building, and then headed out to Osaka-Jo (or Osaka castle). I had seen the castle before, on my first trip to Japan, but seeing it again really altered my perceptions of my first visit. The castle seemed to me on this second viewing somehow more grand and I suppose Imperial is a good word. Before in the spring when I saw it, the castle seemed flowery and a get away for rich nobles, but in the fall it exuded a definitive presence. Almost stately. I enjoyed very much the second viewing of the castle and also the view of the rest of the city from the top.
After Osaka-jo we went to the Osaka Aquarium where the largest fish tank in the world is held, and inside its depths is a whale shark! It was a truly fun experience. It was nice to step back aways from some of the historical stuff and just have fun! And let me tell you, Japan knows what they're doing when it comes to fish, I have never seen fish that big in my life. Tank after tank of strange, exotic, and extremely large fish.
When the aquarium was done we basically did night life (Most specifically Dotonbori). We went to a couple bars, and had some very interesting moments. I had a stomach ache though due to eating some cheese or milk or who knows what so I didn't drink anything. It made for an interesting scenario though, since we didn't really know how to convey stomach ache to the bartender in Japanese... anyway needless to say it was a fun night.
Another Friday project. This week we did Calligraphy, the art of using ink and brushes to produce beautiful characters, most specifically kanji. Kanji are basically chinese characters, that have specific meanings. The two characters I show in my mini video are "yume" to dream, and "ai" to love. The one you see me draw is to dream, and it was also the one I practiced doing for my final piece, which is going to be displayed somewhere downstairs on tuesday. I was very excited about Calligraphy because I was pretty good at it. At least I was better at Calligraphy then flower arranging.
Do you want to know something amazing? Kendo. I was lucky enough to stumble across the group at one of my universities and Thursday night I was invited to go watch them practice. The best part yet, I might be able to start next week. Practice is 3 times a week, but I think it's well worth it! I miss Tae Kwon do alot, and I need something physical to do, a sport or something. I think I've lost alot of weight since I've been here (just because of the diet of Japanese food) and because I ride a bike pretty much everywhere, but biking and eating healthy food isn't enough, I need some kind of combat scenario. I really really want to do Kendo, so I hope it works out for the best. So check out pictures! That might be me soon enough.
Hello all prospective readers! The name is Leslie, and I am a 20 year old traveler with a passion and taste for all cultures. I really wanted to open up this blog so that I could first of all share some amazing photos, to help dictate my travels for family, friends and myself and also so that people will know what I am doing and will therefore be able to keep in touch. Please, please, please send me messages! Traveling the world can be exciting, but that doesn't mean I will not miss the people I leave behind.
