So just to provide further evidence that stoves are not a good thing around high schoolers... today after lunch we were all brushing our teeth, and one of my friends discovered that she could melt the non-bristle end of her toothbrush on the stove's metal chimney pipe. So we all did this, with the normal end of the brushes still in our mouths. So many faces next to such hot metal.
[I'm not actually that concerned about this, I just think it's kind of funny.]
Also... the worry part. Not understanding all of Japanese is particularly difficult when I watch the news. For example, today the news was on TV while I was eating breakfast. I saw videos of explosions and fires, and understood that it was related to North Korea, but had no idea what the meaning was. It could have been just a factory accident or the beginning of a war. So now I'm going to look up the news in English and see what's going on.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
木 林 森
Sometimes I have so many things I want to write about that I just don't write at all because it just seems too daunting. I will do my best to whittle at it, but also accept that I just can't get in everything I had in mind.
Rapid Fire Catch-Up!
Weirdest food: Slice of fish consisting of just its spine, fins, and the bones and flesh in between, dried out till it's crunchier than a pita chip, and eaten plain. I did not, in fact, eat this, because I was so incredibly stuffed that it was just impossible, particularly when the idea of eating a skeleton was not so appealing.
Silly Word Mix-ups: Katai versus Kaitai. The first means "hard" -in the solid way, not the difficult way, the second means "want to buy." So I said "Japanese clothes are hard" instead of "I want to buy Japanese clothes." It was quite amusing! I had another good one, but I have forgotten. I often get "dobutsu" and "daibutsu" confused. Not such a great one ... Dobutsu = animal, Daibutsu = Buddha. Oops. OH I remembered the one I forgot! My mandolin needed to get new strings. My friend [who has been teaching me to play and is amazing at mandolin] and I were talking about it, partly in Japanese and partly in English. I asked who was supposed to change the strings... me, or someone else? and she said "You." Me: "Oh me? Okay, how do I do it?" And then there was this muddled confusion moment... and then I remembered that the best mandoliner in the club is namedゆう which sounds like "Yuu." Ohhhh languages make life so much more interesting...
Sports: Badminton is over, and I went from being a complete flailing dysfunctional thing and utterly disappointing my PE teacher to making it into the 2nd best group in my class [out of 4 groups]. I thought that maybe I had started on a path of success in PE, but that is mostttttttttt definitely not true at all. Volleyball is NOT my sport. When my PE teacher saw me once again flailing dysfunctionally, he just kept repeating "むり！むり！Unberievable!" [むり＝impossible.] I really think I should have lied when he asked if we played volleyball in US PE. Somehow, I'm really not embarrassed at all... I just feel bad for the people who get put on my team...
Host Family: I'm starting to feel sooooooo much more at home here. I'm getting used to it a million times faster than I got used to my first house. Yes. 1 million. [Probably cause I already somewhat understand the culture/language/school system etc] AND my sister could give birth any day! My host mom and I were planning tomorrow, and at the end, my host mom added "...if the baby isn't born, of course!" I'm so excited. [Usually I think pregnancy is gross and babies are a strange phenomenon. I still think that, it is just impossible not to get excited when everyone else is so happy.]
Today was great. I didn't have school [today is some national holiday for ... I'm not sure... maybe uncles?] so I slept till 11:30 and then we went to the most wonderful place. [actually 2nd most wonderful place... I'll get to that.] We drove to the mountains [which was only about 7 minutes or so] and up onto this tiny little road and wayyyy deep in the woods. The place was a restaurant, but I really had no idea what it was when we drove up. There were a bunch of little log cabin buildings and piles and piles and piles and piles and piles and piles of firewood [!!!! wood stoves are rare in Japan!!!! I was superrrrr excited!!!!] and little dirty statues and sprawling dangling masses of somewhat dry plants in various pots and containers. Inside, it was cozy cozy cozy [wood stoves are theeeeee coziest things EVER] with lots of little mismatched treasures, such as a marionette Indian man and a chart of Egyption hieroglyphs and paintings. It was so full of woodenness. I'm not so good at describing it. There was also an old graceful brown dog outside and a delicious scent of post-rain forest dirt and pine needles. Basically, I am completely in love with that place and felt so perfectly at home and realized how much the forest is part of me. Being in Japan has made me realize how desperately in love with mountains and trees I am.
Anywayyyyy then we went to Kosenji, my #1 favorite place in Japan. [I've written about I think twice, and I actually wrote my college essay about it.] It was particularly fun this time because it was all about my host sister's belly [also know as the baby. How weird is it that right now it's just this big lump that's distorting her body, and within a few days it will be a person? Right now, she's one person... but that exact same growth will very soon make her 2 people. Pregnancy is seriously strange. I have similar emotional reactions to both pregnancy and monkeys.] We all fanned the incense smoke onto her belly[/the human being within her skin] and rang the bell for her. ALSO there is this little stream with a cup next to it and last time I was alone and thirsty and I wondered if the water was drinkable... now I know it is! And that it is supposed to help you live long. A skinny mountain stream runs down through the woods and then is channeled into a stone trough that has been covered with wonderful moss and then the water shoots off in a perfect clear arc. Yumyumyum.
Then I just wasted the day away doing nothing, which is a nice way to spend a day off, especially after being a crazy over-committed girl for the past, oh I don't really know when it started, for the past really long time. Yay I finally get to do nothing!
Realization: Japanese grammar is not simple. I've been convinced that it is really simple for nearly a year. But a few days ago I was attempting to read something in German and I had this moment of discovery. "Wait... the words... the order... it's the SAME! The words are in the same order! What?!" So Japanese conjugation and tense-changes may be simpler than most other languages, but that does not at all mean the grammar is simpler. All the words are completely utterly entirely mixed around. That makes it very very complicated. So now I can stop feeling guilty that I'm not better at Japanese.
Japanese achievement!!!! I have the kanji-understanding-level of an average Japanese 10 year old! Yayyyyy!!!
Ok, so every single time I just absolutely have to apologize about my writing. I wrote this pretty much exactly the same way that I would say it out loud. I hope that makes it interesting and not just crazy.
Also! If any of you ever have something specific you want me to write about please let me know! I don't want this just to be a documentation of what I'm doing, I want it to be a little peek into Japanese culture and more... I'm not so eloquent/able to figure out what I'm trying to say right now. Anyway, if you're curious about something, comment on this post or send me an email or contact me on facebook or write me a letter or talk to me on skype or speak to me through a dream... there are a ridiculous number of ways to keep in touch. I'm kind of impressed by humanity and technology and development right now. Speaking of which, this is completely off topic, but I've recently realized how much I love right now. People [including me in the past] often talk about wishing they lived in the 60s or 1800s England or some other idealized time period. I was thinking about this a few days ago [not sure why] and thinking about which time period I would live in if I had complete freedom to choose, and I realized I would choose the one I'm in with no regrets. Or, not enough regrets to make me think I made the wrong decision.
Also realized I just love anything related to strawberries. Japanese cutsieness is definitely leaving its mark on me.
Sorry that I overuse "just."
and ramble.
PS I'm back to my happy wooden gears feeling, but this time more... like an elegant old navy blue umbrella with wooden spokes and stem that opens and closes smoothly and with a satisfying swoooosh click.
Rapid Fire Catch-Up!
Weirdest food: Slice of fish consisting of just its spine, fins, and the bones and flesh in between, dried out till it's crunchier than a pita chip, and eaten plain. I did not, in fact, eat this, because I was so incredibly stuffed that it was just impossible, particularly when the idea of eating a skeleton was not so appealing.
Silly Word Mix-ups: Katai versus Kaitai. The first means "hard" -in the solid way, not the difficult way, the second means "want to buy." So I said "Japanese clothes are hard" instead of "I want to buy Japanese clothes." It was quite amusing! I had another good one, but I have forgotten. I often get "dobutsu" and "daibutsu" confused. Not such a great one ... Dobutsu = animal, Daibutsu = Buddha. Oops. OH I remembered the one I forgot! My mandolin needed to get new strings. My friend [who has been teaching me to play and is amazing at mandolin] and I were talking about it, partly in Japanese and partly in English. I asked who was supposed to change the strings... me, or someone else? and she said "You." Me: "Oh me? Okay, how do I do it?" And then there was this muddled confusion moment... and then I remembered that the best mandoliner in the club is namedゆう which sounds like "Yuu." Ohhhh languages make life so much more interesting...
Sports: Badminton is over, and I went from being a complete flailing dysfunctional thing and utterly disappointing my PE teacher to making it into the 2nd best group in my class [out of 4 groups]. I thought that maybe I had started on a path of success in PE, but that is mostttttttttt definitely not true at all. Volleyball is NOT my sport. When my PE teacher saw me once again flailing dysfunctionally, he just kept repeating "むり！むり！Unberievable!" [むり＝impossible.] I really think I should have lied when he asked if we played volleyball in US PE. Somehow, I'm really not embarrassed at all... I just feel bad for the people who get put on my team...
Host Family: I'm starting to feel sooooooo much more at home here. I'm getting used to it a million times faster than I got used to my first house. Yes. 1 million. [Probably cause I already somewhat understand the culture/language/school system etc] AND my sister could give birth any day! My host mom and I were planning tomorrow, and at the end, my host mom added "...if the baby isn't born, of course!" I'm so excited. [Usually I think pregnancy is gross and babies are a strange phenomenon. I still think that, it is just impossible not to get excited when everyone else is so happy.]
Today was great. I didn't have school [today is some national holiday for ... I'm not sure... maybe uncles?] so I slept till 11:30 and then we went to the most wonderful place. [actually 2nd most wonderful place... I'll get to that.] We drove to the mountains [which was only about 7 minutes or so] and up onto this tiny little road and wayyyy deep in the woods. The place was a restaurant, but I really had no idea what it was when we drove up. There were a bunch of little log cabin buildings and piles and piles and piles and piles and piles and piles of firewood [!!!! wood stoves are rare in Japan!!!! I was superrrrr excited!!!!] and little dirty statues and sprawling dangling masses of somewhat dry plants in various pots and containers. Inside, it was cozy cozy cozy [wood stoves are theeeeee coziest things EVER] with lots of little mismatched treasures, such as a marionette Indian man and a chart of Egyption hieroglyphs and paintings. It was so full of woodenness. I'm not so good at describing it. There was also an old graceful brown dog outside and a delicious scent of post-rain forest dirt and pine needles. Basically, I am completely in love with that place and felt so perfectly at home and realized how much the forest is part of me. Being in Japan has made me realize how desperately in love with mountains and trees I am.
Anywayyyyy then we went to Kosenji, my #1 favorite place in Japan. [I've written about I think twice, and I actually wrote my college essay about it.] It was particularly fun this time because it was all about my host sister's belly [also know as the baby. How weird is it that right now it's just this big lump that's distorting her body, and within a few days it will be a person? Right now, she's one person... but that exact same growth will very soon make her 2 people. Pregnancy is seriously strange. I have similar emotional reactions to both pregnancy and monkeys.] We all fanned the incense smoke onto her belly[/the human being within her skin] and rang the bell for her. ALSO there is this little stream with a cup next to it and last time I was alone and thirsty and I wondered if the water was drinkable... now I know it is! And that it is supposed to help you live long. A skinny mountain stream runs down through the woods and then is channeled into a stone trough that has been covered with wonderful moss and then the water shoots off in a perfect clear arc. Yumyumyum.
Then I just wasted the day away doing nothing, which is a nice way to spend a day off, especially after being a crazy over-committed girl for the past, oh I don't really know when it started, for the past really long time. Yay I finally get to do nothing!
Realization: Japanese grammar is not simple. I've been convinced that it is really simple for nearly a year. But a few days ago I was attempting to read something in German and I had this moment of discovery. "Wait... the words... the order... it's the SAME! The words are in the same order! What?!" So Japanese conjugation and tense-changes may be simpler than most other languages, but that does not at all mean the grammar is simpler. All the words are completely utterly entirely mixed around. That makes it very very complicated. So now I can stop feeling guilty that I'm not better at Japanese.
Japanese achievement!!!! I have the kanji-understanding-level of an average Japanese 10 year old! Yayyyyy!!!
Ok, so every single time I just absolutely have to apologize about my writing. I wrote this pretty much exactly the same way that I would say it out loud. I hope that makes it interesting and not just crazy.
Also! If any of you ever have something specific you want me to write about please let me know! I don't want this just to be a documentation of what I'm doing, I want it to be a little peek into Japanese culture and more... I'm not so eloquent/able to figure out what I'm trying to say right now. Anyway, if you're curious about something, comment on this post or send me an email or contact me on facebook or write me a letter or talk to me on skype or speak to me through a dream... there are a ridiculous number of ways to keep in touch. I'm kind of impressed by humanity and technology and development right now. Speaking of which, this is completely off topic, but I've recently realized how much I love right now. People [including me in the past] often talk about wishing they lived in the 60s or 1800s England or some other idealized time period. I was thinking about this a few days ago [not sure why] and thinking about which time period I would live in if I had complete freedom to choose, and I realized I would choose the one I'm in with no regrets. Or, not enough regrets to make me think I made the wrong decision.
Also realized I just love anything related to strawberries. Japanese cutsieness is definitely leaving its mark on me.
Sorry that I overuse "just."
and ramble.
PS I'm back to my happy wooden gears feeling, but this time more... like an elegant old navy blue umbrella with wooden spokes and stem that opens and closes smoothly and with a satisfying swoooosh click.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Mandolins and Fire
Mandolin club today definitely revived my spirits. After practice, I stayed for 2 hours talking to 3 people in the club about Japanese characters and our favorite bands and American bathrooms and other various things. It made me happy. ALSO I may have written about this before but I'm really excited about a concert we're doing next July... it's on the national level, and in Osaka!
Point of concern: I feel that there is no way my school can get through the winter without catching on fire or hosting some terrible accident involving students getting burned. The school is heated by stoves that the students pour gallons of oil into every morning. The whole thing gets really hot and is right in the main walking path of the classroom. And of course, teenagers can't resist experimenting... Is this part hot? Ouch! Yes, that metal part directly over the flames is hot. Some hideous accident just seems inevitable. But they are nice because it makes a natural gathering point for everyone and I end up getting to get to know more people that way [and I'm not freezing all the time.]
That's all for now. I'm sleepy, and I have mandolin tomorrow morning.
Point of concern: I feel that there is no way my school can get through the winter without catching on fire or hosting some terrible accident involving students getting burned. The school is heated by stoves that the students pour gallons of oil into every morning. The whole thing gets really hot and is right in the main walking path of the classroom. And of course, teenagers can't resist experimenting... Is this part hot? Ouch! Yes, that metal part directly over the flames is hot. Some hideous accident just seems inevitable. But they are nice because it makes a natural gathering point for everyone and I end up getting to get to know more people that way [and I'm not freezing all the time.]
That's all for now. I'm sleepy, and I have mandolin tomorrow morning.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Switching host families, Venezuelans, Fulfilling my neglected duties.
This will be yet another disorganized catchup blog. I really need to be better about this...
I switched host families.
Current family description: Doughnut factory owners, live close to school, host sister is in her upper 20s and lives at home and is pregnant [I will be a host aunt soon :) ], very nice host mom, host dad speaks some English [but usually I understand him better when he speaks Japanese], host grandma is cute. 2 pugs. Nice garden. Piano. Electric organ in my bedroom.
I'm really really sad about leaving my old home though. I felt like a real part of the family. I had gotten completely comfortable and happy there. And then I had to leave. It's hard.
It's funny. At the beginning of the year, I was really craving couches. Now, my host family has a couch, and I'm craving futons and kotatsu. In general, my current family is much more Western and less traditional than my old family. But that's not really a surprise, given my old house was a temple and more than twice as old as the US.
The house change has really put me in a weird mood. The smooth wooden gear feeling has gone away, and now I feel more like... hmmm... like I'm trying to pick up a large heavy object with my toes in the dark. I think once I get adjusted to life here and mandolin starts back up I'll be back to normal.
Positive thing: I think this will be a really nice place to be for the Christmas season. It's obviously not a big deal in Japan, but this house definitely will be festive in a wintery way. We spent the whole first day I was here putting up tons of different christmas lights all over the garden and the fence and the balconies. [And going to lots of stores trying to find more lights.]
Other positive thing [pre-switch]: Last Wednesday [?] my mandolin club and I and the brass band club went to the culture center to have a workshop with a group of musicians from Venezuela. It was super fun to learn about different types of music, especially hearing my Japanese friends' reactions to it. Lots of new rhythms. They performed lots of songs for us [mini Venezuelan guitar + flute + percussion + bass]. And then I learned that we were performing for them too! Eek! So I performed mandolin to professional musicians. I only know very basic mandolin, and had only played the song once or twice, and didn't remember it and was just getting used to reading music for mandolin and was basically incompetent. But my comfort zone has expanded sooooooo ridiculously much that it didn't stress me out. I just tried to play the first note of each measure and hope no one paid attention to me.
Oh right! What I actually wanted to say about that was about Spanish and languages. They spoke in Spanish for the presentation and someone else translated it to Japanese. Prime situation to compare my language abilities. I'm still better at Spanish than Japanese. But for the first time, this didn't make me frustrated. Instead, I felt happy. I realized that they languages weren't in competition with each other, and knowing a little of both just means more people I can understand. I'm not so good at explaining this. I think now that I am more functional with Japanese it is easier for me to remember why I am here and not in Spain. Gosh I'm really tired and not at all capable of saying what I'm trying to say.
I've been soooo sleepy lately. I took a five hour nap today.
I'm sorry about this post... I had planned to make it more eloquent and less moody.
Oh Oh Oh!!! Not done yet!!! I have COMPLETELY shirked my duties and not put up any pictures of my temple!!! I probably should have done that when I lived there... But in any case, I'll put them up now.
I switched host families.
Current family description: Doughnut factory owners, live close to school, host sister is in her upper 20s and lives at home and is pregnant [I will be a host aunt soon :) ], very nice host mom, host dad speaks some English [but usually I understand him better when he speaks Japanese], host grandma is cute. 2 pugs. Nice garden. Piano. Electric organ in my bedroom.
I'm really really sad about leaving my old home though. I felt like a real part of the family. I had gotten completely comfortable and happy there. And then I had to leave. It's hard.
It's funny. At the beginning of the year, I was really craving couches. Now, my host family has a couch, and I'm craving futons and kotatsu. In general, my current family is much more Western and less traditional than my old family. But that's not really a surprise, given my old house was a temple and more than twice as old as the US.
The house change has really put me in a weird mood. The smooth wooden gear feeling has gone away, and now I feel more like... hmmm... like I'm trying to pick up a large heavy object with my toes in the dark. I think once I get adjusted to life here and mandolin starts back up I'll be back to normal.
Positive thing: I think this will be a really nice place to be for the Christmas season. It's obviously not a big deal in Japan, but this house definitely will be festive in a wintery way. We spent the whole first day I was here putting up tons of different christmas lights all over the garden and the fence and the balconies. [And going to lots of stores trying to find more lights.]
Other positive thing [pre-switch]: Last Wednesday [?] my mandolin club and I and the brass band club went to the culture center to have a workshop with a group of musicians from Venezuela. It was super fun to learn about different types of music, especially hearing my Japanese friends' reactions to it. Lots of new rhythms. They performed lots of songs for us [mini Venezuelan guitar + flute + percussion + bass]. And then I learned that we were performing for them too! Eek! So I performed mandolin to professional musicians. I only know very basic mandolin, and had only played the song once or twice, and didn't remember it and was just getting used to reading music for mandolin and was basically incompetent. But my comfort zone has expanded sooooooo ridiculously much that it didn't stress me out. I just tried to play the first note of each measure and hope no one paid attention to me.
Oh right! What I actually wanted to say about that was about Spanish and languages. They spoke in Spanish for the presentation and someone else translated it to Japanese. Prime situation to compare my language abilities. I'm still better at Spanish than Japanese. But for the first time, this didn't make me frustrated. Instead, I felt happy. I realized that they languages weren't in competition with each other, and knowing a little of both just means more people I can understand. I'm not so good at explaining this. I think now that I am more functional with Japanese it is easier for me to remember why I am here and not in Spain. Gosh I'm really tired and not at all capable of saying what I'm trying to say.
I've been soooo sleepy lately. I took a five hour nap today.
I'm sorry about this post... I had planned to make it more eloquent and less moody.
Oh Oh Oh!!! Not done yet!!! I have COMPLETELY shirked my duties and not put up any pictures of my temple!!! I probably should have done that when I lived there... But in any case, I'll put them up now.
 |
| Gate |
 |
| Main Temple Part |
 |
| Buddhaaaaaaaaaaa |
 |
| Closer up. |
 |
| Buddhist priest toolbox |
 |
| Hallway leading to house part |
 |
| Goldfish!!! |
Saturday, November 6, 2010
日本語 and other things.
This is how I feel about日本語:
It is such a perfect language. Everything is composed of blocks that are all the same, yet they can fit together in many different ways to create a huge range of words and ideas. It feels like building with Lincoln Logs. There are only five sounds, yet by putting different consonants and “ in front, a whole language emerges. It is all just a big puzzle. There is no wavy vagueness; Japanese is solid and geometric.
Here is how I feel about my Japanese capability:
I am good at understanding and vocabulary, but bad at grammar. Also, I only know the words that have come up in my life. So, for example, I know how to say “hedgehog,” “water imp,” and “electron,” yet I just learned the word for “bad” today. [That says good things about my time here so farJ]. When I talk though, it is usually just a string of words with no grammar particles in between. But I really can talk a lot as long as my conversation partner doesn’t mind my incorrectness.
Which makes me think of my life in general:
I love my host family so much. They understand my jarbled 日本語, and help me fix it all the time. At the beginning of my time here, I felt somewhat isolated and like no one really knew me. Of course, because how could anyone really know me, and how could I really know anybody, if I had only met them a month ago? But now I’ve been living with the Iida family for 3 months, and now I feel completely comfortable around them. And about people not knowing me, I think they really know me now, but it is a different me. It is not the me from ConVal or ASP or home life with my real family, but it is me just as much, even though it is new. I guess it’s like painting a wall—the paint from before is still there, and it makes the wall a little thicker, but the only color that the people looking at the wall see is the top layer. But the colors underneath affect how the next layer shows up. And I haven’t turned into a completely new person—I still make little dove trills and get obsessive with tricksy things like juggling and origami and Japanese decorative knot-tying. For example. There are lots of things that are the same, but also lots of things that are different.
But back to life in general:
I am so happy. I feel no stress, for the first time since about 5th grade. Probably because I don’t have to worry about homework or tests or grades for the first time. My only responsibility is making friends and learning Japanese and Japanese culture and being a good person to my host family and the town. All of which is generally fun. And I really love learning mandolin!! I’ve just joined the club [maybe I already wrote about this?]. I have a feeling that the people in the club are the ones that will end up being my closest friends by the end of the year. They are all so nice and friendly. Another nice thing is that they are not all 1st year students. I’m in 1st grade [about the same as US 10th grade] so my classmates are quite a bit younger than me, which is usually fine, but sometimes I’ve wished I knew more people my own age. And now I do! Anyway, it is a great combination of music and friend-making and culture-learning and all that. :]
In general, I feel like all of a sudden I’ve reached a new level of comfort and happiness. Everything just feels right. I don’t really know how to describe it. My mood is like a big set of gears that all interlock perfectly and spin smoothly and are made of old polished wood. That’s the closest I can get to it.
Also, since I wrote about 日本語, here’s a little bit about English:
For the first time, I can tell what it sounds like. When I first started being able to hear it from an outside perspective, I thought it sounded coarse and unpleasant, but more recently I’ve noticed how awesome English words are. They are all so different and playful. Muddle Trivial Luxury Spider Gurgle.
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