Day 38

Today was a good day. And I have pics and videos.

First was my weekly test, which was ok. And Then our cultural activity for the week was kumi-daiko, which is a Japanase Drum Performance. I didn't get to much history but former professionals performed for us and taught us how to use the drums too.


This is the first set they did for us:

And this is the second:

Lady on the right was getting it, I loved her mask And their shoes were interesting, they were like samarai socks (they are socks like toe socks, but one slot for big toe, and the other slot four your four other toes) but only shoes.


Clearly Drums are important to many cultures. It was nice to see. After that I went and got my package from my Mom that I had been waiting for she is the best. I got Travelers checks so I now can get cash, ( I was having issues with the atm's here), she onion and garlic powder, so I can add more flavor to my food, i forgot to ask for Seasoning salt :(, and chocolate, cause my mommy is the best valentine. 


So I had to ventured to the bank, And I proud to report that I wasn't antisocial today. Two people came with me after asking did I want to get sushi, and boy did I. I made it to the bank to get cash, and stopped by City Hall to pick up my Alien registration card. It looks like an ID but in Japanese, pretty cool. I'm an official Japanese Alien. 


Afterwards we went to Kaiten Sushi. Kaiten Sushi wa Oishi desu (Delicious).

The sushi came by on a conveyor belt. Random plates at only 105 each.

If you wanted something specific, you had to order from the screen

Katherine ordering for me, I'm not that advance yet

Oocha (green tea) powder, this is what they used for the tea ceremony. I still have to edit and upload that video.

Sushi dish 1 and 2. 1 is salmon, and 2 is fried shrimp. It had inside rice, avocado, egg, lettuce, and the orange stuff is fish eggs. I find fish eggs to be delicious as long as you don't think about it.

Sushi dish 3, shrimp, avocado, mayonaise and rice

150ml coke (will come back and turn pics)

sushi dish 4 shrimp, cheese and rice

my stacked plates, I was done after that, sushi is so filling, I saw other patrons with like 8 plates each, couldn't do it.

We went to this bomb dollar store next and then via city where we got dessert.

People were raving about these parfaits, it was cool, Strawberry ice cream, sauce, whipped cream, vanillia froyo I believe and cornflakes, yeah cornflakes, of course I missed my granola.

The silver spork, excuse my whipped cream

We ventured around via city and I found even when seeing people, everyone has all these clothes with English writing. I wonder do they even know what things say. I have not yet seen a shirt with Japanese characters. I think there is a market there for that. I mean I think thats a cute sweatshirt, but why would I want to buy this in Japan.

Thee cutest hello kitty, but it's like $65. I wish it was cheaper, I would buy it, aww Japan, Takai des ne.

But we returned back afterwards and I am proud to report my milage for today on my bike was 11miles.  my legs will be sore soon, but 11 miles is impressive. When I get back to the states, I know I could do a cycling class definitely. 

But this was a nice start to a great weekend. Field Trip to Nara tomorrow, so more exciting pics to come.

Until Next Time,

Day 32

Today I went grocery shopping, kinda went on a dummy mission. Lets just say I ended up going out of my way. But I'm thankful for the extra exercise and now I know better. It is a great feeling to have groceries at home, I'll never let my coffers go empty during this ever-changing winter season. However the days are getting longer so that is a wonderful thing.

I'll try to go exploring again tomorrow.

Until Next Time,

Day 31

Setsubun

snow

So today I got to see the real aftermath of the snowstorm, the snow was knee-deep, they haven't even plowed the side streets, and our cultural activity got canceled. Sad times, I didn't get to learn about the koto- the japanese harp. But since it was Setsubun I got to experience a little culture for my Friday.

Our Oni- (Devil)

Oni outside

He's actually our resident director, we didn't throw anything literally at him

soy beans packs we through in side.

So you say "Oni wa soto!" throwing them outside saying "Bad spirits In" and  "Fuku wa uchi!" - "Happiness in" We kept the soybeans incased for cleanliness because we don't follow typical japanese cleanliness by always taking off our shoes in the lobby. But then you eat your age +1 in soybeans for good health. 

I also watched Rocky Horror Show, yeah that movie was interesting... Tomorrow I'm taking myself to the grocery store via shuttle because that snow is not something to mess with, however I am in dire need of groceries.

Until Next Time,

Day 30

So I have officially been here a month. wow, 30 days. But all is ok.

Today was not the best day. You see there was an announcement sent out last week that the electricity would be out for one hour between 7:30 and 8:30 am this thursday, so there would be no hot water. I prepared for that, took my shower last night. But I did not remember to set my ipod because clearly my alarm clock is electric which means it would not wake me up. And wake me up it did not. So I woke up at 9:15 for my 8:50 class. The teacher was not pleased, see I'm usually 3 minutes late like every few days, I know, it's a problem I'm working on. But yeah, so she was not hearing about my alarm clock that made me miss an entire class. And I never give excuses so I was just like oh wow, you really don't care. Sucks to be me. This is why in the states the cellphone alarm is one of the best, or I guess you could be fancy and just buy a battery for the alarm clock. But I'm not there yet people.

The sensee was upset because we didn't know our dialogue either, I knew it, I just used the wrong verb, you can say that means I didn't know it, but ikimas and kimas are very similar verbs, to go and to come. I added an i and it was downhill from there. So wish me better class days. I need to do better. And I am, my quiz and test scores are increasing if you don't count the quiz I missed today. #Japanlifestruggles

Oh and so I thought last week was a bad snow day, well I was wrong.

view from my window, those are our bikes covered in snow.

Snow that I didn't have to ride through since class was canceled again. We were supposed to have a field trip to a Japanese government office. This is not good, because now we have to make up two lectures. Thankful that I don't have to ride through the snow though.

Out yonder from my window.

In all seriousness though, this is the snow that if you woke up to it, public schools would have a snow day. Now I'm "trapped" in my room because I'm not venturing out there.

Until Next Time,

Day 29

So I was watching youtube videos trying to find great recipes and came across this video

Setsubun  <-- Click here

She explains it best. We are having a get Rid of Oni (Evil Spirits) celebration this Friday, so I will of course tell you how it goes, and I will try to get the ingredients and make a sushi roll so I too can do the celebration.

Hope you enjoy,

Until Next Time,

Day 27

I didn't do much this pass weekend but sleep, I was incredible tired, I have to make sure not to get sick around here. But all is well on this Monday evening.

Got an email today. It was to everyone living in the JCMU dorm. It was urging us to turn off all P2P sharing software and to refrain from uploading and downloading large files. Apparently Japan is very strict on the the internet usage here, a dorm/ facility of about 30 people can only use GB per day. That is not a lot considering that I can go through about 3-5 GB in one day ( I watch a lot of movies, and that was usage in america) so 30 people and 30GB is not that much. I will try to limit my usage but this was mind blowing. If we don't limit our usage, specifically downloading, no more internet for us. It's that serious.

Japan has about 130 million people in an area as large as California.

With all of these SOPA acts sprouting up around the globe it was amazing to hear this, that another thing that America has the freedom of internet usage. People are angry that cell phone companies sare limiting there browsing data when we still have the option of unlimited if we choose to stay with a neighborhood provider such as Comcast or AT&T. Just another reason to be proud to be an American, or at least live in America.

And with thisI'm getting a little homesick. Not as bad as my first experience the first time I traveled abroad. I'm not crying or anything. I just miss home, friends, being close in time. Coupled with the fact that I miss college life, Ann Arbor has it's way with you with so much to do. But I shall not complain, 82 more days and it's all the America I can stand.

Until Next Time,

Days 23-25

So it's been snowing here, not as bad as michigan gets but about 4-5 inches, and that's a lot considering that I have to bike about 2 miles to get to class on thursday. But thank the Lord, because class was canceled there, so I got to enjoy the "snow day".

Snow snow, go away, don't come back like this until I leave this place.

It wouldn't be that bad if my main mode of transportation wasn't a bike. 

Yesterday was our cultural activity. It was Samurai Kembu. A traditional Samurai dance as seen in the move the last Samurai apparently. It is done for good luck before a fight.

A traditional outfit for the Kembu

My sword I used

And her is a traditional Samurai Kembu dance we watched:

And here is me trying to do a traditional Samurai Kembu dance:

Until Next Time,