The trip to Aizu was amazing. First we went to the wakamatsu tsurugajou, the view from the top of the castle was amazing. On the bus ride there we played a game with the teachers where they would make the noise of an animal in Japanese and we had to guess what it was. Afterwards we would give the english sound. The teacher in charge was so cute, you can see her trying not to die as she climbs down the stone steps in the adjoining picture taken from my flickr collection. For frog someone said it was rabbit, and she said ribitch, it was quite amusing.After the castle we went to the byakkotai memorial/grave. This was an event when a group of aizu samurai saw the area around the castle burning and they thought they lost the war so they went to go kill themselves. They gathered at a meeting place but one samurai got lost on the way and his dog found him in the forest so he survived. Another did cut his stomach but a wandering farmer found him and saved him. Everyone else died. Afterwards we went to the museum honoring them and there was so much amazing calligraphy. There were a few kanji poems, no kana, so Fei, the taiwanese girl read them aloud for me and they were very beautiful. She translated them as well and although they made sense they lost their beauty.
From the museum we went to the house where a samurai family used to live. It was the house of the leader of the aizu clan. It was very beautiful, I wouldnt mind living in a place like that.
After that we went to urushi (lacquer) factory. There they produced many beautiful things from cups to plates and chopsticks and boxes. Basically if you can craft it from wood they had it. The most amazing things were the tools for the tea ceremony. The cha`ire (container for matcha) were amazing, but even more so was the price. They started at about $200 maybe and went all the way up to $3700! I had a very hard time deciding something to buy so I just ended up buying chopsticks and a bowl for myself. I already bought some things for gifts to take back to American in Nikko, and thus, I wasn't ready to spend any more money.
After the factory we went to the hotel. Everyone was wearing the yukata and we had an enormous meal at the hotel. We got a whole crab, maguro and ebi sashimi, ama ebi (sweet shrimp), broiled bamboo shoot, crab soup, pickled vegetables, rice, tea, and probably some more I forgot. I almost ate everything, but I couldnt finish the crab. After dinner most of the students went in the onsen (Japanese baths). I talked to a Japanese man for a little while there and he showed me what happens when someone is sad. His crying impression was so funny; he said this is what happens when you girlfriend breaks up with you.
In the morning we went to (touchijuku?) A small town that preserves Edo period architecture. It was very quaint and beautiful, and it even snowed! I tasted a grasshopper for the first time, it wasnt so bad. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and sweet and salty from the seasonings. I also bought some plums which have been blackened by coals or something. All I know is they are the best salted plums I have ever had. I still havent opened them. On top of that, so many students bought food from that shop, the shopkeeper gave us three bags of seasoned burdock roots from free.
The next day we went to Tou no Hetsuri, which is a natural rock formation created over millions of years by wind and water erosion. There I sampled two different kinds of miso soup, and a fried anko thing which tasted some some sort of amazing donut. They also sold viper liquor. This is when you take a live viper and pour sake into its jar drowning it. Afterwards when you drink the liquor its supposed to be somekind of health elixir. They also sold one with enormous wasps instead of the snake. The rock formation was simply amazing, quite possibly the most stunning thing I have ever seen in nature. You could really feel the ancient energies resulting from the slow formation of the rock towers.
From there we went to lunch, it was nothing special, I had a bowl of mountain vegetable soba. Afterwards we went into the bakery where they had free samples of cheesecake. People went crazy like it usually happens with that desert (I simply dont understand what all the fuss is about) and Tanaka-san also ate his fair share. I saw him run away with a goofy grin on his face and I told him that Ive never seen him look so guilty in his entire life. He just burst out laughing and I thought he wasnt even going to say anything, but eventually he said the look the worker gave him was if you like it that much why dont you actually buy one! It was hilarious.
After that we went to an animal farm where they have supposedly famous ice cream. It was good, but still doesnt compare to anything from Italy or even America. I went on the bungee trampoline there which allowed me to do flips for the first time in many moons. It was a lot of fun, until I stopped and realized my hands had practically frozen. After the farm we headed back to Tokyo. Aizu was quite possibly even better than the trip to Nikko. I had a blast!
The next monday was the ochakai (tea ceremony). Putting on that kimono was such a bitch! I understand why people dont really wear them anymore. One of the male teachers helped me put it on, and he really struggled with it, but in the end after he left Minagawa-sensei (tea instructor) and Kamisaka-sensei (the cute one from the trip to Aizu) looked at it and decided its not good enough. My undershirt was showing and the hakama wasnt tight enough in the back. So Kamisaka-sensei helped me adjust it and shes reaching inside the kimono by my legs and my chest, she asks me if its ok if she does this, because she is a girl and I am not. I had no complaints. She told me my chest was very warm... I wasnt really sure how to respond to a comment like that. In the end she did it much faster and better than Ogawa-sensei. I did pretty well preparing the tea, except I forgot to turn on the water heater so the one cup I made wasnt quite hot enough... oh well. Im planning to do it again next quarter so I should do even better than.
Last Thursday I went out and had a few drinks with the girl I met at a club. She is the only Japanese girl I have gone out with again after the first meeting. She is a dental assistant, maybe about 25, and still lives with her parents. She told me she had a boyfriend four years ago who was the ideal man, but I think she broke up with him when he said he wanted to marry her but she wasnt ready. She seems as if maybe she likes me, but I dont really know. I plan to see her again sometime over the break. She is very busy with her job, so there are not many opportunities.
Friday I went to a party of a Japanese guy I met at that same club. It was actually a gay club in Nichome, so almost everyone there was gay except for the group of Americans I came with (excluding one, who brought us to to the club in the first place). The party was great, after our host had some drinks he was sooo funny. He was ridiculous. Near the end a Japanese girl showed up, she was amusing. She was amazed by our efforts studying Japanese. She said that after she studies something for two years she just goes to sleep.
Yesterday, I went to a live concert that Miki-san, Tomoko-san's oldest son, is affiliated with. Miki is a great singer, guitarist, and pianist. Shin-san also performed, as well as Mikako, Maki-san's girlfriend. She is the only one in my extended host family who will drink, and she had a fewdrinks by the time she performed. She messed up while singing, and apologized for it before continuing. Afterwards she came up to me, and I told her she performed well. All the performances were great, but one band called Janet Seven were on a completely different page than the rest of the set. They had their volume blasting, and played some type of crazy punk fusion. The guitarist was in a trance, and the singer danced like a freak. As he sang he would spill his mints on the ground and then pick them up and pop them in his mouth. It was quite the amusing performance, if not a little too loud.
I invited my friend David to the concert, who coincidentally is going to homestay with Tomoko-san next quarter. She invited him to the concert when she found out, but he said he already had plans. The great part is because I had already invited him!
Today Im just staying at home. Im going to get to my studies after this. Everything is going great... but Im starting to get a little sad knowing some of my best friends are going home after the fall quarter ends. But some are staying, and new students are coming next quarter! I hope to make friends with the Japanese living in my dorm in Fuchu next quarter, as well as meeting more Japanese girls. I still need to start looking for a job though...
Last Thursday I went out and had a few drinks with the girl I met at a club. She is the only Japanese girl I have gone out with again after the first meeting. She is a dental assistant, maybe about 25, and still lives with her parents. She told me she had a boyfriend four years ago who was the ideal man, but I think she broke up with him when he said he wanted to marry her but she wasnt ready. She seems as if maybe she likes me, but I dont really know. I plan to see her again sometime over the break. She is very busy with her job, so there are not many opportunities.
Friday I went to a party of a Japanese guy I met at that same club. It was actually a gay club in Nichome, so almost everyone there was gay except for the group of Americans I came with (excluding one, who brought us to to the club in the first place). The party was great, after our host had some drinks he was sooo funny. He was ridiculous. Near the end a Japanese girl showed up, she was amusing. She was amazed by our efforts studying Japanese. She said that after she studies something for two years she just goes to sleep.
Yesterday, I went to a live concert that Miki-san, Tomoko-san's oldest son, is affiliated with. Miki is a great singer, guitarist, and pianist. Shin-san also performed, as well as Mikako, Maki-san's girlfriend. She is the only one in my extended host family who will drink, and she had a fewdrinks by the time she performed. She messed up while singing, and apologized for it before continuing. Afterwards she came up to me, and I told her she performed well. All the performances were great, but one band called Janet Seven were on a completely different page than the rest of the set. They had their volume blasting, and played some type of crazy punk fusion. The guitarist was in a trance, and the singer danced like a freak. As he sang he would spill his mints on the ground and then pick them up and pop them in his mouth. It was quite the amusing performance, if not a little too loud.
I invited my friend David to the concert, who coincidentally is going to homestay with Tomoko-san next quarter. She invited him to the concert when she found out, but he said he already had plans. The great part is because I had already invited him!
Today Im just staying at home. Im going to get to my studies after this. Everything is going great... but Im starting to get a little sad knowing some of my best friends are going home after the fall quarter ends. But some are staying, and new students are coming next quarter! I hope to make friends with the Japanese living in my dorm in Fuchu next quarter, as well as meeting more Japanese girls. I still need to start looking for a job though...
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