Thursday, December 20, 2007

the final countdown

Hello world!

Firstly, when I wrote this, I`d actually forgotten that my last blog was at this current host family and school, so there may be some overlap. Have no idea what i wrote in the last blog, and dont have time to go through this one and take out any repeats of info so you`ll just have to deal with it people!

Well, I’m nearly there. Two more sleeps and then I’ll get on a train, then another train, then a plane, and then I will touch down at Brisbane international airport in the wee hours of Monday morning. I cannot believe that it’s nearly over, mainly because time is so weird when you’re away. Days and even weeks seem to drag, but months go by very quickly. and all of a sudden you’re at the end, although it feels like just yesterday you were starting out. i’m glad though. I’m really looking forward to going home. Looking forward to sunshine and sweltering heat! And a meat pie with tomato sauce. And never eating anything with radish or soy beans in it ever again! Hahaha ok maybe not ever again, but certainly not in the foreseeable future. Everyday for three months has worn out my liking for quite a while. And I cannot wait to see my darling cats again, and even George, our doggie. Want to make baby noises here to represent how cute they are and how much I love them, but I can’t figure out how to spell it. something like “ooh wooshawhooshawooo.” Sigh. How I’ve missed my aminals.

Oh yeah, and u know, I guess I kinda wanna see my family and friends too. a bit. Maybe. ;)

Having said that, I am sad to leave. Despite the stresses and frustrations and exhaustions and patience testers and ill health, I have really enjoyed the majority of my time here. The hardest part was most definitely the last three weeks of prac, where I felt a lot of pressure to perform, felt there was too much to do and not enough time, and where I had my lovely hospital visit. But other than that, despite other stresses and hospital visits (more on that later) the rest has been fairly enjoyable.

For the last three weeks I have been with yet another host family and yet another primary school. The family I’m with now is a mum, dad, grandmother, two girls 15 and 10, and a 20 year old boy who lives in Tokyo. They are just lovely and I have really enjoyed staying with them. They are more relaxed than I’ve found other households, and probably because their family dynamic is much more similar to my own family, I have been very comfortable with them. They have just moved into a new house, which is absolutely beautiful. And when I say ‘just’ moved in, I mean it. I.e. they moved in December 1st. I moved in December 2nd. I haven’t been able to tell though, because all the major furniture and stuff is there and there are no boxes laying around (unlike our moves where I think there are still unpacked boxes 2 years on!). But that is probably because their old house is right next door! So I don’t know exactly how much stuff is missing from their usual life, I’m sure they feel frustrated about it and every now and then somebody will exclaim ‘ooh, I am just going to the other house to get the whajamacallit’ but otherwise all the essentials are in the new house. Including the piano! Which has made such a huge difference in my mental state J and especially because it’s in it’s own little room so I can go in there and play and sing to my heart’s content without feeling embarrassed or like I have to perform because people are listening in. The baachan (grandmother) quite often opens the door and claps for a moment or two and rattles something of at me in Japanese that I am pretty sure is praise, although I don’t understand it, and then shuts the door and leaves me to myself again, but it’s not the same as when I had to make do with playing the piano in the lunch hours at school where all the kids would crowd at the door. Oh, except when the boy was visiting from Tokyo the other day and the grandmother dragged him into the room and made me play for him. I think we were both as embarrassed as each other then though, so it was ok. The boy normally lives in Tokyo for uni, but has had some kind of commitment the last few weeks here in Komatsu/Kanazawa (I think it’s some kind of job interview/training thing) so he’s been back and forth a few times. The family keeps saying it’s lucky because otherwise I wouldn’t have met him as he normally never comes home! haha. I still haven’t got to see much of him because he’s always out, but at least when I have met him he’s quite chatty (which is unusual…Japanese young people, and boys in particular, seem to be in general cripplingly shy. Met the cousins the other day, and their parents pretty much had to force them just to say hello! It was hilarious! Yet frustrating. Yes, I’m a girl! And Yes! I’m a gajin! (foreigner). It won’t kill you to speak!) The girls are also relatively chatty. The older one is very busy with school and extra curricular activities so I don’t see so much of her, but I completely understand, having been involved in all that stuff myself. But Yuki-chan goes to the same school I’m now at so we walk together every morning and because she’s around the house more, we hang out a bit. I’ve been to a few of her extra-curricular activities too. She goes to calligraphy on Tuesday nights so I’ve been going to that which I really enjoy. It’s hard, but I think it’s a fantastic cultural experience. And I like the Zen of it. The baachan is also around all the time, and she is hilarious! Quite often I have no idea what she’s saying because she speaks so fast and uses a lot of dialect, but we do generally manage to communicate quite effectively. And when we are having difficulties, it’s all the more hilarious! And she quite often explains things to me two or three times, forgetting that she told me the same story the day before. And I couldn’t believe it, but she bought me a yukata!!!! (a kind of summer kimono). It’s just beautiful, it has a sakura (cherry blossom) pattern on a purple background and the obi is a pinky/peach colour. I am so very grateful to her for it, and we put it on last night, which was fun.

Actually, everybody has been so generous here. We had the KIA Christmas Party the other night and I got so many lovely presents from people. One of the previous host families has had a hanko made for me of my name in kanji! A hanko is basically a personal stamp, and everybody in Japan has one of their last name in kanji that they use on official documents and things. Mine is of my first name, because that is all I have had translated into kanji, and I love it. I can’t remember now whether or not I put it in a previous blog, but the kanji that fit with the pronounciation of my name in Japanese (which is ‘eren’) means ‘blessing love.’ Which is noice isn’t it? J and the ‘blessing’ part also can be translated as ‘grace’ which I particularly like because it’s my middle name! So yeah my previous host family had a stamp made for me with my kanji and I was very touched. It was a very thoughtful gift. And the calligraphy teacher (the one whose lessons I’ve been going to with Yuki-chan) not only mounted the calligraphy I had done onto some nice card, but also made me one herself that says ‘rabbit’, which is the Japanese year I was born. (there is a 12 year cycle of different animals, next year is the year of the rat). So that was just lovely. And many other people have given me many other little gifts. It’s all so nice, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy J.

Just got back from my farewell to the gr 3 class I was working with here and I wanted to insert a paragraph here while I’m talking about gifts. The school I am at this time is much smaller than the previous one. At first I really missed the previous school because I’d already learnt lots of people’s names and gotten to know the routine and things. But because this school is smaller it didn’t take me too long to get used to it, which was good. Everyone has been so lovely and generous, always giving me chocolates at lunch time and stuff, which I like! Haha. And I have been to every class (only 6, one for each grade) and taught a lesson about Australia (just an explanation of differences between Aust and Japan, like the fact that the seasons are reversed and how much bigger Australia is than Japan, and also an intro to Australian animals and showed them some Australian money and stuff. Oz 101 I call it. ) and with the gr 3s, 5s, and 6s I made Aboriginal dot paintings which was fun. I have been to various lessons and grades for random classes, my favourite of which was when I learnt how to make haiku with the gr 3s! And also I have read ‘The very hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle to the older grades in both Japanese and English as a little English lesson for them and a Japanese lesson for me! I was supposed to read it to the gr 3’s, who have been ‘my class’ while Ive been here, last week but I got sick so I was away. So we did it in the farewell lesson. And they liked it so much that the got me to read a Spot book too them as well. And then one of the kids goes rifling through the bookshelf and pulls out Possum Magic by Mem Fox! I just about cried! I don’t know why, but it really got me excited to see it and I was very energetic when reading it to the kids. It was great J It is a fantastic book. If I’d known they’d had it before, I could have very easily worked it into my Oz 101 lessons because it talks about Australian capital cities and animals and foods. It did mean I could sort of recap, but I think it confused the kid s a little when I tried to remind them of stuff I’d explained to them the other week, when they were having enough trouble following the story. With the very hungry caterpillar, I read the English version, and then the Japanese version if they want. Usually they have understood the English though because it is very simple, and they’ve all read it before in Japanese so they know the story. But Possum Magic is a much harder book, even in English. And there isn’t a Japanese version (at least not at this school) so I had to translate as I went. Plus it is filled with Australian stuff that they can’t understand, or that requires explanation, so it was altogether a bit more confusing for them, but I think they enjoyed it, particularly cos I got very excited about it and did all the voices and stuff. It was so much fun!

And then, after answering all their questions, I thanked them and did a bit of a speech. And gave them the present of a postcard of Yeppoon and a haiku I had written about them. Then THEY gave ME presents, which I totally didn’t expect. They had written some haiku for me too, which was a lovely coincidence, and also made a funky magnet in the shape of a piano! And the teacher gave me a really nice pen which is so nice. Altogether, it was delightful and I really am going to miss those kids. Charming little skamps.

One other thing I did that was particularly interesting was participate in the family’s service/ceremony in memory of their ancestors. I’m not sure exactly how to explain it even in English, not just because it was explained to me in Japanese but also because I don’t know much about Buddhism, but basically from what I can tell, every house has a small shrine in it and once a year the family gets together and a monk comes to the house and everybody gathers around the shrine and chants and says prayers and things. It just so happened that this happened on the second weekend I stayed with this family, so that was quite a unique expereicne I think and I found it very very interesting. I didn’t understand really any of what was said, and I couldn’t keep up with reading the chants in the little book they gave me, but it was still interesting.

Another AWESOME thing that happened in the last three weeks was Bek came to visit from Tokyo. Originally the plan was that she would stay in a youth hostel but my host family wouldn’t hear of it and insisted she stay with them so we ended up spending about 24 hours straight together which was AWESOME. She arrived at 8am Saturday morning and left 11.30 Sunday morning, and I don’t think we stopped talking except to draw breath almost that entire time! Words cannot express how good it was to see her and talk to her and laugh with her and reminisce with her. I could go on forever about it but it would be boring to read because it would all just be gushing about how much I enjoyed that weekend. It was just fantastic to be together, and I was reminded very strongly of when Alicia came to visit me in Italy. The way it feels so completely normal and natural and comfortable to be sitting chatting to each other over coffee, until you remind yourself that you are both in a foreign country a million miles away from home and every one around you is speaking a different language. It was a great weekend though. We spent the morning at a local community festival thing making straw wreaths for new year and mochi (Japanese rice cake things) which was fun. Then we went to Kanazawa and did a spot of window shopping and had a nice walk around the lovely station entrance (it’s all pretty architecture and stuff). We came home and cooked spaghetti for the family, and then stayed up late chatting. And then the next morning we got up, packed up and went to back kanazawa so bek could catch her bus home. And all the while we were talking 100 miles a minute catching up on a year’s worth of events and thoughts and memories and lessons learned. I’d better stop here, or I’ll just keep gushing for another 1000 words.

Also in the last three weeks I have been to hospital again. Twice. But fortuantly it hasn’t been nearly as bad as the first time. What happened was last Thursday afternoon I felt really crappy and my head was all yukky and I thought it must have been the start of a cold. Next morning woke up with a sore throat and sort of panicked a little. Last time I put off going to hospital or indeed telling the family I felt unwell for several days, which probably also meant that by the time I got to a doctor I was much sicker than I needed to be. Plus, it was only a week to go and I was really worried about being sick on the plane home or worse, when I got home, and then not being able to go to woodford! So I immediately spoke up and told my family I needed to go to hospital cos I was pretty sure I had tonsillitis again. It was early days but I know the signs so well that I was fairly sure that was what it was, and figured the sooner I get antibiotics the sooner I get better. So went to hospital and waited for hours in the waiting rooms and saw the doctor. Foratunely I didn’t have a fever this time and I had already explained to my host mum about my tendency to faint or cry or throw up, and that needles are really something that ought to be avoided if they don’t want me to do all those things at once. Saw the doctor and she said I had a cold. I didn’t need any needles, thank goodness, but she did prescribe me with 4 different pills. I’m not sure what they were for, because a cold is a virus and you can’t prescribe anything to make it go away except rest…as far as I know. they may have been to combat the symptoms. Anyway, I wasn’t very happy with her diagnosis. Firstly, like anybody I don’t like to be told I am wrong, so to be told it wasn’t tonsillitis like I thought was annoying. Plus, I then felt like I had totally overreacted and wasted my host family’s time in taking me to the hospital for a little cold. But went home and slept the afternoon away in relative comfort at the host family’s lovely house.

Next day still felt rather crappy, throat still hurt, but tha’ts to be expected right? Only been a day. Spent morning in bed but that night was the Christmas Party and aside from the fact that I really wanted to go to see the other girls and my other host families for the last time before I leave, I also had a speech to do, not to mention having to sing Australian Jingle Bells with the other girls. So I dragged myself to the party feeling rather crap, and panicky because I forgot to bring a copy of the words to the Australain version of Jingle Bells. It all worked out in the end though, I managed to remember most of them and wrote them out on a bit of paper, and made up the rest, and we all sang it with gusto. And apart from feeling pretty crappy (think I had a bit of a temperature) and the notable moment where I forgot there was a microphone infront of me and started talking to jemima about losing weight while we were waiting for the others to make their way up to the stage (am totally mortified by that), it was a fairly pleasant night.
But the next day….my throat was MUCH worse! How could this be? I only have a cold, my throat shouldn’t hurt this much. But I went out last night, that must be why. If I’d stayed home in bed surely this wouldn’t have happened. I’ll just give in a couple more days…Except that I’ve already waited a few days and it got worse! What if it keeps getting worse? But no, it’ll be fine. It’s just a cold. Right?

Such was the struggle within my mind. But eventually I had to remind myself that it was NOT normal for symptoms to get WORSE while on medication, and I DO NOT want to get sicker and then not be able to go to woodford, or worse still, not be able to go home for Christmas! So I spoke to my family about it, and we decided that if it was still worse the next day I would go back to hospital. It was, and I did. And this time the doctor took one look in my mouth and said ‘oh, you have tonsillitis.’ SURPRISE! Grrrrrrr. Not happy Jan. I hate to say it but I TOLD YOU SO! Anyway, fortunately I got the right kind of medication this time and immediately my throat got better. Thank God. Still a bit less than 100% but much better than I was, and I didn’t need any more needles so all in all it was ok. A pain in the neck (literally!) but it’s over now.

Anyway, I better start wrapping this up. I still can’t believe the three months is nearly over. It is hard to believe that in just a few days I’ll be home again. This time next week I’ll be at woodford! I’ll probably be looking back on the fact that this time the week before I was writing this blog! And actually, this time last week I think I was at the hospital! Time flies desu-ne. Only 2 sleeps to go.

Probably my favourite part as far as our schedule goes has been the three weeks at Komatsu College, and this is probably because we didn’t have to do anything! Well, we did, but not in the same sense that we had to teach at the schools or anything. At the tandai (college) we were just uni students like the rest of them, and although there were moments where we were the centre of attention, it wasn’t quite the same as having hoards of children staring at you every hallway you walk down, or being marked on how well you can explain something in a second language! I think also the fact that all 6 of us were together was great. We spent a lot of time laughing, which was very good for our mental health I think. And it was just nice to hang out and speak English and vent about various frustrations, and even more, it was nice to have somebody to share some of the memories with. So thanks girls J

As for the rest of the things I’ve experienced, I’m not sure I could pick just one favourite, although catching up with Bek was absolutely fantastic. But I sort of feel bad if I say that is my favourite because it isn’t a Japanese cultural experience! So as far as unique experiences go, playing the Koto was awesome (that was way back in the first week), all the calligraphy has been wonderful, the kimono and yukata, archery, mochi making, pottery painting, it’s all just been incredible. I really am so blessed to have had such a wonderful experience and I am so very grateful for it. My Japanese has gotten better, and I have actually opened up a whole new world of interests to me in the japanese culture. As surprising as it might sound, I’ve never been that interested in Japanese culture before. I mean in a superficial sense I was, but I suppose because I’d never been here before there were a lot of things that I just didn’t get. Now however, I have a million things I want to learn more about. Mum said something to me before I left when I was feeling like I didn’t want to come. She said that this trip might be the start of a life long love affair with this country and I think she might be right. Mum’s usually are. Thanks mum J

The end

ps J = :)

posted by Ellen of Taranganba @ 9:13 PM 0 comments

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place!

Hello all,
I am writing this in a lovely frame of mind, which is a nice change from yesterday. I realise it has been a long time since I wrote a proper blog about my happenings (I am purposely not including the last one because it wasn’t really a narrative about my trip, but rather a bitch about it) so this will probably end up very long, and most certainly will not be finished in this lunch time. But I thought I’d start right now, while I’m thinking about nice things and feeling positive.

Firstly, let’s start with the traditional song lyric. This is from a Jamie Cullum favourite of mine:
I’m all at sea
where no one can bother me
Forgot my roots,
if only for a day
Just me and my thoughts
sailing far away

Like a warm drink it seeps into my soul
Please just leave me right here on my own
Later on you could spend some time with me
If you want to
All at sea

But now I need you more than ever
I need you more than ever now

You don’t need it every day but sometimes don’t you just crave
To disappear within your mind, you never know what you might find
Come and spend some time with me
We can spend it all at sea

I love this song, not just because it’s Jamie Cullum, but because in a lot of ways it sums up exactly how I feel. It’s all about, but never actually says, solitude. But solitude is one of the things I have really enjoyed here. Being along with my thoughts, even when I’m surrounded by people. And there are a lot of thoughts. Sometimes it can be lonely, especially if I’m having a blue day, but often it’s on those days that I long to be alone, rather than having to face people and focus on a language and culture that requires a lot of concentration. I do love Japan’s language and culture, but sometimes I feel too tired to or too (can’t think of the word) to really feel like focusing. And also, although I miss home and am impatient to be there, and although I am a very social person and crave the company of my friends and family, I have also really welcomed the break. Often at home I get so addicted to the highs of my social life that I hardly get a chance to just be alone with my thoughts, so I have been revelling in the space. Also, I think when I get into a bit of a habit of being alone and enjoying my own company, sometimes the company of other people is frustrating, although I found this didn’t really apply as much to the other girls from uni when we were together at Komatsu College. This is surely because I have to work harder here when I have company of a Japanese person, whereas with the girls from uni we just speak English and it’s all easy and comfortable. Anyway, point is that I have been enjoying the solitude this trip has afforded. J
Also, I love the line ‘like a warm drink it seeps into your soul’ because that is exactly what warm drinks do! I am getting a little bit sick of green tea, and people are still surpised when I prefer water over anything else, but I have appreciated warm drinks more and more as the weather gets colder. Particularly at school where the classrooms are fairly chilly, to come back to the staff room and warm my cold fingers around a charmingly shaped Japanese tea-cup and feel the ‘miruku koko’ (hot chocolate) seeping in to warm me up, is so lovely.

So right now I’m sitting at a desk in the staff room of another Japanese primary school. This isn’t the primary school I was at before, which is good and bad. Good because it’s good to see the differences between schools and get a broader experience of Japanese schools, but annoying because I was already familiar with that school and I knew the kids and I knew where everything was etc. and also, because that was a bigger school, I felt I had a little more anonymity. Obviously, everybody knew who I was because I stood out like a sore thumb, but I was much less the centre of attention the whole time. And I’m sad too because I’d started to be sort of friends with a couple of the teachers, so it’s sad not to see them again. But of course everybody at this school is very nice, and because it’s much smaller, there are fewer names to learn. I just find myself frustrated sometimes because I have to get used to a whole new routine again. But so far it’s going pretty well.

Except for yesterday. Yesterday was a bad day. I didn’t sleep very well the night before, and so when I got up in the morning, my tummy was a bit dodgy. That happens to me sometimes, when I’m stressed and particularly when I’m sleep deprived. Plus, breakfast is hard enough for me at the best of times (usually don’t like to eat for atleast an hour after I’ve woken up) but is doubly hard here because they eat A LOT for breaky, and it’s quite often foods I would consider to be very un-breakfasty. The salad and stuff isn’t so much a problem (although still getting used to cold broccoli and yoghurt pasta salad :S) but the fish and meat sometimes is. Anyway, so I already felt a bit dodgy, and then they fed me very peppery onion soup for breakfast. I managed to eat/drink it, along with the toast and egg salad thing, and then went off to get ready feeling rather queasy but thinking I could manage it. Didn’t really think I would throw up, but then I brushed my teeth a little too roughly and that was enough to set off the gag reflex. So yeah I threw up, but then I felt much better, which was good. Went off to school and I thought I’d explained it to the host family and it was ok. But got to school and the principle and several teachers asked if I was ok throughout the day. I had a bad headache and just wasn’t feeling real crash hot, but I was fine. some aspirin would have been nice, but since I’ve run out, I just had to deal with it. All I wanted to do was get on with the day and hope I didn’t get any worse (thought it might have been the start of a migraine.) But the more people fussed about it, the more frustrated I got. And the more and more worried I became about them making a mountain out of a mole hill and sending me to hospital again!!! Fortunately this morning I feel much better and there is no need for hospital. And I have come to the conclusion that I really hate it when people fuss over me. And I’m pretty sure it isn’t just a Japanese thing, but obviously it’s exacerbated by being away because host families and people are worried about me. But people do it in Australia too. I think it’s probably just a personality thing, some people maybe like to be fussed over, whereas I normally would rather not have a heap of attention if I’m unwell or injured. (memories of spraining my ankle in gr 8….) I do understand why people do it, but it’s just frustrating because I always find fussing from people I don’t feel close to, so basically anyone except my immediate family or close friends, totally awful. Probably that is because I feel like I have to be polite and endure the fussing rather than just being able to say ‘mum! It’s fine! leave me alone!’ haha! Anyway, I survived and today I feel pretty good.

So I walked to school in the rain this morning. Had a big umbrella, but as Jemima says, in reality those things are useless unless the rain is only very light. When it’s really pouring down like it was this morning, it makes no difference. Ok, so your head stays relatively dry. That’s about it. Cos there are huge puddles everywhere and not only do you have to step in them but the raindrops are so huge and heavy and falling so fast that they make splashes in the puddles and pretty soon your whole bottom half is wet. Plus cars going past splash water up at you and the wind blows the umbrella around a bit so inevitably your arms and torso get a bit wet too. And by the time you get to school, well, you may as well have not had the umbrella. Oh well, I’m mostly dry now. Pant cuffs still rather damp though. But fortunately the rain has stopped so I think I should be right to walk home relatively dry.

I’m at a new family again this week. Really like them. They are a mother, father, grandmother, 10 yr old girl Yukiko and 15 yr old girl Mayuko, and there is a son about my age but he lives in Tokyo. I think he’s coming to visit this weekend so I will meet him then. I think I like the family because they are pretty laid back, and the grandma is hilarious. She talks to me and I don’t understand half of it because she uses some dialect, but she’s just really cool. She’s always offering me cake and sweets, and pointing funny things out to me. I can’t really explain, but yeah, she’s funny. And I guess this family is the most like my own family so far, because the kids are girls and they are fairly grown up (wouldn’t have guessed Yuki was only 10). And they aren’t in my face all the time, which is good. No fussing! Lol. I feel very comfortable with them and in their house, which they moved into last weekend! So it’s brand new, and I love it! Makes me re-realise how lucky we are in Australia to have so much space and stuff. This house, because it’s new, is very big. I’d say about the size of an average Australian 2 story, but it’s special here in Japan because most houses are so small. And also they have got new furniture to go with the new house, which is great, cos my goodness how I have missed furniture! I don’t know how they do it, sitting on the floor all the time, mostly on their knees! My body is obviously not used to it, because I was never ever comfortable. So I am very grateful for the dining table and the couches in this house :D And also, the bath is just gorgeous! It’s a bit bigger than most baths I think, and it’s made of granite. It’s so beautiful, I love it so much. I feel all luxurious J And the thing I love MOST about this house is……wait for it………..THEY HAVE A PIANO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheer with me now! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was getting rather frustrated, because the other 5 girls have all or nearly all had one or more host families who had a piano, but none of them can play. And then me, the one who can play, and infact physically needs to play to keep her sane, hadn’t had one family yet with a piano. Until this week I think I could count on one hand the number of times I’d played. But this family has a piano and I am forever grateful. I have played for atleast an hour every day this week and it’s just amazing the effect it has on my mood. Soothes my weary soul. Billy Joel is right. ''A baby grand is all I need.'' Ok so this isn’t a baby grand, but as if I care! It’s got 88 black and white keys and 2 pedals and I love it. So that’s been really good, and I’ve finally been able to put some music to some of the songs lyrics I’ve written. And because the piano is in a room of the house all by itself, I can also sing, which is so good. I love singing. Maybe you know that already :P Oh, and every time I play the baachan (grandma) comes in halfway through and babbles at me and then claps and leaves. Haha. It’s very funny.

So the last three weeks were spent at Komatsu College, aka ‘the tandai.’ All six of us girls from CQU were together again, and it was a fairly relaxing three weeks because we didn’t have prac or anything to do. Also, it was great because most of us hadn’t really spoken English or seen each other at all since week 1, so the first three we hardly did anything but talk over each other in our haste to tell everyone what had been going on for us, and laugh very long and very loud. It was great! I think we scared the people around us because we just had the giggles and could not stop laughing! It was probably all the pent up stress from 5 weeks of prac being released, and it was just awesome.

Another reason I really liked being at the tandai was because we were around people our own age. Obviously I like kids, and I like adults too, but I had missed the presence of people my own age. So even though most of the students didn’t talk to us much, if at all, I was glad of their presence. And we did make some friends. Well, we’d sort of already met them at the English conversation thing way back in the first week, and then we went to Karaoke with them in about week 3. Do you remember? I can’t remember if I wrote much about it in my blog at all. But anyway, so we already knew a couple of the boys there, and we met lots of other students in the various classes we went to. Basically while we were there we had a class or two every day, and then some free time in the library. This free time was to be used to study our uni subjects via the CQU website. We did some of that. But we did more chatting than we should have. And more you-tubing and googling and myspacing and facebooking and downloading of podcasts. Hehehe. I became very addicted to podcasts actually. Particularly ABC Radio National Life Matters. Which is funny because I used to hate it when mum and dad listened to it. But now I love it! It was good because I got a bit more information about the election campaign, and also it seems that the topics just generally are of interest to me. There were lots of episodes on education and child development so I thoroughly engaged with that. And just hearing the Australian accents was nice J I even wrote to them! That’s how much like my father I am! Scary isn’t it! And I raved about it so much that I even got Jemima and Kate looking into podcasting Life Matters too! Hahah! But this week I have had to go cold turkey because I have only got the school internet again and I’m having withdrawals symptoms!

Speaking of the election actually, we all had a bit of a toast at lunch on the Monday after. And for about a week when the mood got low or just at random intervals when people weren’t thinking about it, one of us would say ‘Kevin07’ or something like that, and we’d all smile and laugh again. I for one was very relieved at the outcome and hopefully it will be the start of a new era (and maybe he will push for more LOTE education in schools! Ganbatte Kevvy!)

Also during the three weeks at the tandai I got to experience lots of traditional Japanese cultural activities, which was fantastic. Some of the activities were organised by the tandai, and some by my host mother. The family I was with for those three weeks had 2 grown up children, a boy, 26, lives in Nagoya so didn’t meet him, and Yaeko, 30ish who lives in Kanazawa so I met her a few times. And they were a very nice family and I enjoyed being there a lot. Also, because I didn’t have to be at the tandai til 9am I got to sleep in a little bit :D which was great! Anyway, so the cultural activities were: I got to put on a real kimono, tried Japanese archery, went to an onsen (hot springs), had a go at calligraphy, made ‘mochi,’ went to yet more tea ceremonies, and also more Karaoke :D

All of those experiences were totally amazing and I was very very grateful to have had the opportunity to do them. Probably my favourites were archery, onsen and calligraphy. I have since done calligraphy a couple of times and I think I might buy a calligraphy set so I can practice at home too because I quite enjoy it. In Japanese, the word means ‘way of writing’ because it’s a really disciplined thing. It’s not just about making the characters look pretty, it’s about technique and state of mind too. So it’s difficult, but I enjoy it. Putting on the kimono was a really long process and my arms hurt by the end, but it was incredibly beautiful. I got to wear the kimono that Yaeko wore for her ‘coming of age’ ceremony and it was such lovely material. I have some photos but a lot of them didn’t come out very clear unfortunately because my host mother moved the camera. Oh well, I have a couple of really clear ones and my memory so that is all that matters.

The archery was great fun because the 6 of us did it together, so once again there was lots of laughter. It was pretty difficult, and I was a bit scared at first because I was worried the bowstring would hit my fingers or my cheek. And I was frustrated because I didn’t understand how to make the arrow actually leave the bow! Haha. But I got there in the end and it was quite fun! :D
The onsen was a new experience as well, and I was pretty nervous about it before hand. For those of you who don’t know, an onsen is a hot spa where everyone is naked. Girls and boys are usually separated, although I have heard tell of places where they aren’t. I’m not sure if that’s true or if they were just trying to scary me! Haha. Anyway, as I am not in the habit of exposing my naked self to people, I was fairly nervous but it turned out to be not a problem at all. I went with my host mother and Jemima and Kate. I was glad the girls were there too because we just chatted and it was nice to share the experience with them too. It didn’t turn out to be scary either because everyone is naked and so it becomes normal, freeing even, and it’s just so relaxing in the hot water. So I ended up really really enjoying that experience and would like to do it again.

The mochi making also deserves particular mention because the boys we were sort of friends with (if you can call them look at us through bookshelves a friendship! ;P) organised it for us. Mochi is a type of Japanese snack made from pounding rice until it turns into this goo. I still haven’t decided if I like it or not. It’s not the taste that is the problem. It just tastes like rice, and then you put different things with it to flavour it. You can have it with heaps of things, from soy sauce to bean jam – yes, that’s right, more soy beans! It’s more the texture that I don’t like. It varies slightly in viscosity depending on who makes it but it’s generally just really sticky and tough. You have to chew it A LOT, and it’s kind of goey at the same time, which tends to put me at risk of setting of my gag reflex. It’s very hard to explain unless you’ve tried it. I don’t mind a little bit of it, but I can’t eat too much. I just feel like a cow chewing cud because it takes forever to eat just one mouthful.
Anyway so we got to help make it from scratch, which involved pounding the rice with a giant wooden hammer. It was fun, and also a bit daunting because it was us and the group who study engineering at the tandai. So, it was all boys. There were teacher there too of course, but it was just a bit scary to be that out numbered by boys, even though we knew some of them.
We also played badminton with them which was particularly hilarious because I am very uncoordinated! But it was fun. So that was a nice afternoon and I was glad they organised it.

That is about it from me for now.
Just thought I should update this again because it had been so long. I am counting down the days til I come home now. Only 16 sleeps! And I’ve been thinking a lot about next year and have many many plans. Can’t wait to get home and get working on them all J which reminds me of another Jamie Cullum song –
“oh resolutions,
baby they come and go,
will I do any of these things?
The answer’s probably no”

But I am also aware that I only have 2 weeks left and I should try to enjoy it, so I will. My friend Bek is coming to visit from Tokyo tomorrow, which I am REALLY REALLY excited about. Haven’t seen her all year (she’s been on uni exchange) so I cannot wait to catch up with her J And also I will get to meet the host brother too so that will be good. Talk about full house J and Yeah, just going to try to enjoy the last 2 weeks while they last, because I’m sure they’ll be over before I know it!

Love to everyone
Ellen xxx

posted by Ellen of Taranganba @ 9:16 PM 2 comments