Gelato and Guinea Pigs

Today I took a wrong turn and ended up in Italy. Confused? Yeah, so was I. I was under the impression that Italy was kind of far from here.


Still, I decided to make the best of it and have some "Pumpkin Milk" gelato, which was DELICIOUS. Being alone, I also asked a random stranger to take a picture of me and the gelato, using my newly-learned extra-polite Japanese. Go me!

The place was pretty cool. All the signs were in Italian and there were many shops selling imported Italian goods and Venetian masks and things. A wedding was going on in an "old Italian chapel," and tables and chairs were set next to the canal for the reception. I thought that was a pretty fun place to have your wedding. Maybe a little cheesy, but still fun.

Actually I had gone to Nagoya Port to spend my afternoon and see the ocean, without knowing that "Italy Village" was there. At the pier about two hundred people were waiting in line to tour this big ship. Later I told my host parents about this and asked if the ship was old or famous or something, because the line must have been at least an hour long. "No, it's not famous. Japanese people just like standing in line," my host dad said.

There was a park at the port, shops, restaurants and a petting zoo. I wandered around taking pictures and exploring.

I spent a lot of time at the petting zoo, watching the rabbits and the guinea pigs run around together. Here's a picture of a little boy being attacked by a rabid guinea pig. Man I love this picture.

It was a good day. Maybe it wasn't as exciting as my friends who are going to Kyoto and various places this weekend, but still it was a good day.

It's cold

How is it that only one month ago I was sleeping on top of my blankets with a fan on in the room and taking cold showers because of the heat? Was that really the same country? How did it get so cold so fast? Not only did it get cold, but it went from super humid to super dry, and everyone at school caught colds, including me. It's no wonder the Japanese are obsessed with the fact that their country has four seasons. If you don't watch out, the seasons will sneak up and attack you.
My bedroom is especially cold, probably around a balmy 60 degrees. I wear my warmest jacket all the time. I asked my host mom if they use a heater in the winter.
"Yes we do," she said, and I sighed with relief. Then she said, "I just haven't made the preparations yet."
I have no idea what she's talking about. Gather firewood from the mountainside, maybe? Put oil in the lamps? Hire workers for the boiler room? Set the hamster on it's wheel? Whatever these preparations are, I hope she does it soon!

Also, my host family is driving me crazy with their constant bickering. School has also loaded a whole lot of homework on us poor students at the same time, and I'm starting to fall asleep on the train regularly.

Good thing I have Engrish to cheer me up.

The Secret Policemen's Balls

Yes, "The Secret Policemen's Balls"...today Spazzy Sensei was wearing a sweater that had that written on the front. I felt sorry for him, being completely ignorant of the fact that all his students were choking back laughter.

To anyone who doubted my report of the ridiculously high-tech Japanese toilets, I bring you rock-solid evidence!!


Our ONE break this semester, a five-day weekend, just finished. I went to Kyoto with people from Campus Crusade for Christ. We stayed in a hostel for missionaries, kind of an old dusty house. The first floor was full of interesting artifacts from the history of Christianity in Kyoto, including small bronze carvings of Jesus or Mary. Christianity was outlawed in Japan around 1600. Who was or wasn't a Christian was determined by commanding people to step on these little bronze pictures of Jesus. Anyone who refused to do it was crucified. The Japanese will carry to the extreme anything they put their mind to, and after martyring at least 15,000 men, women and children, Christianity was pretty much eradicated from Japan.
Seeing that only 0.8% of Japanese are Christian, it hasn't really recovered since. So there we were at a university in Kyoto, about twenty-five of us, off to start repairing the damage that was done four hundred years ago. We just broke up into partners, went up to various students and started talking to them, introducing the gospel. Everyone was very friendly. Many people here have not even heard of Jesus. Now one hundred more have.

The next day everyone went sightseeing in Kyoto and Arashiyama and had a picnic by the river. Despite being very crowded because it was the weekend, the scenery was very beautiful. What a relief after being in ugly, grey Nagoya these past two months.

It was a very touristy place, where you can pay to take a picture with a miko (like a geisha), buy cutesy souveniers and local treats, ride in rickshaws, and rent a rowboat. There were also a lot of women in beautiful kimonos walking around. Two friends and I rented a rowboat. I tried rowing for a while, and of course my two friends had to compliment my rowing skillz. The Japanese will compliment everything you do no matter what you're doing or how well you're doing it. Don't believe them. Lies, all lies.

A group of local elementary school children were also wandering around, approaching gaijin and asking questions. Their teacher asked me if the children could ask me questions in order to practice their English. So one by one these cute little kids, clutching notebooks in which they had written their questions, came up to me and shyly said hello. Though they spoke very carefully, their accents were pretty thick so I had trouble understanding them. The first question:
"Do you like Arashiyama Elementary School?"
"Uhhh....I don't know." I said. The little girl looked confused but wrote my answer in her book.
"Do you like cookies?" Another girl asked.
"I love cookies." I replied.
"What kind of sports do you like?" Asked a little boy.
"I like karate."
"Karate??" He exclaimed, then turning to his teacher said, "Is that a sport?"
"It's karate! Of course it's a sport!" She said. "And you call yourself Japanese." Afterwards everyone took a picture with me. Then they went on to find their next gaijin victim. Funnily enough the friend I was with at the time was from Singapore and English is her native language; but because she looked Asian she was not approached by the schoolchildren.

I was sad to leave Kyoto because I knew it signaled the return of classes and endless studying. I hope to visit Kyoto again, maybe buy a kimono.

I feel kind of dirty just by posting this, but it's just such a perfect example of how the Japanese need serious help. The box literally says "breast pudding."

"Abe suru"

The prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, recently resigned after less than a year in office. His resignation came out of the blue, was ill-timed, badly announced and basically irritated the whole country. My host Dad told me that people are now using the verb "to pull an Abe," meaning to quit or give up something suddenly and without warning.

Only in Japan

I witnessed all of this in a week, and it's only Tuesday! It finally hit me: I'm in Japan.

Only in Japan do people say things like, "San Jose? Hmm, isn't that near the Grand Canyon?"

Only in Japan do you see random people dancing in costumes and you don't know why.



Only in Japan do you hear this announcement at the train station: "Good afternoon customers. Because there was a suicide on the tracks today, the trains are extremely delayed. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Only in Japan do you walk into a room and hear someone exclaim, "Woah! She's not Japanese!"

Only in Japan do middle-aged men walk up to you and ask for your cell phone number so you can "teach them English." Riiiiight. English huh.

Only in Japan do you see a sign that says "Woody Happy" above a lumber yard.

And other Engrish:

Graduation hakamas

At my university there is a big display for rental hakamas. When they graduate from college, Japanese girls wear beautiful hakamas, which are a type of kimono. I'm so jealous! That is SO much cooler than wearing a black bag and a square hat.

A class I look forward to

The bright spot of my Mondays is shodo, calligraphy class. I love the way the ink smells and watching the teacher paint examples for us. When she writes the kanji, her brush glides over the paper like a dancer, applying more or less pressure where appropriate, lifting off smoothly, going around each curve perfectly. It's really something to see. After she finishes an example a groan of despair will rise up from all the students because it's just so darn perfect.
Trying to imitate the teacher's example can be frustrating, but I find that I can focus in calligraphy class like nowhere else. For an hour and a half my classmates and I write the same character over and over and over again and submit our best copy. Some people find it boring but the time flies by for me. The teacher doesn't even seem to mind if I listen to my iPod while writing. Since the teacher doesn't return the copies we submit, I take my second-best copies home and hang them on my bedroom wall. Even though they're not very good, my walls need some decorating. If you're interested...the earliest one is on the right and the latest one is on the left.

Because of calligraphy class, I actually prefer Mondays to Fridays. Pretty crazy, huh?