Okayama

After I dropped mom and grandma off at the airport, I went to Okayama for a one day trip! I spent the night on Thursday, and did some sightseeing on Friday. (Remember, this is 2018…way too much travel that August.)

Peach Boy Statue

The first thing I saw when I got to the station was the Peach Boy statue. Okayama is famous for the story of Peach Boy or Momotaro. And, although the version which circulates throughout most of Japan says that Momotaro was born from a peach, the Okayama version tells a slightly different tale…

Korakuen

First I made my way to a famous garden, korakuen. It is the garden just outside of the castle in Osaka. I enjoyed walking slowly through the trails, and even sitting in a small hut-like thing for a moment before moving on. I was able to enjoy a nice slow, relaxing evening!

Okayama Castle

Then I went to Osaka castle. Inside the castle were a lot of exhibits on the history of the castle and of the area. I only skimmed parts of it because, if I’m being honest, reading that much Japanese sounded like a bit of a pain at the time. From the top floor of the castle I could see all of Okayama. It was awesome and the detailing on the roof of the castle was quite cool, too!

The Library

Okay, call me a nerd…but across the street from the castle was the prefectural library! I just had to stop by. I found the American Corner, too. Basically a whole section of the library was devoted to books in foreign languages, and the area with American English books was specifically labeled. It really caught me off guard!

Wandering through the library was also a nice way to cool off after having walked around outside for hours.

Lunch

I had lunch at a ramen shop in Okayama! Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s known for having a unique flavor profile! It was definitely a delicious bowl of noodles!

Aeon

I know, I know…I went to Aeon a lot this vacation. This time it was justified! Apparently the Aeon in Okayama is the biggest one in Western Japan! So I had to check it out. Let me just tell you, it’s exponentially bigger than the one in Kochi…

Driving

Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go to the Kibitsu Shrine this time, but I’ll be sure to hit it up next time! After my day trip to Okayama, I was off to Hiroshima! Stay tuned to see what I did on my two day adventure.

 

Until next time!! xx

Mama and Grandma – Kochi and Kyoto

My mom and grandma visited me in Japan! This was also last August. I really did a lot last August…

We did a lot in a short period of time, but I wanted to show them everything I did and so much more! I know that no matter how many times they visited I’d be able to show them something new, because I’m always seeing new things myself!

Arrival

They arrived in Japan in the evening of August 10th. It was Friday night, and the first thing we did was check into our room in Osaka. Okay, that’s not quite true…we struggled to find the location and so we drove around in circles and asked multiple people directions before finally checking in.

On the first night we ate at a teishoku restaurant. Teishoku means “set meal” in Japanese. Each meal came with a meat, rice, miso soup, and a cabbage salad. It was very good and a good Western inspired Japanese meal to ease them into Japan.

Driving…

On Saturday morning we drove to Kochi! Though the traffic ended up being insane and our 4.5 hour drive turned into a 6 or 7 hour one. I was beyond frustrated but we stopped for curry on the way through at Coco Ichiban. Coco Ichiban is a Japanese curry restaurant which lets you order your spice level on a scale of 0 to 10. Mom and I got 4s and grandma got a 2. She said she might have liked a 3 but that a 4 was a bit high for a whole meal.

Kochi

Yosakoi

Finally we arrived in Kochi! We went to the Yosakoi festival for a few hours and ate some street food for dinner! Yosakoi is a traditional dancing festival which takes place all over Japan but originates in Kochi. The largest version of the festival is held in Kochi city each year in August and teams from all over Japan come to compete! It’s amazing to watch (and apparently very fun to participate in).

After watching Yosakoi, we caught a glimpse of Kochi castle at night and then went back to my apartment to relax and get some sleep for Sunday.

Paper Making

On Saturday we had a very traditional day. We started the day off by going to the Ino Paper Museum. At the paper museum we learned a lot about Ino Washi. Washi means Japanese paper, and is made from different materials and using different processes from western paper. Washi is traditionally made from more fibrous plants, which are then washed using the river. Washi isn’t dyed. Instead, in order to color it, they mix in different colored fibers when making the paper originally. This is made apparent if you look close at the paper to see the different fibers overlapping each other.

Before we went on a tour through the museum, though, we made our own washi! It was a lot of fun, and a learning experience. We were able to take the washi home at the end of our tour!

 

In the tour, we learned that the washi from Ino was famous and revered by the emperor. The man who invented the process in Ino travelled all over Japan to personally teach others about the process which was used in Ino to make washi. We also saw traditional Kochi money from before Japan was unified! It was quite the experience. (P.S. Even that kimono is made of washi.)

Sushiro

We had sushi for lunch at a kaiten sushi restaurant called Sushiro. Kaiten sushi is conveyer belt sushi, and you can either grab things that look good from the moving belt, or order what you want which will be sent on the belt to your table. You’re alerted when it arrives! Of course, the sushi is much simpler in Japan than in America, and rather than rolls, you mostly have the option of nigiri or gunkan maki. 

Ikebana

After lunch we did traditional Japanese flower arranging called Ikebana! Mom and grandma used the same flowers, but ended up with unique arrangements. It was definitely interesting and we learned a lot about the theory of flower arranging in Japan.

Kochi Ice

There’s a local ice cream shop called Kochi Ice, so we stopped in for some delicious ice cream and an amazing view!

School Festivals

In the evening we checked out the summer festivals at both of my schools. It was a wonderful opportunity for my mom and grandma to meet some of my students! I had a good time and ate good food, and the night ended in fireworks.

We even went swimming in the beautiful mountain stream near my house between festivals. It was cold but quite refreshing. I was able to was away the heat of the day, and feel refreshed for the evening.

Honshu

We packed the car and headed for mainland on Monday morning! on the way we stopped for lunch at Coco family restaurant, and had some Easternized Western food. It was delicious! But I may have eaten a little too much considering we were headed for the beach…

The Beach

We stopped at a beach in Kobe and spent a day relaxing in the sun! We had some people say some things to us in English, because many people like to practice the English they remember when the opportunity arises. It was sweet and welcoming (though I speak Japanese so I guess it’s fine for me either way).

The water was cold and the beach was hot, which ended up being the perfect combination!

Yakiniku

We finally arrived at our accommodations in Kyoto, and went to yakiniku for dinner. Yakiniku is Japanese BBQ, and it was delicious! I ate enough for 3 people, and mom and grandma seemed to enjoy it, too. I definitely suggest yakiniku if you ever visit Japan! It’s generally an all-you-can-eat affair.

Kyoto

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in Kyoto! And it was definitely a lot of fun (for me).

Sanjisangendo and Chigiri-e

On the first day, we visited a temple called Sanjisangen-do, which is famous for housing 1001 kanon (goddesses of mercy). We couldn’t take pictures inside, but it was very cool! Each statue was slightly different from the next, and there were various plaques telling us the background of certain statues. It was a learning experience for me! While in some cases there is more information in Japanese, this time there was more information in English. In some cases, it was simply expected of the Japanese reader that they knew certain information without it having to be explained. Definitely interesting for me!

After the temple, we grabbed McDonald’s for lunch since we were on a time crunch before our next activity.

Finally, we arrived at our activity for the day – chigiri-e. This means “one thousand cut paper” if translated directly, but is a collage created by tearing washi (traditional Japanese paper). It was very difficult, and it took us nearly an hour to create a tiny work, but in the end they all turned out wonderfully! I’m so happy we did this. Our host, Izumi, was very kind and helpful! She even spoke English, which was a huge bonus for us.

After that we went to Kyoto tower to look out over the city! It was a great way to sort of glance at some of the things we wouldn’t be able to visit. And we got some Starbucks while we were at it!

Then we went to Aeon mall for some shopping. If you go shopping in Japan, Aeon mall is basically the biggest option. We found some nice shops and looked around a bit before calling it a day and heading back to the room.

Local Eating

For dinner, we didn’t want to go very far. We were exhausted after having walked all day and just wanted to eat somewhere close. So I found a local bar which served food and was about a 10 minute walk from where we were staying. I called in to be sure there would be seats for us and made a reservation.

We got there and the menu was only in Japanese. I wasn’t very shocked, but that meant that I had a lot of translating to do! It took us a while to order as a result, but we ended up with a delicious meal in the end! The people at the bar were so sweet and very talkative, including us (mostly me, though they peppered in some English) in their conversation at times. We had a few drinks and then went home. As we left they told us to come again, and the other patrons seemed quite insistent on it!

Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama

Wednesday! The last day of travelling has arrived. It felt so soon, but at the same time we had already done so much and walked so far. I wore grandma out the day before and she decided to take a rest day. In the end she said she was glad she did.

So, mom and I set off for our last day in Kyoto!

First we went to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which is a giant fox shrine with orange torii (gates) all the way to the top of the mountain. We didn’t climb all the way up, but did go partway up the path. We decided it would have been nicer to visit really early in the morning when there were less people. but it was too late now!

After that, we visited Arashiyama. Arashiyama has many wonderful sites including various temples and monkey mountain, but we didn’t visit any of those. Instead, we visited the most famous and the most beautiful of all of the sites there. We went to the bamboo forest! It was amazing, even though it was my third time. I love that forest every time I visit it, and could simply enjoy the atmosphere for hours. It would obviously be nicer if I could visit it when there were less visitors, but my vacation days are the same days as everyone else’s vacation days, so it can’t really be helped that it’s so crowded.

Zen Garden

We wanted to check out different types of sites each step of the way. Until this point we had been to temples, shrines, and natural sites. This time we went to a zen garden. Though zen gardens are inside temples, these are a specific type of sightseeing spot. In Japanese they are called karesansui gardens. If you break up the parts of the word, it means “dry mountain water garden” which makes sense since the rocks are dry and from the mountain, but the shapes created when raking the garden and placing the rocks resemble water. The name of the garden we visited was Daito Kuji.

Aeon and Dinner

After the garden we went to Aeon again, because my shoes had holes in the soles and I needed new ones. I found a pair that I really liked, and then we went home.

For dinner we had Mos Burgers. Mos is a fast food chain in Japan, and has burger options which are unique from the rest of the world. Although it’s quite a Western meal, I figured it was worth checking out.

Send Off

After a week of incredible journeys, it was time to say goodbye until Christmas. So I drove them to the airport on Thursday morning, and they were off! Well, their flight was delayed so we ended up having a few extra hours together. First we ate lunch at the food court, and THEN they were off. Proud of both of them for eating a Japanese meal on their last day! I had Subway, but let’s not talk about that…

Anyway, I’m sorry for posting this so late! As always…

 

Until next time!! xx

 

Kagawa – Mount Kompira and Kabuki

I took a trip to Kagawa this last August. I went on Saturday morning and spent the day! It was a great time and I got to see some interesting things! And let me tell you, climbing a mountain is definitely one of the more interesting ways to cure a hangover.

The Day Before

So, on Friday I had a nomikai (drinking party) and ended up staying out until pretty late drinking. The point is, I was hungover the next day, but had already made plans to go to Kagawa to climb a mountain. So that’s what I did!

 

The Morning Of

I wake up groggy, later than expected. Check the clock and see that it’s already 9:30, and I had planned to get up at 7:30 or so. I wanted to get to Kagawa early enough to have a full day of adventure ahead of me. But, despite getting up late, I still had plenty of time to do everything! So I got ready and took off just before 10 on my 1.5 hour journey to Kagawa.

Climbing Kompira

Mount Kompira is a series of shrines dedicated to the god Kompira – a god of the sea. Many sailors and other people who are venturing out to the sea will come here to pray for Kompira’s protection. Originally revered as a mixture between a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple, Kompira was officially declared a shrine in the Meiji period. Though, to me that makes the most sense! Temples proudly display and honor images of Buddha, while shrines are dedicated to one or a few Shinto gods. Considering Kompira is a Shinto god, it seems pretty simple to me! Though historically this god was linked to an Indian deity Kumbhira, who is a Buddhist deity. I suppose there’s a reason it was originally a cross-over of Shinto and Buddhism. Even today, there are elements of both.

The mountain is a series of temples, with the main temple about 780 or so steps up the mountain and other temples another 580 or so up. The ascent is 1,386 stone steps up the mountain. It’s not for the faint of heart.

At the top of the mountain, you can see most of Kagawa prefecture! It was worth the climb, though the pictures may not quite do it justice.

Descending the Mount

The way down was faster, easier, and less sweat-inducing. HOWEVER, I made a friend…a bee decided to follow me the whole way. He kept trying to get into the hole in my jeans and trying to land on me. I ran at one point to get away and thought that it had worked until he suddenly reappeared. I’m not particularly scared of bugs or bees, however the last time I was stung the reaction was pretty bad and I was on top of a mountain where there is no medical support, so I wasn’t feeling the most confident in the situation.

In the end I was fine – no stings for me! I’m just grateful it wasn’t a Japanese hornet, because those are lethal and even more persistent than other varieties of bees. I did have to combat one of those in my living room the summer before, though!

Udon and Ice Cream

Kagawa is famous for udon. Other prefectures (and people from Kagawa themselves) sometimes refer to it as udon-ken, or udon prefecture. Although it is Japan’s smallest prefecture, it has the highest concentration of udon shops, over 600 in total. The sanuki udon of Kagawa is a unique texture which can’t be found anywhere else. Sanuki is actually the old name for Kagawa (just as Tosa is the old name for Kochi, and Edo is the old name for Tokyo). I wanted to eat some kamatama udon (which is made with a raw egg that is cooked upon contact with the extremely hot noodles) but it wasn’t sold at the restaurant I went to. Instead I had a cold soba which was served with tempura and tofu! It was pretty delicious.

 

After udon, I had some ice cream that was topped with tiny little puffs of sugar. They were hard on the outside and hollow on the inside. They’re called oiri! They sort of remind me of cotton candy in a way. Oiri is a type of wagashi, Japanese traditional sweets.

Kabuki

Kabuki is a traditional form of Japanese theater. While the theater near Mount Kompira only performs in April every year, I was able to get a tour of the theater! It was pretty awesome and I learned a lot about the history of kabuki, how things are done, and how the room is set up. There are different ways for the actors to enter, including from the back, from below the stage, and from above on a wire. Furthermore, Kabuki theater is an artform performed only by men. Even women’s roles are performed by men. Because of this, there is a separation of the actors into different rooms. Actors who will perform as women go into a preparation room to “become women” and be apart from other men.

A long time ago, when kabuki theater was invented, there was no such thing as electricity. As a result, the moving portions of the stage are controlled by man power, and performances can only be done when it is light outside. Incidentally there are two performances a day, which are about 3 hours long each. One takes place in the morning and the other takes place in the afternoon.

A portion of the stage which weighs 2 tons is moved easily by 6 people. Similarly, the areas where actors pop up are moved by 4 or 6 people. It’s quite amazing how much can be done by man power alone!

In the theater, there is a royal viewing box which is slightly larger than the other viewing boxes. There are also lanterns which bear the insignia of different performing groups. The one which represents the theater that I visited is a swan.

Local Festival

After walking around all day, I went to the capital city for a festival. There was a lot of food (mostly foreign, actually) and a performance. The performance was quite interesting and unusual. It was a troupe from Australia! I quite enjoyed it and really wanted to try it, but it’s obviously not something I would be allowed to do. I ate German sausage, and stone oven baked pizza. And I also saw some amazing watermelon carvings! It was a great way to end the night before driving nearly 2 hours back home.

Next Time

The next time I went to Kagawa, I was able to visit Naoshima, the famous art island! Kagawa is known for its abundant islands and udon. Because of the nature of my Naoshima trip, I wasn’t able to do everything I had hoped to do, So I hope that I can go back one day!

 

Until next time!! xx

 

Surviving Winter in Japan

Winter in Japan can be brutal. Not because it’s any colder than it is anywhere else in the world (actually, it’s warmer here during the winter than it is back in Indiana), but because of how winter is treated here. Particularly, the lack of central heating and insulation! What do you do when there’s nothing more than space heaters and localized heating? Besides freeze, I mean. Well, even though the hallways of the schools are cold, and your apartment may only be heated in one room at a time, Japan is full of ways to survive the cold! (and the heat once summer rolls around)

Kotatsu

My personal favorite way of surviving the cold are Japanese heated tables which are called kotatsu. The table consists of 3 pieces. The frame which has a heater built into it, a blanket which goes above the frame, and a table top which is placed on top of the blanket. The blanket traps the heat under the table and creates a wonderfully warm sanctuary to escape the cold. Tho only problem is that once you get in, you don’t want to leave…

カイロ Kairo

These are great to keep in your pocket, or they make the type that sticks to your clothes or goes on your socks. What is it? It’s a little pack of magic that warms up and stays warm for 8-16 hours (depending on the type). These are pretty much essential and most kids have them in their pockets at school already.

Seasonal Food

Another thing that Japan is really keen on is seasonal foods. These foods are used in a variety of dishes and made at a temperature to suit the season. Some dishes which are popular around this time are oden and nabe (Japanese hot pot), and fruits include strawberries, clementines, and yuzu. As for the best winter dessert, I love zenzai! It’s a sweet red bean soup with mochi. Maybe it doesn’t sound good but it’s delicious!

Otherwise, you can just turn on the heater if you have one, though that’s probably not going to be enough!

I’m thinking of buying an electric blanket this year, too…

As a side note, I’ll be heading back to America this weekend for just under two weeks! I’m looking forward to buildings being warm on the inside…

 

Until next time!! xx

Long Overdue Update

It’s been a little over two months since I’ve posted anything, and I didn’t even deliver on the vacation posts that I had promised! They’re still in my drafts folder just half way completed. I’m sure I’ll get around to it eventually!

So, I want to start off by saying that I’m sorry for being such a horrible poster over the last few months. I hope to get back into the swing of posting regularly, so please bear with me while I get used to things again.

Secondly, I want to give some general updates on my life and time here in Japan! I will (hopefully) give some more details in certain areas later, but for now I hope this will suffice!

Wake me up when September ends…

September was full of excitement and busy weekends. If you remember my talk last year about Sports Day festivals, you’ll know that every school is busy preparing for their own Sports Day and that I’m busy running around with the students and attending the events. Due to rain, we had to reschedule one or two of them, which really messed with my availability on weekends…but it was fun in the end and I enjoyed it a lot!

I also went camping in Ehime prefecture during September! The weather was nearly perfect, granted a bit warm. It was fun to cook outside and just enjoy the fresh air. The campsite was right next to the water, too, which make it the perfect location for relaxing and enjoying the view.

Aside from camping, I enjoyed some local trips to nearby places in the city such as Kochi castle and Harimaya bridge. It was nice and relaxing!

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers

October was an outdoorsy sort of month. I visited two beautiful natural sites. The first was Muroto Cape. Though I’ve been before, this time was even more fun! The cape is covered with rocks, and I absolutely love climbing things…so I climbed them all. It was fun and slightly exhausting, and the views were incredible. I enjoyed the light breeze and the crashing waves as I wandered around the cape.

Then I hiked a trail in the mountains near my house which has 4 main waterfalls along it. The first one is quite easily accessible and takes minimal effort, but each consecutive waterfall gets further away and more difficult to reach. In the end I saw all four waterfalls, and they were all worth the trek.

November arrived, cold as frozen iron

Honestly, the first day of November felt quite cold, and my body struggled to get used to the cold, but before I knew it we were getting warmer temperatures again. I’m sure that December, January, and February will be a handful for someone who gets cold as easily as I, but November’s cold arrival melted into a chilly stay.

This month was full of events with my community, school, and visitors for the most part. Though I still managed to take a trip out of town. Lately one of my schools has had a variety of foreign visitors throughout the months of October and November particularly. We’ve had visitors from France, Sweden, and Germany. My students got to interact with foreigners who were not me, and who were not from America, which was a wonderful experience for them! Especially since our visitors spoke such limited Japanese that my students had to use the English they knew. One of the visitors also joined a teacher from my school and I on a hike in Tokushima!

Similar to the Sports Day for my schools which I mentioned in the September bit, there was a community sports day. The area where I live is split into 4 smaller villages which competed in the community sports day. My team was the smallest team, but we fought hard and came in 3rd place in the end. I enjoyed participating and hope to do it again next year! And hopefully I can be a more useful player next year, too. Because let me tell you, pushing a metal wheel with a stick while running a lap is NOT my forte, or so I’ve learned.

I was able to make a trip to Hiroshima during the 3 day weekend in November which was to commemorate Japan’s version of Thanksgiving. I made it in time to see the beautiful fall leaves, and I enjoyed eating some local oysters, which Hiroshima (specifically Miyajima island) is famous for. I went to see the stars from the mountains of Okayama on Friday evening, and took a ferry ride over to Miyajima island, Itsukushima shrine on Sunday. It was definitely a fun weekend filled with beautiful views.

And now?

Well, I have just under a month before I visit America! I’m looking forward to seeing my family and eating delicious food. I can’t wait, but I’m also excited to see what the rest of this year will bring!

In the meantime, I just took a trip to Naoshima art island this weekend for work, and I have plans to visit an onsen next weekend! After that I have the winter conference and closing ceremony for the year before hopping on a plane back home!

I’m sure there’s a lot I’m missing, and even details missing on the things I mentioned, but for now this should give you an idea of what I’ve been up to! Sorry for the major delay, and sorry for the fact that summer vacation posts still aren’t up!!

 

Until next time!! xx

A Teaching Moment

Living in Japan, sometimes the holidays and memorials in America don’t affect me as much. My realization that it was the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks the other day resulted in a teaching moment at my schools. We talked about the attacks to the students after asking them what the date was. They were shocked by the story, and asked questions like how old I was among other things.

I know that things like this can be quite heavy for children, but I also think that it’s important to educate children of the bad things that have happened to keep history from repeating itself.

Sorry for the short post which ended up just being a snippet! I promise those vacation posts will come out as soon as I get around to uploading the pictures…

 

Until next time!! xx

The Strongest Storm

Another typhoon is scheduled to hit Japan on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week! It’s apparently the strongest typhoon we’ll have seen this season. And, while I thought the trajectory might veer from us, it looks like it’s set to hit Kochi straight on. Now, I’m in the mountains so a lot of the wind and rain will slow down before reaching me, but we may have a cancelled day of school next week.

Usually typhoons hit us on the weekend (don’t ask how it always happens that way). And, while it’s unfortunate for making plans on the weekend, it’s quite nice to not have to make up school days later on down the road.

This time, it should be different. Check out this video! It’s in Japanese, but you can turn on autogenerated English (or any language) subtitles by clicking the settings button. I tried it out and they didn’t seem to be too bad.

 

Until next time!! xx

Chocolates and Unicycles

I know I promised stories of summer vacation, and they’re coming! But let me tell you about something that happened this morning.

I visit 3 different schools – one middle school, one elementary school, and one combined middle/elementary school. The distances are 10 minutes walking, 6 minutes walking plus 10 minutes driving, and 6 minutes walking plus 30 minutes driving respectively. Today I’m at my furthest school.

Chocolates

This morning when I went into the office to get the key to the town car, my boss was already in. She usually doesn’t come in until a bit later. She gave me a box of chocolates to thank me for the things I’ve been doing outside of my job description lately. Although these things were done during work hours, or compensated by time off if they went past work hours, she still went above and beyond to thank me even further. I felt extremely appreciated, not that I don’t anyway with how much they express their gratitude toward me regularly, and happy that I was part of such an office. I know that many people have difficult times with their offices, and don’t always feel like they’re fully accepted by their coworkers, but I have had the most amazing experience up to this point.

I plan on working in this town for 4 more years before finding another job in Japan. I hope that I can continue to build good relations, have rewarding experiences, and grow in this job in that time. I want to repay the kindness that has been shown to me, and I hope that I can express my gratitude for being part of such a wonderful office.

Unicycles

On another note, my kids are practicing riding their unicycles for the upcoming sports day. If you don’t know what sports day is, I’ve briefly talked about it in a previous post, and will also likely post about it again this year after it takes place!

So, the students at my schools learn to ride unicycles and perform different acts on unicycles at sports day! I asked some of the other teachers if they could also ride unicycles, and they said that their schools didn’t teach that when they were in school. The principal and one of the homeroom teachers both decided to give it a shot and…fell. I’m very impressed with my kids! They can ride forwards, backwards, and idle. It seems super difficult but I’d really like to give it a shot and learn if I could! Wish me luck if I ever get to it! I know I’ll need it since I’m quite clumsy…

 

Until next time!! xx

Summer Vacation – Preview

First…I want to say sorry for not posting in so long!

Secondly, I’d like to briefly mention the things I’ve been up to which will come out in full posts at a later time!

Kagawa (August 4)

At the beginning of this month I went to Kagawa Prefecture – the smallest prefecture in Japan. I climbed a mountain, ate good food, and had some culture experiences. It was a good time and I hope you read all about it once I finally post it!

Mama and Grandma (August 10-16)

My mom and grandma visited me in Japan! I was able to show them a few local festivals, as well as take them to Kyoto – the cultural hub of Japan!

Okayama (August 17)

I did a day trip by myself the day after taking my family to the airport! I wanted to see the Peach Boy Shrine, but didn’t make it this time. But I still got to see some great things in Okayama!

Yamaguchi and Miyajima (August 18-19)

I visited Hiroshima and made a day trip out to Yamaguchi with a friend! It was my first time in Yamaguchi and the pictures don’t do it justice.

Hong Kong (August 21-27)

Although not all of those days were spent in Hong Kong, they were spent either there or in transit! I spent about 5 days in Hong Kong and got to see a lot of cool things! Definitely missed out on some things, but that just makes it worth it to go back for a next time!

 

Anyway, sorry that all you’re getting at the moment is a brief preview! The above posts will come out once I upload the pictures and organize my thoughts and experiences!

 

Until next time!! xx

My Newest Adventure

I had a lot of down time today at work…and I spent most of the time studying Japanese, brushing up on some Spanish, and writing a project proposal. However, as we entered the late afternoon, I began to feel restless. I wanted something exciting! So I started learning Korean.

So far I’ve learned the writing system (or at least mostly) and the basic sentence form of “subject + subject marker + object + be-verb.” This format is exactly the same as Japanese, and therefore was quite easy to pick up. I just had to learn the new words to fill in the spaces. And I’m sure all (or most) of Korean will be like that.

Currently the only subject I can say is “I” and the only verb I know is the basic format, “be-verb.” But it’s all up from here! If I stick to it, that is. Even if I don’t, it was a fun hour or 2 of studying!

자는제시카이다　(jeo neum Jessica i da)
私はジェシカです。 (watashi ha Jessica desu)
Me llamo Jessica.
Jaz sem Jessica.
My name is Jessica.

I can tell you my name in 5 different languages, now!

So far the hardest part of the language for me is the pronunciation. I’m used to English and Japanese, and even Spanish pronunciation, but Korean is a whole new ball game for me!

 

Until next time!! xx