Life at Present

So....

I am slowly adjusting to living in a Japanese home. When I get home from school I sometimes do my homework and sometimes I watch TV. Okasan watches two of the grandkids during the day, so depending on how early I come home I can spend time with the girls. They generally watch children's TV. I kind of like watching Children's TV because I can understand more of what they are saying. Okasan generally takes them home around 6ish. Sometimes I get home while she is out, which is a little strange coming home to an empty house. Otosan comes home around 6:30, which for Japanese is really early, but he works in construction, I think. We have supper around 7.Okasan tells me,every day, to wash my hands before we eat, which is a great habit, just not one that I am in. She suggested that I wash my hands when I get home, and that has worked better.  She was giving me a great deal of food, so I told her that I was on a diet. This is only partly true, but you try to explain that you can't eat that much in a foreign language where you have to look up every other word without just sounding polite. Now she gives me a decent portion, which I am grateful for. She and Otosan generally eat out to the same dishes. I wash only my own dishes.
After dinner I go and watch TV or work on my homework until Okasan tells me to go take a shower. Otosan takes his shower before dinner right after he comes home. Okasan takes her shower after me. From what I gather this is because they had problems previously with the home stay students leaving the gas to heat the water on. They do not have a water heater tank, but they turn the water heater on and off. This keeps the gas bill down and mostly prevents fires in case of earthquakes. All gas is turned off when the family leaves the house.
Okasan and Otosan generally go to bed around 9:00. I am told to go to my room about that time if I am not there already. I usually try to stay up until 10:00 because I don't want to wake up to early. As it is I generally wake up around 6:30 or 7. I liked to get to school around 8 so that I could meet Katie, relax and prepare myself for the day, but Okasan told me that coming to breakfast at 7 made her "panic". Otosan eats at 7 and she makes him and her son (who is married) a lunch. Otosan leaves around 7:30 or 7:45. First I was told not to come to breakfast until 7:30. I still wanted to get to school early. I had a bit of an emotional crisis that was mostly between me and the Lord and my notebook, wherein I was told to wait, and be patient. I think that a lot of the problem is because I am used to being independent, and doing things when I think is good. Here I am told what and when to do almost everything. Do this, don't do that. I appreciate that I am living in someone else's house and their way if doing it will probably be different than mine, but I feel like I am treated like a child. I tried to tell her that I could get my own breakfast, or eat cereal. I even bought some to eat. She made me some yogurt to eat it with, and then asked me to eat at 7:40. Michaela says that that is just the Asian mother's way of doing things. I have become resolved to just being later to school. Really, it takes me 20 mins. to get to school on my bicycle, and my first class is never before 9:00.  So now I eat by myself at 7:40ish and take off to school right after I wash my dishes.
Sometimes I just don't want to be at home because it is not comfortable, and I find it hard to relax. I have a hard time relaxing anywhere. I am used to having a home to relax in, so this is kind of hard. I have to find both a way and time to relax. I am very busy with classes, and homework. I can not study as hard and relax some, then not be as prepared for class, or I can study hard and be ready for class, but be really tired. I have yet to find a balance. I find that I get tired really easily, and I will be very glad to adjust physically finally.
I have been really enjoying my Ceramics class, and I think that I would really like to make pottery in Japan, but if I want to stay and apprentice I would need to have the money, and I still have to pay off the money I borrowed to be here. I'm sure that the Lord has a plan for me, and I wait on Him to reveal His plan. 

Friends so far

I have met may people who are very different than the people that I would usually hang out with. The two that I hang out with the most are Katie and Daniel. They are both Americans, and like to play pokemon, and other games with varying degrees of physical interaction. You might call them Gamers. They were very exited to get the newest version of pokemon even though the instructions are in Japanese. We frequently go places together. We have gone to Kyoto, and Osaka. We also went and did Karaoke together with Ayana. We explored Hirakata Station and the surrounding stores together. Katie and I usually meet each other before classes around 8 or 8:30. Daniel is almost habitually late for classes and I think that it might become a problem for him if he keeps it up. I have a bit of a problem nagging him about it, so I am trying not to. Neither of them are Christians, and Katie has spoken of issues that she has had in the past with people trying to proselytize her. I am rather jealous of her because her host family is Christian and her host mom goes to church regularly, while my host family is Buddhist. Over all I enjoy spending time with them even though we have a generational gap and widely different backgrounds.
There are others that I have regular interaction with like one girl  who is quite profane, and a bit obsessed with sex. She is in my ceramics class and really admires my pottery. I like to help her sometimes in class. She is very gregarious. I enjoy her. There are many other people that I have met a few times. One girl, Isabel, who is a Christian girl who I met the first week at the dorm. She is going to check out rumors of a Christian Fellowship group at the dorms.
I also have met a couple of Japanese girls. Ayana is my language partner, and her friend Momoko came with us to Kyoto the first time we went. Ayana is taking the TOFUL this Saturday. Well those are my friends so far.
Thanks for your prayers.

Thoughts on Culture Shock

So I have been here for three weeks.? I have been mostly rather tired. I think at first it was mostly Jet lag, but I think that I am mostly over that now and my sleeping schedule is pretty much set. Okasan and Otosan usually go to bed around 9:00 or 9:30 at which time it has been dark for about 3 hours. I try to stay up until 10ish. This gets me up around 6:30. Which, for me, is early, but then I am going to bed very early. I usually head for school around 7:30 so that I can spend at least one hour collecting myself at school before class starts. At this time I am  not tired much at all. If my classes, which are Japanese, are at all stressful I am dragging by lunch time. Fortunately the classes that I have after lunch don't take as much emotional energy as Japanese does. I have found that despite being so good at most college classes, language is really hard, and I have spent more time in these first two weeks of school studying than I think I spent really studying in a whole semester. I suppose you would have to remember that most of my classes have been studio classes. It also seems that all this studying doesn't seem to get me anywhere. I had a review test last week in spoken Japanese that I got a 50.8% on. I don't think that I have ever done so badly on a test. I took a review test in written Japanese this week and I really think I did worse on that one than the other. The result of the test can only take me down a level, so it isn't the end of the world if I fail it, but it is a blow to my ego, which could probably be taken a notch anyway. I don't really want to go down a level though. The day before the test I was practically sick with a headache and being exhausted, so I couldn't study properly. I find myself praying desperately for help because I feel so insufficient for learning the language. I think that I probably am learning the language better here, but I can't really tell.
 When I first got here everything tasted delicious, and I ate copious amounts of it. Lately the food doesn't seem quite as wonderful and I am having trouble eating all the food that Okasan gives me. Part to the problem is that in the first week I ate so much that she probably got the idea that I was a pig and so she has been giving me copious amounts of food. I think that after not eating all my food for four days straight and having to eat the rest for breakfast might have gotten the message across that I don't always eat that much. Yesterday I actually got to eat breakfast food for breakfast. We also have iceberg lettuce for breakfast almost every morning, and a lot of meat. This morning I had miso soup with clams in the shell in it. You have to pick out the shells.
  Despite what it sounds like, I am not having a horrible time. There are many ups and downs. This week I managed to only spend about $30 so far and I think that If I am careful I will have enough money even to go on trips occasionally. This weekend I am going to a Danjiri Festival in Osaka.We have a three day weekend this weekend  and another day off on Thursday. I plan to do some catch up studying. Please pray for me that I will adjust and be rested, also that I will not get frustrated and learn the language well. I would also like to get involved with more Japanese  people. Their classes start up in another week or so. I would like to join a circle or two, maybe if I am not so tired.
Please keep me in your prayers.    

Weekend Trips

So on the weekends I have been going on trips. The Friday, the 3rd, a hoard of Kansai Gaidai Students went to Kyoto in small groups with Japanese students. Ayna, my language partner and her friend Momoko took Katie, Daniel, and I. We walked around and went to see Kiyomizudera. We did a lot of walking.

Momoko, Katie, and Daniel

Me, Katie, and Momoko

Kiyomizudera

View towards the city from Kiyomizudera

After seeing the temple we went to find somewhere to eat, and after a lot of walking we ate at Sizeria a Japanese Italian place that is very decently priced.

This last weekend Katie, Daniel, and I decided to go to the Hirakata Station and explore. I wanted to see the department stores, and eat Okonomiyaki. Katie and Daniel wanted to see a book store. We found the Department store , and Katie saw socks and shoes which she loves, but we went to the bottom floor where they had a grocery store and some small restaurants. Katie and I wanted to get Okonomiyaki so we tried to ask where the Okanomiyaki store was. The answer was very polite and quite impossible to decipher. We walked in the direction that we thought was right and asked again. The second lady was much more clear in her directions and we found the restaurant. We had a lot of fun and the Okanomiyaki was amazing. Definitely better than mine.

  

After eating we went to the bookstore where there was a phenomenal amount of manga, and it was a relatively small bookstore. I think that they sold used books as well. Katie got a couple of manga. I think I need to work on my Japanese more before I buy anything.

We went back to the Department store and as Daniel was still hungry we went to a bakery. I got this layered thing that was wonderful.

We went all the way to the top (7 floors) and looked in all the floors. There was a game room on the top floor, and they had vending machines. I got a phone charm for my cell phone that was a sword guard. I like it a lot. there was a curved escalator down to the basement that was cool.

Plastic food is an art form here

 Eventually we went to Baskin Robins and had crepes.

Being very tired, we each went our separate ways home.
On Sunday we went to Kyoto again, but I'll leave that for another time.

Homestay Family

So....

This Sunday I met my host family. The mother (Okasan(mother in Japanese)) came to the school and we met in one of the classrooms with a Japanese student to translate. We went over a list to communicate expectations, like when dinner will be, is there a curfew, what the bath order is, mostly house rules. We were told to expect our host moms to have lots of rules and to be very involved (nosey). I don't have a curfew, but dinner is at 7:00. I am supposed to call or message if I am going to be late or am going to skip dinner to go out with my friends. If I am going out on the weekend I need to let Okasan know in advance etc.
After the meeting we went to the Seminar house and picked up my luggage. We drove a ways then turned down a very narrow road at the end of which was our house. The house was rather larger than I expected, and Okasan said that many many people had lived in it (at least that's what I think she said). I am sleeping in a more recent addition, just two generations old.

Okasan and Otosan

It was Otosan's birthday so we went out to eat with the family. They have three grown  and married children, at least two sons and I'm not sure about the third (whether it is the son or daughter) One family has a daughter who is in high school ( I think) The two sons have two daughters respectively. They are younger, probably closer to Isaiah and Stuarts ages.

 We had sukiyaki that put mine to shame, it was soooo good, and I ate sooo much. It was fun despite the fact that I couldn't understand one word in ten.
It was awkward and tiring talking to someone in another language all evening. Okasan is very talkative but Otosan doesn't talk very much. I find it somewhat restful to be with Otosan because i don't have to talk. It is hard to be with a new family in a new culture. Yesterday I was in the Center for International Education (thus forth to be called the CIE) where my classes are, and I saw a girl in tears about her home-stay family. It wasn't that they were mean to her I think she wasn't expecting what she got, even though they keep telling us that this is how it will be. It is hard. I think that perseverance is key. I keep telling myself and my fellow home-stayers not to hide in our rooms, to get out and interact, but I think that this needs to be balanced with some rejuvenation time. Yesterday I was very tired and the weather is so hot, and Okasan wants me to turn the AC off during part of the night. The worst part was that there was no air moving, but I expressed my desire for a fan, and we decided that I would use the fan instead of the AC at night. Last night was much better, and the weather was somewhat cooler. I had a more relaxing evening last night, and watched some TV with Otosan.
Okasan is a great cook and she gives me so much food. I'm going to get fat.
Yesterday I had my first ceramics class, and my sensei showed my the way Japanese throw off the hump. I can see how throwing clockwise changes the style of throwing. All of the things they do with their right hand I have to do with my left. I am going to have to practice. I am having trouble with my timing in taking the pot off the top of the hump, I'll have to practice that as well.
I have my first Japanese language class today, and then I also have intercultural communication, which I decided to take instead of Japanese Survey of Art, because I took that class at K-State, and I can go to those places with friends.

Journey to the south (west)

Before I tell you about this last week I wanted to show everybody a pic of Kyle and Kaori.

 On Saturday morning after staying up late to watch the third Shrek, we left the house at about 8. We walked to the local station pulling my two rather heavy pieces of luggage. We took two trains to the Tokyo Shinjansen station. This picture was on the first train. K&K took me all the way to the Shinkansen. They had to buy passes for the platform which was very generous and kind of them. They made my first few days in Japan really nice.
The Shinkansen left at 10:00am and I arrived in Kyoto around noon. I wasn't really thinking when I purchased my ticket, because I forgot that I would have to wait for three hours with two suitcases that seemed to get larger and heavier as the day passed. I kept thinking "Do I really need all this stuff?", and " I could have done with less." When I bought the ticket I had thought to wander around and see stuff, but that was not realistic. I found a convini at the station and purchased some onigiri (rice balls with filling), then found the correct entrance at which I was supposed to wait then spent the next three hours trying to find a comfortable way to sit. If you ever have large luggage ( that won't fit into a locker) don't buy a ticket that will get you there with more than an hour to spare, it was stupid.
Eventually the bus for Kansai Gaidai arrived and 9 other students and I embarked upon the next leg of our journey. It took us another hour to get to Hirakata, Osaka. We were dropped off at Seminar house 4 and told to walk to Seminar house 2, fortunately they took our luggage over for us. I am not sure I could have done it. When we got there they gave us our orientation packets with just about everything that we would need to know for the next week. Then those of us who were in Seminar house 3 were led next door where we removed our shoes and put them in a box numbered according to our room. Then we were led to our suites then our rooms, where three futons were laid out. It was about 4:30 0r 5:00. I wasn't very hungry, but I had one of my onigiri left form lunch so I ate that. Then I walked to the grocery store to get some food for breakfast. When I came back more girls in my suite had arrived, and I ended up going to the store again with everybody, just for the fellowship. Eventually it got late enough to go to bed, for which I was extremely grateful. Our futons.

On Sunday there was nothing scheduled so I explored and got a rather pretty sunburn. Here are some pictures of Kansai Gaidai, and the surrounding area.

Kansai Gaidai seems a bit monolithic to me, but I suppose it will be really normal soon.

This is Isabelle

I love how everybody grows stuff in pots here, but I think that it is probably a lot of work watering every day.

They grow rice in random little plots all over the place in the city, it's great. I am looking forward to watching it ripen.