Oh, not relating to Japan, BUT, class schedules are out, HOORAY. And I was messing with them all weekend. I think my schedule will be thus:
3rd year Japanese, Hist: Japanese History and Culture (WITH ROB LAFLEUR, YAAAAAY), PoliSci: Democracy in East Asia, Math: Chaotic Systems, and my fifth class is... undecided. But I know I want/need to take 5 classes. The fifth will either be Math: Differential Equations, IDST: Artificial Intelligence, HIST: Medieval Manager (although I don't know if I can handle two Rob courses at once), or MATH: Abstract Algebra.
I want to take Ballroom Dancing too (since I would like to learn as I have NO knowledge whatsover of it, and I'd really like to learn), and likely with Galen, but he's already taken it (haha), so we're gonna see how that works out.
I also am going to be treasurer of AST next semester! :D Yaaay. I'm actually excited about that, believe it or not! AND AND, I *might* be able to move back into the house, when I had given up that it would even be possible since so many others who are abroad are my senior in that regard. So that would be WONDERFUL. It wouldn't be a single, obviously, but I don't know if that's possible for me to get one since it's halfway through the year. I guess we'll just wait until my senior year to get that single. That's okay. Because I'd be rooming with Anna! :D NEATO. GO ANNA.
Okie. Now that's all.
EDIT: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Long time, yeah
Whoah, okay, so I realize I have not updated (and not just because you told me so on my wall, Sam! :D), but I am now... so... there?
But! Lots of things have happened, and I've gotten occupied, and blahity blaaah, yes, I'm making excuses.
God, okay. Let's see what I've done....
Kaiyukan Aquarium - a pretty traditional aquarium. But they had two whale sharks! :D They were neat. My pictures explain fairly well what was there.
Kurama no Hi Matsuri
explored Umeda (a section of downtown Osaka)
planning a trip to Hiroshima
planning a possible trip to Ise (two hours north of Kyoto, so about three hours away. DX)
The Kurama no Hi Matsuri was a Fire Festival (that's what Hi Matsuri means) on October 22... a Wednesday. But it's been on Oct 22 for years and years now, so that's not about to change.
It's one of the oldest festivals that has been untouched by commercialism (a bit sad, that). It's also freaking old. The actual town of Kurama is not very big, yet 1,000s of people go to this festival every year. So Cassidy and I decided we would be two of them. Kurama is just north of Kyoto, on one of two mountains to the north, the other being Mt. Hiei. (Which I believe I will be going to as well, but for a class trip.)
So, the traditional garb that, I would say, probably all the young men were wearing was interesting. (I'll see if I can add pics later, but they're in facebook already, so...) And they were carrying GIANT torches. Why? I'm not entirely sure. It's a fire festival! Why not. There were also smaller and larger (YES LARGER) ones as well, but this size was the most common.
All through the night the sound of "sai rei, sai ryou" was what you heard-- I don't know what it translates to, and it's very possible that the meaning has been lost. But don't trust me on that (because I really have no idea).
They carried the torches up and down the one(!) road in the town, which spanned between the upper and lower shrines. To give you an idea, the ENTIRE festival was from 6pm to probably 3-4am, but we weren't able to stay to the end. We stayed from 4:30pm - 11:30pm.
The torches were one aspect, there were also priests and whatnot as well, walking along too. Also, about 25 vans of policepeople were there, keeping the lines and guests/visitors in check. But they stayed only until about 8pm, and then they were suddenly gone.
Around 8, more musical things began happening, drums, gongs, and whatnot. I also forgot to mention that it was raining pretty constantly throughout the whole ceremony. But all the fire EVERYWHERE made it not so cold.
At 9, Cassidy and I decided to go further up to the upper shrine, and ended up at the onsen. We decided we wanted to go in it. So we did; for about an hour or so.
Onsen are hot spring baths. And you're almost always naked. (So yes, I was naked. (But separated by sex.) Galen asked me, "I though that was a bit out of your comfort zone?" And yes, it is. But I really wanted to go. So I did. And it was definitely worth it. Cassidy and I ended up being alone-- there were some other women there to begin with, but they left before we got in. It was probably the most relaxing thing I've done since I've been here.
After that, we wandered some more, and there were now these LARGE... mini-shrines?
I don't know what exactly they were, but they were shiny. And gold. And pretty. And loud (there was a taiko drum and a bell attached to the back). So we followed them up and down the mountain a couple of times.
On the way back up, they stopped momentarily, and we were treated to some free sake (rice wine) that they had opened from these HUGE JUGS. Then back on down the mountain.
It was maybe 10:45 by this point, and we were at the lower shrine now. They started preparing these really large catapult-looking torches, and the shiny gold things came back to the center. A lot of people had left by now, as trains in Japan don't run past about 12:30. Last trains are around 12:15 or so. So we knew we didn't want to stay all night, since it was 1: a Wednesday night, and 2: midterm week VERY UNFORTUNATELY. So we knew it was time to go soon.
We never got to see what they were doing with the catapult things, but I expect that was where the GIANT bonfire was supposed to be (as we'd been told by our Shinto professor).
And we were never really bored at any point- we were there for 7 hours, yet it certainly didn't feel like it. It was just too much fun.
So that was Kurama no Hi Matsuri!
Other things...
Oh, at some point (before Kurama, alas) my camera broke. AAGHH. But! It is not completely lost, since it was just the LCD screen. I can't pinpoint exactly HOW I broke it, but I think it was when I was trying to stuff too many things (like a box that contains a present for my mom or grandma and my semi-full bag) into my bike basket. Hey, that's something else I've forgotten. ALL BIKES in Japan have baskets. Don't laugh and say that's something for old people-- they're freaking useful. That way I don't have to carry my bag to school EVERY DAY on the 15-20 minute bike-ride to and from school. So, HA.
I am also realizing the backwards things about Japan- even though they may be the place for the some of the coolest technological advances, they don't seem to HAVE some of them. Like wireless. I have not found one place that has wireless. None. And they have lots of Starbucks. That one detail did not seem to come over from America. In fact, the general lack of EASY internet access in general. The public library nearby DOESN'T HAVE IT. I mean really. (I will probably never stop complaining about my lack of internet. My homestay does not have it. I can only be online at school... :/ )
And insulation. Or central heating. It isn't too cold yet, but man, knowing that there's no heating in my house is not a comfort. At the very least, the coldest it will get here (at least here in Osaka) is just above freezing. So it will likely not snow (which is sad, but okay if I wouldn't have the heat to escape into).
Sexism. Unfortunately, yes. Still prevalent here. The best example I've found so far is when my host family's son came over, and his wife introduced herself... as the wife. It wasn't until a bit later that she told me her ACTUAL NAME. ...yikes.
The other time was when we went to a club (an aside: the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, not 21) and we met up with some Japanese friends of Lauren's. One of the girls was getting... aggressively hit on by another Japanese guy. She VERY CLEARLY did not want this, and was saying "No! No! Stop!" I, seeing that it could get bad, smacked the guy's hands away telling him she didn't want him, and that he should go away. He PERSISTED, and even pulled her *physically* away from me. It was a slight game of tug of war, but I pulled her away (she was also clinging to me), and she was now saying "iya! iya! mai garu-furendo!" [no! no! my girlfriend in broken english for some reason] and after smacking him away some more, he went away.
The fact that this girl, even though she was inebriated, didn't even RESIST except in her voice (and even THEN, the guy wasn't listening) really made me angry. No *clearly* means "NO". But, I made it my duty to keep an eye on her for the rest of that night. (And the guy did try again later, and about the same dance happened again).
So those things are a bit depressing. And my lack of cheese and pasta and Mexican food. But. There are still definitely cool things here.
There! How's that for a good entry? :D
But! Lots of things have happened, and I've gotten occupied, and blahity blaaah, yes, I'm making excuses.
God, okay. Let's see what I've done....
Kaiyukan Aquarium - a pretty traditional aquarium. But they had two whale sharks! :D They were neat. My pictures explain fairly well what was there.
Kurama no Hi Matsuri
explored Umeda (a section of downtown Osaka)
planning a trip to Hiroshima
planning a possible trip to Ise (two hours north of Kyoto, so about three hours away. DX)
The Kurama no Hi Matsuri was a Fire Festival (that's what Hi Matsuri means) on October 22... a Wednesday. But it's been on Oct 22 for years and years now, so that's not about to change.
It's one of the oldest festivals that has been untouched by commercialism (a bit sad, that). It's also freaking old. The actual town of Kurama is not very big, yet 1,000s of people go to this festival every year. So Cassidy and I decided we would be two of them. Kurama is just north of Kyoto, on one of two mountains to the north, the other being Mt. Hiei. (Which I believe I will be going to as well, but for a class trip.)
So, the traditional garb that, I would say, probably all the young men were wearing was interesting. (I'll see if I can add pics later, but they're in facebook already, so...) And they were carrying GIANT torches. Why? I'm not entirely sure. It's a fire festival! Why not. There were also smaller and larger (YES LARGER) ones as well, but this size was the most common.
All through the night the sound of "sai rei, sai ryou" was what you heard-- I don't know what it translates to, and it's very possible that the meaning has been lost. But don't trust me on that (because I really have no idea).
They carried the torches up and down the one(!) road in the town, which spanned between the upper and lower shrines. To give you an idea, the ENTIRE festival was from 6pm to probably 3-4am, but we weren't able to stay to the end. We stayed from 4:30pm - 11:30pm.
The torches were one aspect, there were also priests and whatnot as well, walking along too. Also, about 25 vans of policepeople were there, keeping the lines and guests/visitors in check. But they stayed only until about 8pm, and then they were suddenly gone.
Around 8, more musical things began happening, drums, gongs, and whatnot. I also forgot to mention that it was raining pretty constantly throughout the whole ceremony. But all the fire EVERYWHERE made it not so cold.
At 9, Cassidy and I decided to go further up to the upper shrine, and ended up at the onsen. We decided we wanted to go in it. So we did; for about an hour or so.
Onsen are hot spring baths. And you're almost always naked. (So yes, I was naked. (But separated by sex.) Galen asked me, "I though that was a bit out of your comfort zone?" And yes, it is. But I really wanted to go. So I did. And it was definitely worth it. Cassidy and I ended up being alone-- there were some other women there to begin with, but they left before we got in. It was probably the most relaxing thing I've done since I've been here.
After that, we wandered some more, and there were now these LARGE... mini-shrines?
I don't know what exactly they were, but they were shiny. And gold. And pretty. And loud (there was a taiko drum and a bell attached to the back). So we followed them up and down the mountain a couple of times.
On the way back up, they stopped momentarily, and we were treated to some free sake (rice wine) that they had opened from these HUGE JUGS. Then back on down the mountain.
It was maybe 10:45 by this point, and we were at the lower shrine now. They started preparing these really large catapult-looking torches, and the shiny gold things came back to the center. A lot of people had left by now, as trains in Japan don't run past about 12:30. Last trains are around 12:15 or so. So we knew we didn't want to stay all night, since it was 1: a Wednesday night, and 2: midterm week VERY UNFORTUNATELY. So we knew it was time to go soon.
We never got to see what they were doing with the catapult things, but I expect that was where the GIANT bonfire was supposed to be (as we'd been told by our Shinto professor).
And we were never really bored at any point- we were there for 7 hours, yet it certainly didn't feel like it. It was just too much fun.
So that was Kurama no Hi Matsuri!
Other things...
Oh, at some point (before Kurama, alas) my camera broke. AAGHH. But! It is not completely lost, since it was just the LCD screen. I can't pinpoint exactly HOW I broke it, but I think it was when I was trying to stuff too many things (like a box that contains a present for my mom or grandma and my semi-full bag) into my bike basket. Hey, that's something else I've forgotten. ALL BIKES in Japan have baskets. Don't laugh and say that's something for old people-- they're freaking useful. That way I don't have to carry my bag to school EVERY DAY on the 15-20 minute bike-ride to and from school. So, HA.
I am also realizing the backwards things about Japan- even though they may be the place for the some of the coolest technological advances, they don't seem to HAVE some of them. Like wireless. I have not found one place that has wireless. None. And they have lots of Starbucks. That one detail did not seem to come over from America. In fact, the general lack of EASY internet access in general. The public library nearby DOESN'T HAVE IT. I mean really. (I will probably never stop complaining about my lack of internet. My homestay does not have it. I can only be online at school... :/ )
And insulation. Or central heating. It isn't too cold yet, but man, knowing that there's no heating in my house is not a comfort. At the very least, the coldest it will get here (at least here in Osaka) is just above freezing. So it will likely not snow (which is sad, but okay if I wouldn't have the heat to escape into).
Sexism. Unfortunately, yes. Still prevalent here. The best example I've found so far is when my host family's son came over, and his wife introduced herself... as the wife. It wasn't until a bit later that she told me her ACTUAL NAME. ...yikes.
The other time was when we went to a club (an aside: the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, not 21) and we met up with some Japanese friends of Lauren's. One of the girls was getting... aggressively hit on by another Japanese guy. She VERY CLEARLY did not want this, and was saying "No! No! Stop!" I, seeing that it could get bad, smacked the guy's hands away telling him she didn't want him, and that he should go away. He PERSISTED, and even pulled her *physically* away from me. It was a slight game of tug of war, but I pulled her away (she was also clinging to me), and she was now saying "iya! iya! mai garu-furendo!" [no! no! my girlfriend in broken english for some reason] and after smacking him away some more, he went away.
The fact that this girl, even though she was inebriated, didn't even RESIST except in her voice (and even THEN, the guy wasn't listening) really made me angry. No *clearly* means "NO". But, I made it my duty to keep an eye on her for the rest of that night. (And the guy did try again later, and about the same dance happened again).
So those things are a bit depressing. And my lack of cheese and pasta and Mexican food. But. There are still definitely cool things here.
There! How's that for a good entry? :D
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