Ryokan day 15?

I don't know, I have lost track of days. Well, a ryokan is a traditional japanese inn. It is always located at a hot spring which you can soak in, like a bath. These are called onsen. These are pretty fancy and quite expensive so I feel very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to stay in one. I wouldn't have if I was just a tourist. The rooms are big, like a suite, but you share them with other people. There were 2 other women that I shared with. The room looked like a large living room with tatami mats and a low table. At night you roll out your futon. But when we first got there, a lady from the hotel came in wearing a kimono and made our tea for us. There were sweets waiting for us too. After tea, we got on our yukata. These are like casual kimono which is what you wear in a ryokan. We got to walk around the hotel in a robe and slippers they whole time! I felt like royalty. We went to the onsen baths to relax and then got ready for dinner. For dinner, we had a whole room for ourselves (there were 18 of us, plus our guide Kato-san) We ate a HUGE feast with more courses than I could count. We ate the most expensive foods you could get. And almost all of it had.... FUGU FISH! We had fugu soup, fugu tea, fugu sake, fugu sashimi, fugu sushi, fried fugu.... you get the idea. Remember, fugu can be deadly so we were all a little nervous but it tasted so good that we soon forgot about our worries and trusted the japanese cooks. We were given a karaoke machine for the room and before long we were singing our hearts out and dancing in our yukata (robes). I even did a fugu impersonation! Staying in the ryokan was one of the most memorable parts of this trip.

Home Stay

I am going to combine the next 2 days into one entry. It was such a wonderful experience that I am not sure I can really describe it but I will try. On Saturday and Sunday, I stayed with my host family, the Kuramae family. Although they spoke very little English and I spoke even less Japanese, we were able to become good friends! We started off our day by going to a local shrine where their son had recently celebrated an important event. In every child's 3rd, 5th and 7th year of life, they have a big ceremony with fancy kimono. This particular shrine is a national treasure and was established in the 1300's! Wow that is old! I learned how to make a wish at a a shrine which was neat. Then we went food shopping which is fun to do in a foreign country. It was neat to see all of the different foods. We got everything that we would need for our evening meal and also for breakfast the next day. Then we went to lunch at their favorite noodle restaurant. It was sooooo delicious. After lunch I got a real treat! We took a ferry across to Kyushu island and went to a castle! Keisuke, the father of my host family, explained that this is a "mountain-style" castle. It was built for protection and was much taller and sturdier than the castle I saw in Kyoto. The one in Kyoto was only one story and this was atleast 4 stories high. Anyway, there were lots of things to see in the castle and actually some of it was in English! After the castle, we headed home and took the bridge back across to Honshu island where Shimonoseki is located. When we got home, Akiyo made dinner for us and the kids went to bed (I think they were worn out from all of the excitement). Dinner was HUGE and I was full before the main course came out. I got to do "make your own sushi" which is kind of like "make your own tacos". It was really good and I ate my first blowfish sashimi without even realizing it. Sashimi is uncooked fish. Blowfish is a kind of fish that is also called Pufferfish or Fugu. 80% of all of the Fugu in the world is caught off the coast of Shimonoseki. That is why it is known as Fuguworld. Unfortunately, if not prepared correctly, Blowfish (fugu) is poisonous and very deadly. I was glad to have eaten it without knowing it or I might have been scared. After dinner, some relatives came over to meet me and to teach me how to tie an obi for my kimono. An obi is the sash that goes around your middle like a belt on a kimono. They dressed me up in a kimono and taught me everything about wearing one and then we took some pictures. It was REALLY fun. Then they GAVE me the obi that I tried on, to bring home and wear with my own kimono. I couldn't believe how sweet and generous they were. Obi are very expensive and I was touched that they took all of this time to help me.

After all of the excitment, and after grandma and aunt left, I had a bath. In Japan, you take a bath everyday, but you shower FIRST. Everyone shares the same bathwater (which is heated by a special heater in the tub) so you have to clean very well first. By that time it was very late so I headed to bed. The guestroom is a part of the living area that has sliding doors that close it off on all sides. The floor is made of tatami mats. Just like how we learned, there was a small low table and an alcove where there were flowers and a wall hanging. They rolled out a futon mattress which was surprisingly very comfortable. Maybe I will get a futon and get rid of my bed. :) The next day, we spent the morning chatting, eating and playing. The son who is 2 years old is very into trains so we played with his toy shinkansen (bullet trains). We also sang Beatles songs together and I showed them this website on the computer. It was a wonderful, relaxing morning. They made me a beautiful breakfast with wonderful breads, fruits yogurt etc. And then we went to the aquarium where we saw a dolphin show, penguins, and lots and lots of blowfish of every size, shape, and color. It was great. We had Italian food for lunch in a restaurant that was surrounded by the dolphin tank! Cool!

Finally, it was time to go. I had so much fun with my new family that we all cried when it was time to say goodbye. I told them that they should come and stay with me in Houston and they agreed that would be fun. Keisuke, (dad) said that he wanted to go to an Astros game. We all vowed to keep in touch and email each other. I want to learn Japanese and they want to learn English so we will teach each other. I already miss them, and I haven't even left Japan...

Day 12

Today we visited the high school. It is a commercial high school so it is focused on preparing students to work in the business world rather than to go to college. We saw students running mock companies and practicing their business skills hands on. We also saw a course that was taught over the computer by a teacher at another school. That was interesting, but I didn't understand anything they said, since it was all in Japanese. The students, even in the English class, don't speak much English at all. We also went down to the water and did some shopping at the "fisherman's warf" near the aquarium. I am tired today. Tomorrow I will be going to stay with my host family so I have to pack up and get ready for that. I am a little nervous but also very excited!

Day 11

Ok so today we had our sightseeing day because it happened to be Thanksgiving Day here too. That is just a coincidence actually because their Labor Thanksgiving Day is always November 23rd and our Thanksgiving Day changes every year. Anyway, it was a national holiday so the schools were closed. So this morning we went to visit a fish paste factory. Sounds kind of gross, I know but it was very interesting. The fish they use is actually caught in Alaska! After that, we went to a Sake brewing company. Sake is a Japanese rice wine. We learned all about how the wine is made and the master brewer even sang us a song that the old brewers used to sing. Then we tasted some of the wine, which was too strong for my liking. For lunch, our hotel hosted a big "American Lunch" with steak and veggies and awesome desserts. After lunch we visited a beautiful Shinto shrine which is where people who are Shinto go to pray (like Church). We also went to see a beautiful garden and the former residence of an emperor during the meiji period (1860's, I believe is when he stayed there). We finished up our day with a big fancy Japanese dinner to commemorate Thanksgiving. We rented out our own room and sat on cushions on Tatami mat floors. I could really get used to this no shoes thing. I am going to have a hard time wearing shoes when I get home!

Day 10 Elementary school visit

OK today I went to see an elementary school. The kids were soooo cute. They treated us like rock stars! They all wanted our autographs and giggled when we tried to talk to them. They don’t speak much English but they obviously have learned and practiced how to say “hello my name is…” and “pleased to meet you”. My Japanese is getting much better now but I still don’t know very much. Our group translator says that my accent is very good and she is surprised because many Americans have trouble with Japanese sounds. That made me feel good. So, the school. In the morning, people from the town come out to make sure the kids get to school safely. Then the principal does crossing guard duty and greets every single child who comes to school. Each of the kids bows and says “Ohayo Gozaimasu” which means good morning. We observed a few classes and then they put us in a class (mine was 3rd grade) where we were taught calligraphy. It is much harder than it looks, but the kids were good teachers. After that we ate lunch in the classrooms with the students. They do not go to a cafeteria and no one brings their own food. Everyone helps get ready again. The students (even the littlest ones!) help to clean up and serve the food. I was so impressed. Our lunch was really good and relaxing. They played pop music over the loud speaker and the kids danced in their seats while they ate. We had a lot of fun. They planned to play a game with me outside but we ran out of time. They have a very long recess—I think it was close to an hour. They work very hard but they get lots of play time as well. We were treated to a concert by the 4th graders after lunch. Their band is better than many high school bands that I have heard. WOW! After lunch we checked out a few more classes and then had a meeting with some PTA members. Of course, we watched the students do the end of day clean up as well! Even the really little students were helping to mop the floors and sweep etc. The little kids didn’t do a very good job but they were still feeling useful and practicing. They will be better at it in a few years J By the way, when you go to the bathroom, you have to use different slippers. They keep them in the bathroom for you to use.
I was happy to be at the elementary school because it felt a lot like being home. The kids were very similar to kids in the United States. They like music and video games and computers and books and playing soccer and baseball. They acted silly and sometimes got in trouble. Kids are kids, no matter where you are.

Day 9-Yumegaoka Junior High

I am losing track of what day it is. On Tuesday, November 21 we went to Yumegaoka Junior High School. What a beautiful school! It is HUGE and they only have 296 students that attend there. There is so much open space. It was just built last year and the idea was that students and teachers would be more relaxed and happy in a school that is bright and open. It sure works. We talked with the principal a little and then they took us to a home ec class where we helped prepare fish for sashimi and a fried fish snack. It was much harder to cut the fish than it looked. We ate our snack in the cafeteria (which really isn’t like our cafeteria—it is much smaller and they share it—each week a different grade level eats in that room and the others eat in homeroom.) Their cafeteria was big, and open with small round tables with a vase of flowers on each one. It was more like eating in a restaurant than a cafeteria. After that, we observed some classes including an English class, a Judo class, and some science lessons. Then we went back downstairs to get ready for lunch. The students are in charge of almost everything in this school. They get the food ready and serve it (they don’t cook it though). They clean up the classrooms and get them ready for eating. Everyone has a job to do and no one complains. They are very responsible and also very happy being a part of the community. Anyway, we had a delicious lunch with the students. I showed them some pictures of my classes at Park Lakes which they like a lot. After lunch, the students cleaned up and we had a tea ceremony. When you are presented with tea, there is a series of things that you are supposed to do. You sit on your knees and bow to the ground to the person presenting you with tea. Then you pick up the bowl, turn it three times clockwise, and admire the bowl. Then you put it down, look at all sides of it and finally say in Japanese “I am about to drink this tea.” Then you hold the bottom with your left hand and the side with your right hand and take 3 ½ sips to finish the tea. Then you turn it 3 times counterclockwise, admire, place it down, look at both sides and say “I drank the tea”. And that isn’t even the formal ceremony!!! You also have a little sweet with your tea. After tea, the students had an assembly for us, and the orchestra played the American National Anthem as we walked in!! Then they played a bingo/interview game with us and gave some speeches. It was very sweet. After that we watched them clean up the school and get ready to go. I really liked how everyone had a job to do. Even the principal and teachers were cleaning. And I mean, CLEANING. Kids and adults were cleaning windows, mopping floors on their hands and knees, scrubbing toilets etc. It was so great to see everyone working together. I even got into the action and help clean the floor! By the way, I think I forgot to mention that you can not wear shoes in the school so you put slippers on when you come in the door and your shoes go in a cubby. This helps keep the floors clean and also is comfortable. At the end of the day we went to see some clubs, like art club where we made origami and sumo club where we watched some sumo wrestlers practice. What a long and exhausting day, but it was worth it! I loved seeing the school.

Day 8

It has been a few days since I have been able to write. The hotel that I am staying in in Shimonoseki does not have Internet in all of the rooms and unlucky me didn’t get one of the rooms that does have it. SO…..anyway, the first day that we were in Shimonoseki, we visited the University of Yamaguchi and met with the professors there. I was able to sit in on a couple of lectures. Then we had lunch at a very nice restaurant and headed to see the mayor (actually it was the deputy mayor because the mayor was away on business) and the superintendent of Shimonoseki schools, and also the board of education. I had to give a speech thanking them. I was nervous because I was saying part of it in Japanese! It was fine though, and everyone said I did a good job. After that, we checked into our hotel (my room is REALLY small)! We had a little time to change and relax and then we set off to a welcome reception that was held for us. At the welcome reception, they prepared lots of food for us, a taiko drum band which was AWESOME and we got to meet the families that we will stay with. My family is very very nice. They don't speak much English and I don't speak much Japanese so we may end up doing a lot of sign language! I will go stay with them on Saturday and Sunday. We all like baseball, so at least I know they will they will like the Houston Astros shirt I bought. They have two very cute little kids. They were shy with me but I think they will warm up. That was pretty much the end of the evening. We headed home and went to bed early. I am tired all the time here. Not sure if it is because of the busy schedule or jet lag still.

Day 7- It has been a week

Today's post will be much shorter. I am in Yamaguchi City which is the capital of Yamaguchi prefecture. We flew here and will drive to Shimonoseki in the morning. Today we saw a 5-story pagoda and a shrine in Yamaguchi. I got some really great photos. Then we came to our hotel, went to bath in a hot spring and then got ready for dinner at a sushi restaurant. The sushi place has a little conveyor belt that goes around all of the tables and you pick the things you want up off of it. It is like a moving buffet that comes to you. Then you can order things on a computer that they send to you on a little mini bullet train. It was so cool. I had salmon, eel, shrimp, crab and a dessert. It was delicious. Tomorrow, we will visit a university and meet the mayor. I have to give a speech :( and then we go to Shimonoseki to check in to our hotel there. I will be at that hotel for 5 nights and then I will stay with my host family.

Day 6-- The best day ever!

Well, I know many of you won't see this post until after you get back from Thanksgiving break, but it will long anyway, because I had a great day. Today was our "free day" where we didn't have any structured activities. 2 ladies I met wanted to go to Kyoto and I tagged along with them, because I was going to go on my own. I had bought a train ticket when I was in Texas. Anyway, one of the other teachers had a friend who lived there-- an older man and his wife, who were going to meet us and show us around. We took a subway to a trainstation and then took a train for about 2 1/2 hours to Kyoto. The first thing that we did after we met the older couple was take a taxi (pronounced tackashi). The Taxi's are sooooo clean and they have lace seat covers. Also, taxi doors open automatically so you aren't supposed to use the handle at all. We took the taxi over to a the Nijo Castle. IF you remember, right before I left, we watched a video about this castle. It was the castle that was built for one of the Shogun and the floors squeak to prevent assassins from sneaking into the building. The floors are called "nightingale floors" ( I will explain how they work when I get back) but when you walk through the building, it sounds like hundreds of bird chirping. It was AMAZING! I wish I could have recorded it for you. After we walked around the castle (which does not look anything like what you would think a castle looks-- remember what their houses look like, with the tatami mats and cushions for sitting on and alter alcoves etc.-- it looked like a huge version of that with the walls painted by a famous Japanese painter Kano Tan'yu.)-- anyway, afterwards, we walked around the beautiful gardens and had a tea ceremony in a garden tea house. It was so peaceful. Then we did a little shopping at a market there ( I bought a necklace) and then left for lunch. Ooto-san and Shisu-san ( the couple who was guiding us) brought us to a special Japanese restaurant that makes a kind of pizza/pancake dish in front of you. You sit at a bar which is a big long skillet and they put ingredients in that you want. It was delicious and fun. Then we took a short walk through Gion which is called the Geisha district. Geisha are women who are Japanese entertainers. They are kind of like hosts that have tea with you and play instruments and sing and dance and talk to you. They are very very famous. Although this isn't as popular anymore, there are still many Geisha in this area. They wear white make-up and silk kimono. Then we took another "tackashi"up to a shrine called Keyomizu which is famous for it's water. The water comes out of the mountain in fountains that are said to bring you good luck, health and love if you drink from them (which I did, of course) In Japan, there are 2 major religions that are practiced-- Shintoism and Buddhism. Most people are both of these religions because Shintoism is concerned with life andBuddhism is concerned with life after death. Anyway, there was a Buddhist temple and a Shinto shrine together at this site ( which is common). It was very very crowded today. We saw some Geisha-in-training while we were there. :) Then we did LOTS of great shopping. I bought my first kimono. It is cotton, because the silk kimono are usually $500- $1000 and up! Finally we went back to the train station, ate sushi and then took the train home to Tokyo, very tired. OK enough for today. I have to get up and pack tomorrow because I am going to fly to Shimonoseki, my city for most of the rest of the trip. I may not have Internet the whole time I am there but I will update as much as possible! Miss you all!

Day 5

Today we had some more meetings to learn about schools here and also about women's rights in Japan. Also, I was given some Japanese texts books that I will show you when I get back. I didn't get to go to the 100 yen store as I planned because it took a long time to get my train ticket to Kyoto for tomorrow morning but I will go in a few days. Tomorrow, I will be getting up at 4:30 in the morning to go to Kyoto. I would really like it if you looked up Kyoto to find out some information about it. You can look in some of the books about Japan that are in the classroom or you can have a teacher or parent help you look up information online. It is a very interesting city. I will post some pictures when I get back tomorrow night. It will be a 2 1/2 hour train ride. Tonight, I had dinner at McDonalds! Can you believe it? I was just so hungry! I felt funny coming all the way to Japan to eat McDonalds... Guess what they have? They have an eel burger. It is a sandwich made out of fried eel! (another thing to look up?!) I didn't feel adventurous so I got a square chicken sandwich instead. :) Today I started to feel REALLY homesick. It is so different here and even though I think it is REALLY cool, I felt a little lonely. It is strange to be somewhere where I can't read anything or talk to many people. I can't really ask people questions because I don't speak Japanese and they don't speak much English. The few things I have learned are as follows:When you want a waiter's attention or when you bump in to someone you say "Sumimasen" which basically means excuse me. In the morning you say "Ohayo Gozaymas", in the afternoon you say Konichiwa and at night you say "Gon ba wa" although I don't know how you spell that. When you want something you say "kudasai" which means please, and people say "Hai" (yes) a LOT! It means, ok, or I hear what you saying. They also bow A LOT. So if I come back bowing all the time, you will know why :) And when you want to say Thanks you say Domo or Domo arigato. When you want to say Thank you, you say "Arigato Gozaymas" and when you want to say Thank you very much, you say "Domo Arigato Gozaymas". Again, I don't know if that is spelled right. OK more Japanese lessons another day. This is getting long. Be good and make me proud!

Day 4

Today I learned all about the Japanese schools and government. We met some important government officials and were told all about how the "Diet" (which is like our Congress) works. Then we learned about their economics (all about Japanese business and money) and finally we had a big fancy dinner. This is the 10 year anniversary of the JFMF program, and they had arranged a big reception to honor the Japanese government for hosting us. At lunch time, I went across the street to a government building that has an observation deck on the 45th floor. You could see very very far from up there. I can't believe how big Tokyo is. It is way bigger than even New York City. It stretches as far as the eye can see and further. There are so many huge buildings! Tonight I am going to go sing Karaoke and tomorrow, I am going to the 100 Yen store! Hope you have a good Thursday! Be good!

Day 3

So, Day 3 of my trip already (although actually day 4 for me, because I skipped right over one of them:) Yesterday was Wednesday and I started off my day with a huge breakfast that they had set up for us. I tried some strange Japanese things that I couldn't identify, but also had some regular American food like eggs and cereal. We then went to an orientation and then headed out for a quick tour of Tokyo. And I mean quick! It was lightening speed! We went to lunch at a traditional "tempura" restaurant. This means they took fish and vegetables and dipped them in a batter and fried them. It is very delicious. I liked the shrimp! There were no chairs so we had to sit on the floor on cushions just like the Japanese! After that we quickly saw a temple and walked past some shopping that I want to go back to and then headed out to see the Diet building. The Diet is like a Japanese Congress. They have a House of Representatives and a House of Consulates. The building was beautiful. It started to rain when we came out and we headed back to the hotel to see a live performance of kabuki and kyogen theater. It was very cool but by that time I was really really tired. After the theater, I went out to dinner with some friends I have made here. I got a noodle bowl, which wasn't my favorite but I am glad I tried it anyway. There are so many interesting foods to try! OK, hope you are all being good and hopefully I will talk to you tomorrow!

Day 2

OK, so I am finally in Japan and it is amazing but boy what a trip to get here. No problem getting on the flight and the first 7 hours were fine, and then.... I got sick! Yes, that is right. Your teacher threw up on a plane over the Pacific Ocean! I spent the next 4 hours flat on my back in the plane kitchen with an oxygen mask over my face. They even took me off of the plane in a wheelchair! How embarrasing! Don't worry though-- I am alright now. I was even healthy enough to go out to dinner in Tokyo with a group of other teachers and a Japanese college student. I ate some fried shrimp dish that was delicious and then we all took a bit of a walk around this area of Tokyo which is called Shinjuku. Time for bed! It is night here when it is day for you! We are already finished with Tuesday! Look forward to talking to y'all in a few days!

Day 1 San Francisco

Day 1

Although I was so excited that I could barely sleep last night, I finally did manage to catch some z’s and rest up for the big adventure that lay ahead of me. I woke up at 5 am (!) and headed to the airport with all of my luggage, hoping I hadn’t forgotten anything important. As it turns out, I DID forget an alarm clock—whoops! I will try to buy one at the airport tomorrow.The flight was fine. A man from my salsa dance class was on my flight, and I got to watch a movie (The Ballad of Ricky Bobby) on the plane so I had enough entertainment to keep me occupied. And now here I am in San Francisco, California! The hotel is very nice and lunch was delicious. I am resting up now before I go to our afternoon meetings and have dinner at the Japanese Consulate’s house tonight. Then tomorrow morning, I am off to Tokyo. The funny thing is, I leave tomorrow morning but I don’t get to Japan until Tuesday night because of the time change!! It is like I will skip over Monday night altogether. I can’t wait to get out of the United States and on my way to Japan....

Day 1 Part II-- Tonight we went to the Japanese Consulat General's MANSION in San Francisco! It was beautiful and I ate lots of sushi! This is a picture of me with the Consulate General. I hope I can sleep tonight-- I am so excited! Miss you all already!