Swine Flu in Japan

Influenza is becoming a problem here. Right now, five of my classmates have caught it, so the remaining twenty or so of us were sent home before lunch today, and aren't allowed to come to school until Monday. It's not a vacation; I'm not allowed to leave the house until Sunday, and only then because I'm taking the JLPT, which I've spent the entire semester studying for. It's frustrating and scary; I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all the time besides studying until my brain bleeds of it.

On the bright side, I'll finally have time to write more posts.

Ganbatte!

Man, do the Japanese love that word. I had no idea what it meant when I got here, but I caught on quickly. You hear it everywhere.

In the halls of school: "Oh, Iiba-chan! Kurabu de iku no? Ganbatte ne!" (Oh, Eva! Are you going to your club? Do your best!)

At the Taiikusai (PE festival, and a post for another time): "Ganbare! Ganbare! Ganbareeee!" (Go! Go! Goooo!)

After getting midterms back: "Hai, 56 ten. Ganbarimashita, ne?" (This is a really sucky score, but we didn't expect any better on account of you not speaking Japanese)

Inexplicably translated into English and shouted at random:"FIGHTO!"

Jaa, mata ne! Until next time!

Eva Wallace and the Blustery Day

It was incredibly rainy today. Outside it was freezing, but the train was so warm and stuffy that I fell asleep on the ride home.

There's a very, very good chance I'll have no school tomorrow. A typhoon is coming, and if a Strong Winds Warning is called before 7:00 tomorrow, there won't be any classes. I hope it doesn't get called... Or else I've got a long day of sitting at home with my textbooks, in all likelihood.

Photo Ops

Say What?

"Guudo moruningu. Mai neemu izu Iba. Naisu tuu meetchu."

Then I realized that I was speaking English with a Japanese accent. How did that happen?

Oh, What's in a Day? Part One

Since it so often drives me from my computer, and squelches my efforts to communicate to my family and friends that are so far away, perhaps we shall take a look at my schedule, hmm? Let's go!

6:25

Before I got used to the time difference, I would wake to the sounds of early morning Osaka at about 5:00 and not be able to fall back asleep. Now I use the alarm setting on my ipod. It always startles me, and I panic trying to turn it off, convinced it's waking the entire neighborhood, even though Mama-san tells me she's never heard it once.

I put on my seifuku, my school uniform. First is my shirt. I have both long and short sleeves, pink and white. I like wearing the long-sleeved white one best. I roll the sleeves up to my elbows, as it hasn't gotten to cold yet (in fact, it's still a California summer-worthy heat here).

Next is the skirt. I tuck my shirt into my skirt, so that the bottom won't poke out blow my vest. The skirt is worn at the natural waist, and comes down to about knee length. A lot of girls roll theirs up, so that they're shorter, but I'm fine with how mine is. Rolling is strictly against the rules, anyway.

Once my shirt and skirt are properly arranged, I put on my vest. Now that the fall uniform season is upon us, it's required, but I wore it earlier anyway. I like how it looks.

I grab my socks and soccer shorts, then sit down on the bed to pull them on. The socks are knee length, and sometimes itchy by the end of the day. There are school monograms on the sides; I make sure they're on straight. The shorts aren't part of the uniform, but you can't see them under the skirt, so they're not a dress code violation either. Some times it's windy, or you'll be walking up a really tall flight of stairs, or your bag will catch on your skirt. Hence the shorts.

Being now dressed, I turn to my hair. I always put it in low pigtails, that being the least time consuming style that looks good that I have thus far discovered.

I'll check my class schedule, and make sure I have all the necessary textbooks and notebooks in my bag, if they aren't already at school. I also put in a pack of tissues (I have way too many. They give them out at the station, and I can never refuse them), a fresh washcloth (A must. Almost all restrooms in Japan have no way to dry hands, a hold over from the depression. Sometimes they don't have toilet paper. That's one place the tissues come in handy), my locker keys (I never actually lock them, but the locks might shut on accident, so I keep them around just in case), my wallet and my commuter pass (I keep one inside the other. Once I forgot my wallet and didn't realize until I was at the station. I had to run home and get it. I missed homeroom and most of first period as a result).

6:40

All being in order, I head downstairs to eat breakfast. A usual one consists of toast with jam, fruit, gelatin, milk and, of course, tea.

Riho, Papa-san and I all need to use the sink, so I wait until it's free so I can brush my teeth. I also wash my hands, having made sure to use the bathroom. My next chance to do so will be at school, and I won't be getting there for over an hour.

I pack the bento and thermos of tea that Mama-san prepared for me, making sure that the thermos is positioned so that it won't leak in my bag.

7:10

Mama-san and I head downstairs together (Yes, again. The house is tall and narrow). She gets the mail while I put on my shoes. They're the same ones that virtually every high school girl uniform in Japan seems to call for, so I take care that I'm putting on mine and not Riho's. They're very proper looking, and slightly uncomfortable.

I say "ittekimasu," to Mama-san, who replies "itterasshai". I Japan, this exchange is always made when someone leaves the house. Roughly translated, it means "I'll go and come back," and "Please go and come back."

Now, off into the wild Japanese yonder! To be continued....!

Japanese TV

My host family has the TV on quite a bit of the time, and half-to-full watch it. A lot of the other foreign students said that their host families watch more TV then they would have expected.

Japanese TV is really weird. I'd like to try to describe it, but.... It escapes words. Often, popular celebrities appear in them. Singers, actors, ect. Also, they use a lot of subtitles (the TV shows, not the celebrities). They're in different colors. They move around. The sparkle. They have little hearts or anger marks after them. It's really quite hilarious. I found a good sampling, linked below. This is seriously what it's like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKbsLcLfW4s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z89tYFe65Po&feature=related

Tea Time is Every Time!

It's not just a stereotype. Japanese drink LOTS of tea (cha, in Japanese, though most people say o-cha. It just sounds more polite). Every morning, Mama-san gives every member of the family a small cup of good-luck tea. During lunch and dinner, a cold, brown tea is always drank. Drunk. Whichever it is. Most girls bring bottles of tea around in lieu if water bottles. It's sold in every drink vending machine I've seen, which is quite a feat. Japan? Lotsa vending machines. One on practically every corner. But thats a post for another time. In the gym, the only drinks allowed are tea and water. The big cooler at dance club is filled with it. Even the word for "brown" is chairo, or "tea colored". It's so omnipresent, that I barely even notice what it tastes like anymore. I think, "Hmm. Tea taste," in much the one way one might think, "Hmm. Water taste."

Yeah. Lots of tea.

Jiro-Jiro Suru...

Is how you say "to stare" in Japanese. An American? In a school uniform? Attracts a LOT of these (stares, not Americans in uniforms). Its fine when its from a girl, and embarrassing from a guy my age, and when it stats getting to the salarymen and geezers, that's just a bit creepy. Some will flick their eyes away if they notice you've noticed them noticing you, kind of a whoops-nope-not-staring-not-at-all sort of flick thing, but some are very blatant.... Like, stare at you for the entire half-hour train ride blatant. Let`s just hope Opal Koboi is wrong, or I shall have a terrible complexion at the end of my stay.

I`d love to write more, but I hear my schedule calling... Farewell until next time!

First Day of School!

I will wright more about this later!

*Later*

Ok, the first day of school... was pretty easy. After the nerve-wracking, speech-giving part.

In the morning, I went to school with my host father, as his work is one stop before my school. To get there, I take the Hankyu line from Ishibashi station to Umeda station, and from there transfer to the JR loop line (which calls the Umeda station Osaka Central Station) and ride that train to Teradacho station. By the way, this is during rush hour. The second train is ok, but the first! Let me say, I have never seen so many people crammed into one space, let alone been a part of it.

At Teradacho, I met up with Ms. Masuda and the other three international students starting this semester. Melinda and Ruth are from America, and Clara is from Poland.

All the Japanese students had exams, so after the international students gave a speech at the opening ceremony (nerve-wracking!), we went to go get our uniforms. This consisted of standing around in various states of uniformedness while the teachers helping us tried to find Summer, Autumn and Winter uniforms, as well as warm and cold weather exercise clothes in each of our respective sizes. At one point, I was wearing exercise shorts, a blouse and a clip-on tie. Lovely, no?

After that, we had a long meeting with Mr. Hijiya and Mr. Alexy discussing host families, school, staying safe and answering any questions we had.

For some reason (I'm not sure exactly) full time classes haven't stated, so we go home at around noon. Going back home, I went most of the way with Nato, an exchange student from Thailand. Miu, Kaede and Hiyori, three other students, helped us buy our train cards. After getting a little lost at Umeda station with Nato, I made it home safe and sound!

San Francisco in Japan?

I said a post or two back that I got to go to Universal Studios Japan, right? Interesting thing: inexplicably, there was a part that was made to look just like San Francisco. I saw Fisherman's Wharf, the Ghirhadelli (sp.?) factory, Pier 41. It was all quite disorientating!

Also, earlier today, we visited Mama-san's father, who travelled quite a lot when he was younger. Apparently he had been to San Francisco, Monterey and Los Angeles. From what I could understand, he thought San Francisco was a very wonderful place indeed!

Konnichiwa!

Today I got to wear a yukata. I took a picture wearing it along with Riho, Fuka and Obaa-chan. Riho was wearing a yukata as well. Mine wasn't yukata exactly, I forget what it was exactly. School starts the day after tomorrow. Sorry if my writing isn't very up to scratch; I'm kind of tired and have been speaking Japanese all day.

See you next post! (hopefully that's soon...)

Japan!

As I write, I am right now sitting in Japan! How awesome is that? I still can't quite get over it.

I had a few minor panic attacks on the plane, but I needn't have worried so hard. An eleven hour plane ride and an hour and a half bus ride later, I arrived at my host family's house safe and sound.

It's very hot here, and things such as sitting on the ground take getting used to. Even things like the shower and the toilet take getting used to. Earlier, I showed the scrapbooks I had brought of my family and friends to Mama-san (my host mother) and Fuka-chan (the 12 year old daughter). They enjoyed them very much. After pronouncing the pictures of me as a little kid "kawaii!" and the pictures of my cousin Steven and friend Jeremiah "kako ii, nee!" I got to see photos of them.

This afternoon, we're going to Universal Studios Japan. School doesn't start for a couple more days.

Well, wish me luck (though Mama-san did give me good luck tea at breakfast) and I'll see you at the next post!

Finally...

After three cups of coffee, five minor distractions, one almost-meltdown and part of a roll of duct tape, the packing is finally finished! As in, pick-up-my-bags-I'm-walking-out-the-door finished!... Yikes...

P.S. By the way, I now know that if one usually does not drink coffee, it's not a good idea to drink three cups in a row. Especially if one puts sugar in it. Don't try this at home, kids!

Preparation Butterflies

**originally posted Tuesday, August 18, 2009**

I leave Friday! It's really hard to wrap my brain around the fact that next week, I'll be half-way around the world.

Almost all my time right now revolves around saying good-byes and getting ready to leave. Clothes, toiletries, gifts for my host family; everything is being located and laid out to be put into my suitcase. In my room are two door hangers that hold the clothes I'm bringing. I won't need too many, as most of the time I'll be in my uniform. The dress code is very strict. Here are some samplings from the school rules (specially translated for international students):

• "Wearing the Uniform skirt too short (appropriate length of the skirt in under-the-knee length) is the violation of School Dress Code and would disgrace the school."
• "Stockings are allowed to be worn during winter (November-March) and the summer period during which the air conditioning is on. Wear only Hadairo or the color similar to your skin to avoid being fashionable, which does not mach the school uniform. *Wearing black tights is also allowed during winter. Do not wear socks when wearing black tights.
• "Too fashionable a hair style which school regards as inappropriate for an OGSHS student is not allowed."
• "Do not change your hair color by any means. (Do not blow dry your hair too much since it would deteriorate your hair color. Pay attention to your conditioner use for the some reason.)"

That's only a little bit of ten pages of rules and regulations. Needless to say, I'm a bit nervous about messing up.

One source of comfort is the fact that I have been assigned a host family and have swapped emails and photos with them. In their family is the eldest daughter, Riho, who is sixteen; The father; the younger daughter, who is twelve; and the mother. I'll help them with English while I stay with them, and they'll help me with Japanese.

I'm really nervous, but so, so excited! I'm going to miss people very much. I'm not completely ready (and I doubt I ever will be), but at the I same time, I can't wait!

Hello, Dears!

**originally posted Monday, August 17, 2009**

Well, I've decided that the easiest way to chronicle my time in Japan (short of publishing my diary; so not happening!) is to start a blog! Perhaps I shall stun and amaze you all with my witty commentary and daring adventures; perhaps I shall simply inconsistently post before petering off into the wild yonder of the internet. Wish me luck, my friends, for only time shall tell!