Week 26 in Japan: Inaniwa Udon, Graduation Party, Cooking Class, and Tea Ceremony

      I feel like I've had a great last week so hopefully this will be interesting to read too. On Wednesday I had a bit of a schedule conflict because I acidentally planned to meet a couple groups of people at the same time. So I went with my two friends Chenmin and Uchii from China to go have dinner and then I was going to go meet up with the football team directly afterwards to have another dinner/drinking. We ended up meeting seeing and talking to the football team near the station and they invited us all to go together to drink and eat. It was a really nice bar/restraunt and the food/drinks were really good. It ended up being very cheap too because the captain of the football team Coki works there as a part time job. After that I actually swung over to a different party that was at the international dormitory. It was kind of a goodbye party for international students who were going back home. I thought this was strange because almost all the students have already gone home who plan on doing so before the next semester. Because of this there were actually no international students who were leaving at the party.
      The next day I met with a friend named Mari who goes to college in Morioka Japan which is like a 3 hour drive from Akita City. I had only met her once before but I actually know her mom fairly well because she goes to an English class I teach. We went and ate Inaniwa Udon which is a special type of Akita Prefecture udon noodle. Inaniwa Udon are much thinner than a regular udon noodle. Udon is a wheat flour noodle and you can eat it hot or cold. What we did was dip it into a little cup of soy sauce, onions, ginger, wasabi. But the cool part is you make the sauce yourself. When they give you your food it is all separate so if you wanted a more simple taste you could just put soy sauce and onions in. It is also best not to put it all in at once so you can adjust the taste throughout the meal. I like hanging out with people like Mari who are from Akita City because they know the best restaurants like the one we went to. Afterwards Mari's mom picked us up and we all three went together to the AEON shopping mall. Then I was invited over for dinner so that was great too. Mari's mom Takiko is a great cook. Also I hungout with her son Yuki. We mainly played the video game Super smash brothers brawl. It is cool because Mari actually likes Pokemon too so we talk about that sometimes too. Also Takiko gave me a bunch of card for learning Kanji that her kids used when they were younger. What better way to learn kanji than using what Japanese kids have used.
       On Saturday I went to the graduation party for Akita University students. This was for real students graduating with degrees, not study abroad students. I found out later that there was a graduation ceremony in the morning before the party but I didn't know about it so I didn't go. I feel like if they are anything like in the USA I saved myself a lot of boredom. Anyways the graduation party started at 12:30 and I would have been on time but decided to take long way to the destination and I ran into a friend who I talked with some. I didn't realize that it was a party where you are supposed to be on time, I thought it was more casual and you could show up whenever. I guess I should have guess this was the case because there was a strict sign up deadline and a 2000 yen entrance fee (not for me though cause I'm an international student(^-^)). There was a place where you could turn in your coat everybody was dressed really nicely. I luckily didn't where my shabbiest garb but I wasn't the best dressed either. Just passable. I was placed at a talbe with me and 10 other girls. 8 Chinese, a Cambodian, and a Mongolian. There was good food, speeches, and beer; I think that's a pretty standard Japanese party. One weird thing at the party was that when they were having graduating students stand up by their major they had us international students stand up too. Another strange thing was that our table was almost in the very front of the room so right with all the important people. Table number 6 out of maybe 25. Plus table six was not just towards the front but also center so that made it a little akward when I came in late.
       On Sunday I taught a cooking class to 8 people. I never thought I would be teaching anything regarding to cooking when I came to Japan. I had only planned on learning. Anyways Kazuko who organizes the English class I teach asked/insisted that I teach a class at the community center. I really didn't want to! haha. On Monday March 17th I had cooked french toast for my English class as a test run for the class on Sunday. It was weird because on Monday when I cooked the french toast it was the first time I've ever actually done it and had it turn out well in my life. In the past it would always be too soggy on the inside. Which I wasn't sure if it was cause the batter was not correct, I soaked the bread too long, the bread was too fresh/soft, or I cooked it with too high of heat. Maybe a combination of those. Anyways I was kinda nervous on Sunday but everything went well. It was really strange because I think they thought I was like a chef or something. When I was telling them that I was truly not a good cook, because of Japanese culture they probably thought I was just being modest. There was lots of other food too that afternoon so it was a great lunch. Also a little while after the lunch we had a tea ceremony. One of the ladies at the class was a tea ceremony lady. There is not a whole lot to the ceremony and no chanting or anything too crazy. It's kinda just making and drinking tea in a really strict way. Like only mix the tea up and down and not in circles for example. Another example is when you are done mixing (up and down) the last thing you do is draw の which is a character from one of the Japanese alphabets into the tea with the mixing tool.
      Those were some of the highlights of my week. I did some other things but I feel like my blogs are too long the way it is. I may or may not be leaving for a big trip across Japan on Saturday this week so I might have a great blog coming up for you! I'm not leaving you in suspense I just haven't decided if I will/can go or not yet. Anyways; stay tuned, thanks for reading, and have a great day!.. Oh and pictures too ;)!

 Here is a picture of some of the room after most of the main eating had taken place and the speeches were done for the time being. In the room was only ceratain graduating students. I'm not exactly sure how they split up the students. I think a lot of the Education major students were in there but I knew 2 people graduating with that major who were not. 

 My good friend Chenmin and I. Usually Japanese girls wear Kimono and guys wear suits when they graduate. We were not wearing anything as cool as that and we also were not graduating but we still took a photo.

 Blurry picture from the table. 

 Jerry Maguire back to the theater.. Yay? I've never seen it..

 Bonus story! It takes place in the Creepy night-time at the Senshu Park! I started writing it here but it's kinda cool so I'll give it its own post in a day or two.

Week 24 & 25 in Japan: Football, St Patricks Dance

       I took another break from the blog this last week but that'll be the last time I do it. Anyways The first thing I'll talk about is that I joined the American Football team at the university. The team is called the Akita University Ogres. I play Half Back and for defense I'll probably be playing Defensive End. We practice 3 or 4 times a week and practices are about 3 hours long. Football practice is tiring but it's nice to have something to do during spring break. It's a great nostalgic feeling to be playing football again.

       On Tuesday the 11th I went to Round 1 again with my friends Maral and Emily. This was my third time going to Round 1 which is like a rec center where you pay a flat cost and can do tons of stuff all in one building over 6 floors. There is a bus that can take you from the station in Akita to Round 1 which is probably about a half hour walk away. The last bus is at 10pm and we got there a tiny bit late. As we were walking towards the bus maybe 100 yards away the bus left so I ran over to the stop light where I could cut it off. I kinda ran in front of the bus and he luckily stopped and let me on and waited for my friends. The friends I was with were Maral who is from Mongolia and Emily who is from Kenya. I played the drum Taiko game a lot that I've mentioned in the past. I like rhythm games and the drum one is really fun. When all was said and done we left at 6am. There is no bus in the morning so we walked back which isn't so bad, especially if you like morning walks.

       On Saturday the 15th I went to a St. Patricks day dance. The dance is at a club in Akita City and the St Patricks day dance is an especially big even that goes on yearly. It's cool because half of the profits for it go to charity. It was my first time ever going to a club and it was interesting. One of the most surprising things about it was how it was a lot like how I pictured it to be based on movies and what i've heard from people. Usually when you have a pre conception of what something will be like it ends up being completely different and in this case it was a lot like how I thought it would be. That ended up being something very surprising. There were maybe around 100 people there but I'm not too good with estimations. It was kind of a small club but it was very full with people. One reason I had never gone to a club was the cost but the cost at the club was only 1000 yen (about 10 dollars) if you showed your student ID. Plus you got a free drink when you get there. One weird thing about being there was everybody was older than me. I met a number of people there and the youngest one was 25 years old. Also throughout the night I asked 3 different people how old they thought I was when age came up in conversation. All three different times they thought I was 24 years old. Really weird haha. It was a little bit hard to connect with people because of age because age difference in Japan can sometimes be a bigger deal than in the USA. It depends on who you meet but there is definitely a lot more respect for somebody older than you, even if just by a few years. I met a lot of people but I would say I only made one friend while I was there. I talked to a girl because she was wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt. Ninja Turtles are not super popular in Japan and as I was passing I just randomly decided to talk to her. She ended up being really easy to talk to so we talked for quite a while. It was weird when I found out she lives in the same apartment building as me. Then even weirder when I found out she lives on the same floor just 2 rooms down from me haha. Anyways It is interesting to meet lots of people but realize that out of those only a small percent have a chance of being a lasting friend. Kind of sad but true. If nothing else lots of acquaintances made. I actually went to the party with Yasuko who is a good friend from my part time job. I went drinking with Yasuko on Wedneday the 12th and it was a fantastic time. I usually speak with people in Japanese but Yasuko spent a couple years living in Los Angeles so she can speak English well. Since I was able to speak English rather fluently with her I was able to speak my mind and say a lot of things. I can usually say what I want/need in Japanese but speaking with Yaskuko in English made it easy for me to just talk a lot. A combination of her speaking English and her personality I think made us talk about a lot of things that you normally only talk to people you have been friends with for a long time about. It was funny because we talked and drank late into the night and when we were going to go home she said she was going to take a taxi. Then I said we should just hangout until the first train that was at like 520am. The train ticket was less than 2 dollars but the taxi might be around 50 dollars so we hungout/waited around a little extra time til the train came. Anyways I went to the dance with Yasuko, Yukako, Kano, and an Israli named Gal. We actually all went and ate/drank before going to the club. Overall it was a great time. It's strange because for me it is a lot easier to talk to and befriend people older than me so that is kind of what I did/have been doing lately. This coming week the blog will be on time and might have a couple cool things in it. I teach a cooking class this coming Sunday. I'm really not a good cook but I'll be teaching some Japanese how to make French Toast. Which is the most American thing I know how to make within reason. Also I'll be going to my universities graduation ceremony. It is late so I kinda rambled while writing this so congrats if you read all the way to this point. Now I'll post one or two pictues.....

 

Here is a picture of Yukako on the left, me, and then Yasuko. It was lucky this picture turned out as well as it did. The light flashing on my face made this the best out of like 5 pictures taken in rapid succesion.

 Here is a picture I took of Maral on the way back from Round 1 on Tuesday. Theres a picture of us all but I didn't take it..

 Here is a picture from the dance I took of the DJ. Overall they played some cool music. Not just the hits of today so that was nice.

Week 22 & 23 in Japan: Disney, Ghibli, and Harajuku

Hey everybody it's been a while so I'm about to right a book.. this will be long! I left for Tokyo on Saturday the 22nd and got back on the 27th so it was about 6 days in Tokyo if you count travel. I went by bus on Saturday and the bus rie was about 9 hours long. The bus is the cheapest way to travel to Tokyo but it is also the least comforatable and takes the longest. Your other options are the regular train which is maybe 7 hours, the Shinkansen which is about 4 hours (and really comfortable) or by plane which is about an hour. Round trip for the bus only cost about 80 dollars. We arrived in Tokyo early Sunday morning. We went to find a McDonalds to eat and charge phones. We ended up going to every Mcdonalds in the Shinjuku area which was a total of 5 but they were all full with nowhere for all four of us to sit together. That reminds me this trip was with Teppei, Kaori, Yunseok, and Palguem but Palguem was in Tokyo already so at this point it was just 4 of us. Anyways some of the McDonalds were really impressive. One was 5 stories high :). The reason they were so full was because that morning there was the Tokyo Marathon so there were lots of people. We didn't realize it was going on until we saw volunteers etc setting up and runners everywhere. We stayed at a hotel called Sakura Hotel, it was a small room with 5 beds and was only about 80 dollars for 3 nights. Part of the Tokyo Marathon went by very close to the hotel so I went and watched for a while. There were lots and lots of runners and a lot of funny costumes too. That day I went with Teppei to Harajuku to shop. Harajuku is one of the big fashion parts of Tokyo and probably even the world. It's known for its crazy fashion. It has variety from the highest quality brands like Gucchi outlets to second hand ones too. It was fun being in Tokyo seeing Ferraris and all people but it was overwhelming too. Really a sea of people as far as you could see in Harajuku. Being in Tokyo was my first really big city experience. Other than Tokyo I've been in Minneapolis and Kansas City but it's not quite the same. The weather when we were in Tokyo was really great and three of the days were even basically cloud free. One of my favorite shops was called "The Circus" and they mainly sold socks, leggings, and some other knick nacks. One of the two employees there could actually speak English really well. She grew up for 8 years in Singapore so she could speak Englsih almost fluently. She was a little bit of a fashion designer etc. She told me she started doing some Youtube blogs lately so she showed me how I could check it out later. You can learn some about Harajuku if you want from her, just type "Elleanor". Elleanor was the girls name. She made a good impression on me because she was really easy and fun to talk to. That's a lot of times not so common with meeting new people in Japan at least with my experience. I accidently only packed one pair of socks so I bought some socks there. We ended up going back to Harajuku on the last day in Tokyo and I went back to the shop for more socks and to see if Elleanor was working again. She wasn't but another suprisingly nice girl was working and we chatted some too. This time in Japanese though. I was also wearing the socks I had worn the prvious time I had went so the girl (minami was her name) asked to get a picture. They took a couple pictures to put in a photo book they had of some of the socks they sold being worn. Also the put it on their shop's blog. As payment they let me have a candy sucker they were selling for free (^-^). Anyways on Monday we went to Disney Land. We got there early in the morning and were there until it closed at 9pm if I remember right. Lots of fun things at Disney but I'll just go over some of my favorite rides and move on. Otherwise it'll get too long. The best ride that I went on was number 1. Star Tours a Star Wars ride 2. Pirates ride was based loosely on Pirates of the Caribbean and 3. Peter Pan ride where you fly in a ship. The next day we went to Disney Sea which has a little bit of a more adult feel and rides but of course is great for anybody. My favorite things there were 1. Indiana Jones ride 2. A roller coaster that I can't remember then name of and 3. A live performance by dancers/actors. It was jungle themed and it had fire coming out of the stage and great costumes and live music it was so intense it was the biggest suprise as far as being entertaining when I thought it was going to be lame. Seeing the show actually made me want to work at Disney haha. On the final day we went to the Ghibli Museum. If you don't know Ghibli is a film studio that is very famous in Japan. They make animations so it was full of cool animation stuff. I wouldn't really recommend going there to an average person though, kind of boring unless you are very into the movies or film/animation/drawing or both. You couldn't take pictures inside the building so there won't be any. After the museum as I said earlier we went back to Harajuku. We shopped some and then we ate at a buffet so that was nice. I ate so much. At that point we made our way back to Shinjuku where the bus brought us back to Akita City. Thanks for reading and I have 5 pictures you can check out of me at Disney. Bye Bye

 I think this was the back side of the castle but still pretty cool. There were two parades and a firework show too, all at Disney Land.

 Here's a pic from right when we got to Disney Sea. I was sporting Dumbo ears that I bought the night before at Disney Land.

 Posing with Rajah from Aladdin. I was doing my best cat pose but I'm an elephant so it was difficult.

 The Indiana Jones ride actually made you feel like you were in a jeep driving like crazy through the Crystal Skull movie. This was the best part where there was a boulder that was rolling towards us and at the last second the car drove downwards out of the way. My two favorite rides were the Star Wars one and the Indiana Jones ones but my friends had never seen any of either film series *facepalm*. Much more enjoyment from it if besides being a great ride it is also what you   alsways wanted to do as a kid (fly at lightspeed through the galaxy and be indiana jones).

 These girls were posing for a picture so I asked if I could get a picture with them too. So many girls where matching outfits at Disney it was crazy. Not always to the extent of this picture but at least a shirt or headpiece or something. Same thing with couples. Also tons of girls just where their school uniforms. Crazyness.

 Here's a little bit of footage of when I was walking around Disney Sea. I have a video of the night time parade and the Tokyo Marathon too, they are on the same youtube channel. The Tokyo marathon was cool, around 36,000 runners I heard. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors which means its real important similar to the Boston marathon etc. but less explosions.