awol.

My blog is alive! I have just been neglecting it. I'm afraid even now I am not posting about anything particularly interesting since I am about to go to Gujo with some friends (I think, there are a lot of four letter places near here that start with G). This week has been a little rough, I had a big report due yesterday, and I'm a little sick and low on sleep, but I have now submitted my assignment and am excited for the weekend! Hopefully I will be able to take some pretty pictures and write a long post tomorrow or on Monday to make up for this dodgy one...

Until then, have a good weekend!

jugyou.

As it is Monday and the beginning of another school week, I thought I would write a little about classes. This semester I am just studying Japanese, and have quite a lot of class each week. One would think this would lead to vast improvement (especially since I am living in a country filled with people speaking Japanese), but I cannot help but feel this is perhaps not the case. Nonetheless, I have been very good and haven’t skipped a class as of yet.

There are only seven people in my class (myself included), and we are quite the odd assortment. I can’t help but feel as though each person fits a character type apparent in almost any classroom. One of my classmates is from East Timor and the other five are from China. There is the mature-age art major type, the class clown type, the show-off type, the strangely normal type, the clueless type, and the type that yells out the answers without fail and yet rarely seems to get them right. It is difficult for me to categorise myself, but as the only girl, the only Caucasian and the youngest member of the class, I think to my peers I must seem absolutely insane a lot of the time. At first I found it a very strange class environment, but I am beginning to become better acquainted with my peers, and find it interesting how the more you get to know someone the less stereotypical they seem.

Over the course of the week we have eight different teachers. They range from one of the most confusing educators I have ever had, to some of the kindest, most patient people I know. I have two particular favourites, whose classes I find incredibly funny (they are perhaps made all the more amusing to me by the fact I often appear the only one who is laughing). Although I am now in my seventeenth year of education, I still find myself surprised at how much enjoyment I get out of my classes with engaging and interesting teachers as opposed to how incredibly dull they have the potential to be. 

This post is perhaps not so interesting in terms of Japanese life or culture, but I realised I hadn’t really mentioned just what it is I am doing through most of my week. I will leave you with a picture of one of my favourite teachers drawing a picture of an elephant for me, since she felt bad I could not understand the kanji like my Chinese peers can.

nichibotsu.

I just wanted to share one of the many gorgeous sunsets we've been getting heading into summer. I took this picture from the roof of my building. Although the days have already started to become hot, the evenings are divine, and the sky often turns all kinds of delightful shades of pink and orange over the mountains. For me it brought to mind part of a Psalm I read recently.

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, 
    God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by your power,
    having armed yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
    where morning dawns, where evening fades,
    you call forth songs of joy.
                                                       Psalm 65:5-8

ichigo.

Last weekend was actually quite a dull one for me. A few friends were away or off gallivanting on dates with attractive Japanese people, whilst I remained in Gifu to try and start my next assignment. For this one I have chosen the topic of Japanese guys’ hair, which is surprisingly a lot easier to write about than mechanical pencils.

In any case, I did have a fun Sunday afternoon. My gorgeous friend Orie invited Cheyenne and I to go to her grandmother’s house with her to pick strawberries however, as it was raining, her grandmother had already picked them. Nonetheless, it was quite the experience to simply be able to visit her beautiful Japanese-style home.

In the house there were some interesting traditional Japanese features I had not seen before, such as a shrine to show respect to deceased family members. The photos do not do its intricacy justice. 

Orie’s grandmother enjoys writing haikus and had a number of them framed.

Orie’s grandmother seems like such an interesting person, and shared so much with us. Her Japanese was very rapid, so I was very grateful for Orie’s translations. Still, we all sat together very happily drinking barley tea, eating freshly picked strawberries, and admiring Orie’s socks.

I did not go home empty-handed.

I could not believe the generosity of Orie’s grandmother’s in giving us so much of what she had painstakingly grown, and her hospitality in allowing Cheyenne and I into her home. For me, it brightened a very rainy day. I have been living off strawberries and peas for most of the week, but still had more, so with my last precious strawberries I got into the kitchen and made some jam! Delicious.

yukata.

What a poor correspondent I am! Another busy week has come and gone. For those of you fortunate enough to be my Facebook friend, you will have seen some pictures of the highlight of my week – dressing up in traditional Japanese clothes. I was wearing a yukata, which is a lightweight form of kimono for the summer. Today, these are rarely worn on a day-to-day basis, although they are used for special occasions or festivals.

The women wrapping us up into these dresses where amazing. No two yukatas were the same, each bow was tied in a different way, and there were a myriad of accessories and shoes to add flair to the already extravagant outfits.

After getting frocked up (which was quite the process), we partook in some traditional Japanese dance. I think the dances we learnt are ones similar to those used at Gujo Odori (a big summer festival dance). Whilst the moves weren’t so complex, manoeuvring in the yukata was the true struggle.

Despite yukatas supposedly being designed for summer-wear, by the end of the afternoon I was feeling so hot and uncomfortable. Nonetheless, it was well worth it and a delightful afternoon of playing dress-ups!

abokadorōru.

Now is the time to stop reading if you have a particular affection for Japanese food culture. I have destroyed it. Worse, I have Australianised it. Its not that I have any problem with Japanese food (I feel like I have hit the jackpot as far as national cuisine goes - the amount of udon I have consumed has begun to become physically apparent). The only defence I have to offer is that I love avocados, a lot, and in Australia my go-to sushi roll has long been the shamefully uncultured avocado roll. Unfortunately for me, the avocado roll is far from being a Japanese food. So what is a girl to do but make her own? As one who is far too lazy to actually make sushi from scratch, I have devised the way to make my own avocado roll with least inconvenience to myself.

To start, I go to the convenience store or supermarket and buy some delicious inari and an avocado.

Slice avocado and indelicately shove it into the side of the inari pocket.

Serve with kawaii Japanese homewares.

Delicious tofuey, avocadoey yumminess.

ane.

The hardest thing about being in Japan is being away from my family and friends. Whilst I thought I was doing okay, I had a moment of self-realisation in class today when, talking about my sister, my neighbour performed a subtle eye roll. ‘Surely’, thought I, ‘Surely I can’t talk about her all that much.’ On further reflection however, I did find myself acknowledging a common theme of class conversation was my sister – from her existence to her occupations, hobbies, interests, likes, dislikes. As my classmates lack siblings I may need to find a new person to talk about. In any case, I think my rambling about “私の姉” perhaps indicates I miss people from home a little more than I thought. For now, Skype will have to suffice until July, when she comes to visit! 

id.

As planned I managed to make it into Nagoya on Saturday night. The club we went to is called ID Café, and was (in my inexperienced opinion) very cool. It felt crazy to be leaving Gifu at five thirty all dressed up, but nightlife gets going a lot earlier here. In addition, we decided to ride our bikes to the station, which takes about an hour. Thus, five thirty. 

The club is in Sakae, which is the area of Nagoya best known for its nightlife. From speaking to Japanese people, ID is known for attracting gaijin, but to me it seemed there were a lot of Japanese people there. There are five floors, but I only explored the upper floors briefly, since the bottom floor was by far the liveliest. I didn’t hear much Japanese music through the evening, but since the playlist included ‘Call Me Maybe’ I wasn’t complaining.

The best part of the night was being a foreigner. I decided to take it as a licence to dance however I liked, and test ran a number of moves I’ve been working on. Although my dancing appeared to be accepted (and even appreciated by some), I payed a price for my energetic raving with my entire body aching the next morning. The club closes at one, and I was really lucky to have a friend driving back to Gifu. Even so, I only rolled into bed at four, and was up again at eight to get ready to go back to Nagoya to get to church! Suffice it to say, I slept well last night.