I'm really trying hard to focus on my Japanese, which has meant that English writing is close to my last priority, but I really want to have at least one entry for every month.
I haven't been going to the Monday night Japanese class because I always feel like enjoying a relaxing evening before I start back to work the next day, but I did go in December twice. I told my Japanese teacher that I was thinking about buying a bicycle and he told me "Don't do that, I've got so many bicycles it's kind of a pain. I can give you one of mine" (or something to that effect in Japanese). So I received an old bicycle for free. The front tire was pretty flat so I bought a tire pump and fixed that. Having a bicycle was great--I felt like I could explore my surroundings more easily, and go shopping at more places.
The next Sunday evening I even rode it to church with my guitar on my back. Unfortunately it rained rather hard for almost half of my 45 minute ride home, and I was soaked when I arrived. My guitar was fine though. The next day I was about to go shopping when I noticed that my tires were flat again. When I pulled out the valve to inflate the front tire, though, it immediately deflated completely. I couldn't figure out how to get the air to stay in. I eventually took the bike to a repair shop and was told that the tires were in such bad condition that repairing them would be a waste of money. Replacing both tires isn't much cheaper than buying a completely new bike. My co-worker said she would give me her bike when she leaves in March, so I will wait until then to have a bike again.
The same Japanese teacher who gave me a bike also invited me to a end-of-year party at his house. End-of-year parties are a big tradition in Japan, and it's common to have at least one with co-workers as well as with friends. I expected that the party would be mostly people from the Japanese class. It turns out that I was completely wrong. I was the only foreigner, and the other people were my teacher's friends from other activities. Aside from a short conversation with the only other person my age, all communication was in Japanese. There was one child there, a first-grade girl, and she ended up commandeering a few of us for her games of hide and seek, racing, and disguises. I wish I had been able to talk more with the adults, but it was certainly memorable experience.
Christmas eve was very enjoyable. There was a dinner and kind of a party at church, as well as a special evening service which they don't usually have. After the evening service I played "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "What Child is This" on my guitar and sang. Afterwards we all sang more Christmas carols, though in Japanese. It really felt like Christmas because of this and the family-like atmosphere. It was the best Christmas celebration I've had abroad except for maybe in France.
I spent Christmas day planning my trip to Tokyo, which I embarked upon the following day. Soon after arriving, I went to a Taiko lesson that I had registered for. Taiko is the Japanese word for drum, but there are special Japanese drums and ways to play them that I wanted to learn. It was a lot of fun to immerse myself in the rhythm. The teacher was an excellent drummer, and he performed a piece on the big drum at the end of the lesson which was really impressive.
The next day I met a friend from Vietnam for tea, and the following day I had a Japanese calligraphy lesson. I saw a great museum that had a life-size replica of about a block of Tokyo neighborhood of 200 years ago, with real furnishings. There was a volunteer tour guide at this museum who spoke English, and he was very helpful. I also saw the beautiful Shinjuku National Gardens. There were lots of places to shop, including some nice and large second-hand clothing shops.
Aside from these things, I didn't enjoy my time in Tokyo very much. In fact I was homesick (for Shiojiri) starting from the first night, and I didn't get over it until my fourth and final day in there. Tokyo is, of course, extremely urban, with almost no green to be found. The buildings tower over the streets so that I felt like I was in a kind of pit at times. Most of the areas I visited were lacking in any kind of charm. There are hordes of people in some places, and the cyclists are crazy in how close they come to running into pedestrians. The air is bad too. I'm sure it didn't help though that I was there alone in the cold of winter, so I'm planning to go again with friends at some point. I certainly won't return alone, though.
That mostly covers my December.
I haven't been going to the Monday night Japanese class because I always feel like enjoying a relaxing evening before I start back to work the next day, but I did go in December twice. I told my Japanese teacher that I was thinking about buying a bicycle and he told me "Don't do that, I've got so many bicycles it's kind of a pain. I can give you one of mine" (or something to that effect in Japanese). So I received an old bicycle for free. The front tire was pretty flat so I bought a tire pump and fixed that. Having a bicycle was great--I felt like I could explore my surroundings more easily, and go shopping at more places.
The next Sunday evening I even rode it to church with my guitar on my back. Unfortunately it rained rather hard for almost half of my 45 minute ride home, and I was soaked when I arrived. My guitar was fine though. The next day I was about to go shopping when I noticed that my tires were flat again. When I pulled out the valve to inflate the front tire, though, it immediately deflated completely. I couldn't figure out how to get the air to stay in. I eventually took the bike to a repair shop and was told that the tires were in such bad condition that repairing them would be a waste of money. Replacing both tires isn't much cheaper than buying a completely new bike. My co-worker said she would give me her bike when she leaves in March, so I will wait until then to have a bike again.
The same Japanese teacher who gave me a bike also invited me to a end-of-year party at his house. End-of-year parties are a big tradition in Japan, and it's common to have at least one with co-workers as well as with friends. I expected that the party would be mostly people from the Japanese class. It turns out that I was completely wrong. I was the only foreigner, and the other people were my teacher's friends from other activities. Aside from a short conversation with the only other person my age, all communication was in Japanese. There was one child there, a first-grade girl, and she ended up commandeering a few of us for her games of hide and seek, racing, and disguises. I wish I had been able to talk more with the adults, but it was certainly memorable experience.
Christmas eve was very enjoyable. There was a dinner and kind of a party at church, as well as a special evening service which they don't usually have. After the evening service I played "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "What Child is This" on my guitar and sang. Afterwards we all sang more Christmas carols, though in Japanese. It really felt like Christmas because of this and the family-like atmosphere. It was the best Christmas celebration I've had abroad except for maybe in France.
I spent Christmas day planning my trip to Tokyo, which I embarked upon the following day. Soon after arriving, I went to a Taiko lesson that I had registered for. Taiko is the Japanese word for drum, but there are special Japanese drums and ways to play them that I wanted to learn. It was a lot of fun to immerse myself in the rhythm. The teacher was an excellent drummer, and he performed a piece on the big drum at the end of the lesson which was really impressive.
The next day I met a friend from Vietnam for tea, and the following day I had a Japanese calligraphy lesson. I saw a great museum that had a life-size replica of about a block of Tokyo neighborhood of 200 years ago, with real furnishings. There was a volunteer tour guide at this museum who spoke English, and he was very helpful. I also saw the beautiful Shinjuku National Gardens. There were lots of places to shop, including some nice and large second-hand clothing shops.
Aside from these things, I didn't enjoy my time in Tokyo very much. In fact I was homesick (for Shiojiri) starting from the first night, and I didn't get over it until my fourth and final day in there. Tokyo is, of course, extremely urban, with almost no green to be found. The buildings tower over the streets so that I felt like I was in a kind of pit at times. Most of the areas I visited were lacking in any kind of charm. There are hordes of people in some places, and the cyclists are crazy in how close they come to running into pedestrians. The air is bad too. I'm sure it didn't help though that I was there alone in the cold of winter, so I'm planning to go again with friends at some point. I certainly won't return alone, though.
That mostly covers my December.
