Yeah, yeah, I know. Eighteen days.
Before I get on to the main update, I wanted to add something. Today in my Instrumental Analysis class, the professor says, "The average on the last test was a little high. We'll have to make the next one a bit harder."
Wait, the average was too high? Isn't that what you want to see? Why should you think you did something wrong if people did good on the test?
The educational system seems to suffer from some fundamental flaws.
Hal
Monday, October 18, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Vagina!
Where does the time go? Perhaps I have been a little lax in my posting habits as of late, but I am arguably busy. In fact, this is just a quick tid-bit before I head off to bed anyhow, so . . .
Here they come!
Okay, so last week I saw someone tromping across the quad with a shirt that read, "The Vagina's are coming! Vote Vagina!" Ah, the Vagina Monologues must be coming up sometime soon, methinks. I thought that usually happened in the spring, but perhaps someone is misinformed. "Vote Vagina." Cute. Someone has a clever play on the upcoming election.
But then I thought to myself . . . what if that isn't just a joke? What if they're serious? This lead to an interesting question . . . which Presidential candidate best represents the "Vagina ticket", if you will? I would imagine the end-goal of this is to have a President concerned about "women's issues" (whatever that would mean to the Chief Executive).
Granted, this is usually a liberal topic, with a liberal answer: The liberal candidate. Abortion tends to be one of the centerpieces of the discussion, of course. But . . . does supporting abortion really make John Kerry more "pro-Vagina"?
At this point, I don't have many answers to give. Given how very little I know about feminist issues, I can't really say who actually fulfills the "Vagina" requirements. Granted, given the typically liberal agenda of the feminist movement, Kerry is their man, but I'm curious on what basis such a conclusion is reached.
That's all folks. Stay tuned . . .
Here they come!
Okay, so last week I saw someone tromping across the quad with a shirt that read, "The Vagina's are coming! Vote Vagina!" Ah, the Vagina Monologues must be coming up sometime soon, methinks. I thought that usually happened in the spring, but perhaps someone is misinformed. "Vote Vagina." Cute. Someone has a clever play on the upcoming election.
But then I thought to myself . . . what if that isn't just a joke? What if they're serious? This lead to an interesting question . . . which Presidential candidate best represents the "Vagina ticket", if you will? I would imagine the end-goal of this is to have a President concerned about "women's issues" (whatever that would mean to the Chief Executive).
Granted, this is usually a liberal topic, with a liberal answer: The liberal candidate. Abortion tends to be one of the centerpieces of the discussion, of course. But . . . does supporting abortion really make John Kerry more "pro-Vagina"?
At this point, I don't have many answers to give. Given how very little I know about feminist issues, I can't really say who actually fulfills the "Vagina" requirements. Granted, given the typically liberal agenda of the feminist movement, Kerry is their man, but I'm curious on what basis such a conclusion is reached.
That's all folks. Stay tuned . . .
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Todaybor Day is Labor Day
Post from Home
It's labor day weekend, so I'm home and posting on the molasses, er, dial-up connection. I don't really have any links to point you to (it'd be too hard to find them right now), but I do have a few talking points.
The Convention
So, I have a rather shoddy TV situation at the house, so I didn't get to watch any of the convention. I read a lot about it, though. Even read some transcripts of proceedings. I have a few thoughts on things.
First, the moderates: Yes, it's all great to show off the "Big Tent" aspect of the party, how everyone is in support of the President. However, I hear all this talk about "Giuliani/Pataki/Schwarzenegger" on a 2008 Presidential ticket, and that frightens me. Yes, I'm glad some of the more centrist Republicans understand the importance of backing out President on inter/national security issues, but be reasonable: These guys will not promote good policies, and their candidacy will ensure a loss in an election, given that their social liberality will tick off the conservative base to no end. Conservatives are not going to elect a pro-choice president just because he's a republican.
And speaking of liberal policies, what's up with this "Temporary Worker" thing? I know they're trying to woo latino voters, but I doubt this is going to be the thing that does it. They need to work harder to do it than that. And jeez, why don't we just declare asylum for every illegal already here? Let's not forget their official status: "Illegal alien." That means they are c-r-i-m-i-n-a-l-s. Should we just pardon rapists and murderers when they have a popular voting contingency? Yeesh.
Finally, the speeches. I read Zell Miller's speech. I'm sure it would've been much more impressive heard and seen rather than read, but it still looked dynamite to me. It said a lot that everyone wanted to say for a while. Especially devestating was his look at some of Kerry's votes in the Senate. He doesn't talk much about his votes in the Senate, but it's hard for him to look like he's strong on National Defense when he has voted down every new defense bill in all the time he has been in Congress. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Vietnam may tell us something about Kerry's character, but we're better off looking at the things he has done since then. His unwillingness to talk about those things should tell us even more.
And Bush's speech, well, I have only read about. Bits and pieces float up in various articles, but I can't find a transcript. From what I can tell, it was pretty good. He said a lot of the things he needed to say. I'm not sure if it will reach those who needed to hear it, but I think my vote is still safely secured. By the way, those protesters inside the convention . . . shameless. Absolutely shameless. The Democrats were allowed to have their convention, their chance to speak, why can't the Republicans have theirs?
Terrorists in Russia
This is absolutely insane. Islamic terrorists capture a school celebrating its first day. They hold parents, teachers, and children hostage. They withold food and water from them, forcing them to stay in unsufferable conditions, even using the children as shields . . . words are insufficient to express the outrage we should feel. If I recall correctly, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the terrorists even set off her explosives without provocation, killing many of the hostages. This led to the military finally going in, and now some 200 of the hostages are dead, and many more injured.
I don't know if these people had demands. I didn't recall reading any or hearing about them in the news. So I can't say much for motive. But reality is a harsh mistress: Are these the kind of people who we can negotiate with? Are these the kind of people we want to leave alone in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia? Gracious, what will the reaction be if we ever face this kind of thing AGAIN at home (lest we forget what happened 3 years ago)? These people want to kill others simply for a loose connection to America/The West/non-Islamic religions. Many of them froth at the mouth at the prospect of killing an American. We're hated simply for where we were born, and we want to excuse it as being the end result of poor education and a harsh socioeconomic climate? Are these the people we really want to fight a "more sensitive war" with? What does that even mean?
It's events like this that make me all the more glad we are led by a President who is not afraid to stand up to bullies like these, who is not afraid to make the difficult decision to go after them even when placating weenies throw a tantrum (which it seems now may have been more motivated by self-interest than anything else). All in all, I'm glad we are led by this President, and I hope that he shall continue to lead us through this critical time for another four years.
All right people, that about wraps up this evening's edition. When the news produces something comment worthy, you shall hear from me again. Until then, goodnight.
It's labor day weekend, so I'm home and posting on the molasses, er, dial-up connection. I don't really have any links to point you to (it'd be too hard to find them right now), but I do have a few talking points.
The Convention
So, I have a rather shoddy TV situation at the house, so I didn't get to watch any of the convention. I read a lot about it, though. Even read some transcripts of proceedings. I have a few thoughts on things.
First, the moderates: Yes, it's all great to show off the "Big Tent" aspect of the party, how everyone is in support of the President. However, I hear all this talk about "Giuliani/Pataki/Schwarzenegger" on a 2008 Presidential ticket, and that frightens me. Yes, I'm glad some of the more centrist Republicans understand the importance of backing out President on inter/national security issues, but be reasonable: These guys will not promote good policies, and their candidacy will ensure a loss in an election, given that their social liberality will tick off the conservative base to no end. Conservatives are not going to elect a pro-choice president just because he's a republican.
And speaking of liberal policies, what's up with this "Temporary Worker" thing? I know they're trying to woo latino voters, but I doubt this is going to be the thing that does it. They need to work harder to do it than that. And jeez, why don't we just declare asylum for every illegal already here? Let's not forget their official status: "Illegal alien." That means they are c-r-i-m-i-n-a-l-s. Should we just pardon rapists and murderers when they have a popular voting contingency? Yeesh.
Finally, the speeches. I read Zell Miller's speech. I'm sure it would've been much more impressive heard and seen rather than read, but it still looked dynamite to me. It said a lot that everyone wanted to say for a while. Especially devestating was his look at some of Kerry's votes in the Senate. He doesn't talk much about his votes in the Senate, but it's hard for him to look like he's strong on National Defense when he has voted down every new defense bill in all the time he has been in Congress. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Vietnam may tell us something about Kerry's character, but we're better off looking at the things he has done since then. His unwillingness to talk about those things should tell us even more.
And Bush's speech, well, I have only read about. Bits and pieces float up in various articles, but I can't find a transcript. From what I can tell, it was pretty good. He said a lot of the things he needed to say. I'm not sure if it will reach those who needed to hear it, but I think my vote is still safely secured. By the way, those protesters inside the convention . . . shameless. Absolutely shameless. The Democrats were allowed to have their convention, their chance to speak, why can't the Republicans have theirs?
Terrorists in Russia
This is absolutely insane. Islamic terrorists capture a school celebrating its first day. They hold parents, teachers, and children hostage. They withold food and water from them, forcing them to stay in unsufferable conditions, even using the children as shields . . . words are insufficient to express the outrage we should feel. If I recall correctly, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the terrorists even set off her explosives without provocation, killing many of the hostages. This led to the military finally going in, and now some 200 of the hostages are dead, and many more injured.
I don't know if these people had demands. I didn't recall reading any or hearing about them in the news. So I can't say much for motive. But reality is a harsh mistress: Are these the kind of people who we can negotiate with? Are these the kind of people we want to leave alone in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia? Gracious, what will the reaction be if we ever face this kind of thing AGAIN at home (lest we forget what happened 3 years ago)? These people want to kill others simply for a loose connection to America/The West/non-Islamic religions. Many of them froth at the mouth at the prospect of killing an American. We're hated simply for where we were born, and we want to excuse it as being the end result of poor education and a harsh socioeconomic climate? Are these the people we really want to fight a "more sensitive war" with? What does that even mean?
It's events like this that make me all the more glad we are led by a President who is not afraid to stand up to bullies like these, who is not afraid to make the difficult decision to go after them even when placating weenies throw a tantrum (which it seems now may have been more motivated by self-interest than anything else). All in all, I'm glad we are led by this President, and I hope that he shall continue to lead us through this critical time for another four years.
All right people, that about wraps up this evening's edition. When the news produces something comment worthy, you shall hear from me again. Until then, goodnight.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
School? Yikes.
Campus Life
Okay, not really any political ramblings here (yet). I'm more interested in school things at the moment. It's really early on day 7 of classes so far. Yet, I have to wonder . . . why do I feel so overwhelmed already? I mean, I know I'm taking the hardest classes required by my major, yet why should I feel this way already? Am I simply freaking out over nothing? Is this all a bad omen for the semester to come? Will I be sane by the end of the year?
So, apparently, as I mull over my post-graduation plans, doing grad. school at ISU is a possibility. At least, a highly recommended possibility, though more opinions would be worth getting. I just wonder, though . . . do I want to stay at ISU? Are the relationships I've made here worth taking advantage of for grad. school? And what about outside of that? Do I want to maintain the community I have found myself in? Do I want to hold onto the friends I have made?
Speaking of friends, the people here never cease to amaze me. Yesterday was day 2 of having my . . . facial anomaly (if you know, you know, and if you don't, just take a look at me). The surprise for me was that nobody said a single word about it! Is this just because they were feeling polite and didn't want to bring it up, or is it because self-interest blinded their eyes? Several people asked me how my weekend was, and when I replied, "Long," I received responses of, "Oh, I'm sorry, anyways . . ." or "Me too! First I had to . . . " Yeesh. Not that I'm looking for a pity party here or anything, but I think I'm more bothered by people not asking than by their asking.
Okay, on to the news.
GOP Convention
Oh, how I wish I had a television. Alas. All I can do is surf the internet in search of people's thoughts on this thing. Oh well. It looks like the convention has been interesting so far. I'm glad to hear that the "moderate" republicans are remembering that they are, indeed, republicans.
Relics of Barbarism
An interesting parallel the authors draw here. While I see a valid connection, I wonder if anyone else disagrees with his assessment? If you do, care to explain why? (I'm taking an ethics class right now, I need the practice!)
Pressure Cooker Theory
Heh, okay, so normally I wouldn't post this, as I don't think it adds much to the current debate, but the last line was so funny I just couldn't resist. "What if Bush is reelected? If they lose to him again, Democrats will need more than just consolation. They'll need therapy."
Hypocrisy and the 527's
This has me more than a little miffed. What happened to free speech? John Kerry has relied so heavily on these PAC groups for months, and now one comes along that is actually going against him, and suddenly these groups are unconstitutional, evil, and must disappear? Actually, just the one: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
To make matters worse, President Bush has called for all 527 groups to keep out of the race. While I understand this as a purely political move, I still find it inappropriate. John Kerry's behavior much worse; he would have everyone condemn SBVT as liars and criminals without offering anything to disprove them. And where is the slander lawsuit if they are such liars?
Something I read elsewhere (sorry, no link), though I haven't been able to verify it anywhere else, is that President Bush has entered a lawsuit with John McCain against SBVT to get them to pull their ads off the air. If this is true, I can only express my shame at the President. I thought this was America, land of free speech? Urgh. Not that I won't be voting for him, as I don't see this as a huge deal breaker and it is unconfirmed yet, but he still should not do so. The Vietnam quagmire Kerry has found himself in, thanks in large part to SBVT, has helped the President tremendously in the polls. And while the group has said that it is, contrary to what the Democrats say, notBush's cronies and therefore won't take their ads off the air just because he says so, Bush should be thanking them with everything he has!
Well, that's it for now. Watch the convention everybody!
Hal
Okay, not really any political ramblings here (yet). I'm more interested in school things at the moment. It's really early on day 7 of classes so far. Yet, I have to wonder . . . why do I feel so overwhelmed already? I mean, I know I'm taking the hardest classes required by my major, yet why should I feel this way already? Am I simply freaking out over nothing? Is this all a bad omen for the semester to come? Will I be sane by the end of the year?
So, apparently, as I mull over my post-graduation plans, doing grad. school at ISU is a possibility. At least, a highly recommended possibility, though more opinions would be worth getting. I just wonder, though . . . do I want to stay at ISU? Are the relationships I've made here worth taking advantage of for grad. school? And what about outside of that? Do I want to maintain the community I have found myself in? Do I want to hold onto the friends I have made?
Speaking of friends, the people here never cease to amaze me. Yesterday was day 2 of having my . . . facial anomaly (if you know, you know, and if you don't, just take a look at me). The surprise for me was that nobody said a single word about it! Is this just because they were feeling polite and didn't want to bring it up, or is it because self-interest blinded their eyes? Several people asked me how my weekend was, and when I replied, "Long," I received responses of, "Oh, I'm sorry, anyways . . ." or "Me too! First I had to . . . " Yeesh. Not that I'm looking for a pity party here or anything, but I think I'm more bothered by people not asking than by their asking.
Okay, on to the news.
GOP Convention
Oh, how I wish I had a television. Alas. All I can do is surf the internet in search of people's thoughts on this thing. Oh well. It looks like the convention has been interesting so far. I'm glad to hear that the "moderate" republicans are remembering that they are, indeed, republicans.
Relics of Barbarism
An interesting parallel the authors draw here. While I see a valid connection, I wonder if anyone else disagrees with his assessment? If you do, care to explain why? (I'm taking an ethics class right now, I need the practice!)
Pressure Cooker Theory
Heh, okay, so normally I wouldn't post this, as I don't think it adds much to the current debate, but the last line was so funny I just couldn't resist. "What if Bush is reelected? If they lose to him again, Democrats will need more than just consolation. They'll need therapy."
Hypocrisy and the 527's
This has me more than a little miffed. What happened to free speech? John Kerry has relied so heavily on these PAC groups for months, and now one comes along that is actually going against him, and suddenly these groups are unconstitutional, evil, and must disappear? Actually, just the one: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
To make matters worse, President Bush has called for all 527 groups to keep out of the race. While I understand this as a purely political move, I still find it inappropriate. John Kerry's behavior much worse; he would have everyone condemn SBVT as liars and criminals without offering anything to disprove them. And where is the slander lawsuit if they are such liars?
Something I read elsewhere (sorry, no link), though I haven't been able to verify it anywhere else, is that President Bush has entered a lawsuit with John McCain against SBVT to get them to pull their ads off the air. If this is true, I can only express my shame at the President. I thought this was America, land of free speech? Urgh. Not that I won't be voting for him, as I don't see this as a huge deal breaker and it is unconfirmed yet, but he still should not do so. The Vietnam quagmire Kerry has found himself in, thanks in large part to SBVT, has helped the President tremendously in the polls. And while the group has said that it is, contrary to what the Democrats say, notBush's cronies and therefore won't take their ads off the air just because he says so, Bush should be thanking them with everything he has!
Well, that's it for now. Watch the convention everybody!
Hal
Monday, August 23, 2004
The summer hiatus is over
Back for more!
Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. I guess the post-Japan period of my summer left me disinclined to share my thoughts on the world. Never mind the crummy dial-up connection at home. No matter. There's too much to talk about that happened over the summer, but I suppose I can just get right in to talking about some current issues. Nothing exciting is happening in my own life, and the news just doesn't have much non-political things that are exciting, but we'll see what we can come up with, okay?
Tax cuts favor who?
Many people don't know much about this, but I consider this big. One of the big complaints against Bush's tax cut is that it only favors the wealthy, the middle class is being hurt, and so on. These numbers, given by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, paint a much different picture.
Apparently, after the tax cut (which offered refunds on overpayments, e.g. you get back according to what you paid in), the people who earn $100k+ pay a larger percentage of the taxes than before. Interesting. Continuing along, it seems that some of the lowest income earners, who receive money from the government at tax time, now receive even more money. Why does this not seem as sinister as what people made it out to be before?
John Kerry and Vietnam
Here's the next bit of political fun. Personally, it doesn't matter to me what Kerry did in Vietnam, though it is telling of him if he earned awards which he didn't deserve because he lied about it. I guess by making his service in Vietnam such a centerpiece of his candidacy, he deserves whatever scrutiny he's receiving, and if we're finding out he's not as heroic as he made himself out to be, then it's his own stupid fault.
However, I agree with the author here: Kerry's post-war behavior is far more important, especially his senate voting record. Kerry claimed Vietnam was filled with American war criminals, and now comes around saying how proud he is of his fellow veterans? Kerry says he will be strong on national security, yet has consistently voted down every effort to improve the military? That just doesn't sound trustworthy to me. It just seems wrong, somehow. But whatever. Kerry's records, Vietname and Senate aside, Bush has called for the debate on the candidates to be about what they will do, not what they have done. I'll get more into that in the future.
Communion Denied
This I find absolutely ridiculous. The communion is not valid if it is not wheat based? How legalistic! Where does that even come from? Wheat as we know it was unheard of in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. The bread he used was most likely barley.
The issues go beyond that, though. If the content of the host is so important, what about all of those churches in Africa? Many don't have access to wheat bread and grape wine, and make do with whatever substitute they can. Are their communions invalid too? What if the manufacturer made a mistake the diocese isn't aware of? What if the bread is stale or the wine has soured? How many priests world-wide, every day, "consecrate the host" and inadvertantly deprive the faithful of "the body and blood of Christ"?
I think it gets worse than that, though. This little girl cannot take communion, period. How is this different from excommunicating her? I mean, Catholics who are in sin or disagreement with the church are told not to partake. Non-Catholics are not allowed to partake. How is this any different? And didn't Jesus say that unless one partook of his body and blood, they had no life in them? In the Catholic sense, Jesus is denied her, but if this is followed to its logical conclusion, does this little girl have any hope of salvation in the eyes of the Catholic Church?
Y'know, the real ironic thing is that the Catholic Church can't come to a consensus whether or not John Kerry can receive communion.
All right, that's enough out of me for today. Hopefully, I shall have frequent updates again (now that my internet connection is back in the modern age), so if you're actually still reading my blog, stay tuned!
Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted last. I guess the post-Japan period of my summer left me disinclined to share my thoughts on the world. Never mind the crummy dial-up connection at home. No matter. There's too much to talk about that happened over the summer, but I suppose I can just get right in to talking about some current issues. Nothing exciting is happening in my own life, and the news just doesn't have much non-political things that are exciting, but we'll see what we can come up with, okay?
Tax cuts favor who?
Many people don't know much about this, but I consider this big. One of the big complaints against Bush's tax cut is that it only favors the wealthy, the middle class is being hurt, and so on. These numbers, given by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, paint a much different picture.
Apparently, after the tax cut (which offered refunds on overpayments, e.g. you get back according to what you paid in), the people who earn $100k+ pay a larger percentage of the taxes than before. Interesting. Continuing along, it seems that some of the lowest income earners, who receive money from the government at tax time, now receive even more money. Why does this not seem as sinister as what people made it out to be before?
John Kerry and Vietnam
Here's the next bit of political fun. Personally, it doesn't matter to me what Kerry did in Vietnam, though it is telling of him if he earned awards which he didn't deserve because he lied about it. I guess by making his service in Vietnam such a centerpiece of his candidacy, he deserves whatever scrutiny he's receiving, and if we're finding out he's not as heroic as he made himself out to be, then it's his own stupid fault.
However, I agree with the author here: Kerry's post-war behavior is far more important, especially his senate voting record. Kerry claimed Vietnam was filled with American war criminals, and now comes around saying how proud he is of his fellow veterans? Kerry says he will be strong on national security, yet has consistently voted down every effort to improve the military? That just doesn't sound trustworthy to me. It just seems wrong, somehow. But whatever. Kerry's records, Vietname and Senate aside, Bush has called for the debate on the candidates to be about what they will do, not what they have done. I'll get more into that in the future.
Communion Denied
This I find absolutely ridiculous. The communion is not valid if it is not wheat based? How legalistic! Where does that even come from? Wheat as we know it was unheard of in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. The bread he used was most likely barley.
The issues go beyond that, though. If the content of the host is so important, what about all of those churches in Africa? Many don't have access to wheat bread and grape wine, and make do with whatever substitute they can. Are their communions invalid too? What if the manufacturer made a mistake the diocese isn't aware of? What if the bread is stale or the wine has soured? How many priests world-wide, every day, "consecrate the host" and inadvertantly deprive the faithful of "the body and blood of Christ"?
I think it gets worse than that, though. This little girl cannot take communion, period. How is this different from excommunicating her? I mean, Catholics who are in sin or disagreement with the church are told not to partake. Non-Catholics are not allowed to partake. How is this any different? And didn't Jesus say that unless one partook of his body and blood, they had no life in them? In the Catholic sense, Jesus is denied her, but if this is followed to its logical conclusion, does this little girl have any hope of salvation in the eyes of the Catholic Church?
Y'know, the real ironic thing is that the Catholic Church can't come to a consensus whether or not John Kerry can receive communion.
All right, that's enough out of me for today. Hopefully, I shall have frequent updates again (now that my internet connection is back in the modern age), so if you're actually still reading my blog, stay tuned!
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Japanese Adventure VII
Ha ha, okay, so maybe I'm a little behind on my updates. Returning from Japan left me with a lot to do and not much time to do it in, so I've been putting off updating the blog. However, I now will finish the job. Yikes, can you believe I originally intended to go back and put in more detail on the last entry? Not anymore. It will be enough just to finish this sucker off. Ah well.
Sunday 6/6
Okay, this was the first day on the trip that I found myself feeling miserable. I woke up and felt quite ill. I couldn't figure out why. Had I not slept enough? Perhaps I was hungry? Either way, I just felt exhausted, sore, and generally unhealthy. There was no helping it, though; I was going to church! Hooray for my first trip to church since arriving in Japan! Maeda-sensei agreed to take me to this large (for Japan, apparently) Presbyterian church in town. It's a shame he himself is not a Christian, but I figured this was a good opportunity for him to at least have some exposure. He picked me up and off we went. One of the members, an older man, knew some english and translated as much of the service as he could for me. Actually, it turns out most of the 100 or so members were older. I saw very few people under 30, and I could count on one hand the number of people under 20. Oh well. Seeing a Japanese church was a cool experience, even if I couldn't understand a word of it. It was pretty much like any other traditional church service.
Returning from the service was a blessing. I had been feeling light headed the entire time, but by the time I returned, I thought I was going to just fall over. Yasushi ate a light lunch with me, but reminded me we were going to the park to meet Fujiko for a picnic at 2. The lunch helped some, so I thought I would be all right.
We left and arrived at the park to find Fujiko and another family there, with the children off playing. I talked with them a little, and ate a little bit of food, but I spent the afternoon napping in a chair off and on. They kept offering me food, but between my tiredness, my sore back, and my queasy stomach, I wanted nothing to do with it. I ended up leaving about 4, with Yasushi guiding me back. I returned, and slept then from 5 until 7. I awoke and prepared for bed and finished watching "The Fujitive" (Yay for movie channels in english!) and then went back to sleep. I was definitely sick.
Monday 6/7
By this time, I knew I was sick with something. I woke up and felt miserable again. Thankfully, I had no class until 1, and Fujiko wanted me to stick around so she could run errands. This was a fine opportunity to take a nap. Sadly, I slept on my hands, and when I woke up, Fujiko walked into my room to see me attempting to wake my hands up, waving them around and grasping at nothing. Ooops. Getting to class was then quite miserable. During class, I was so out of it that Fujikane-sensei surely noticed the funk I was in. I was barely coherent, much less teachable. Yikes. I went back right after class (another miserable ride) and rested the entire evening.
Tuesday 6/8
Tuesday did not fare much better. I felt much better and much livelier (is that a word?) . . . at first. After class in the afternoon, my stomach began to ache horribly. I thought the ghost of my appendix had returned to torment me, until the truth came out . . . pun intended. Let me just take a moment now to say that I apologize for nothing; having gas is part of being human and it really affected me at this point in my trip.
I spent my time after class that day sitting at home and trying to get rid of gas the natural, God-designed way :-)
Wednesday 6/9
This was a full day. It started with lunch on the quad with some of the Japanese students. "Jingis kan." Ha ha. It was fun, though socialization is hard when you don't speak much japanese, and the other don't speak much english. Someday, I will return with more and get so much more out of the trip. In any case, Dan and another guy were taking shots out of some bottle that was 110 proof or something. He was pretty buzzed by the time we made it to class later. What a loser.
It was after class that I found out that Aggie, one of the Chinese girls, broke her nose the night before. It made for an awkward moment when Dan and Young were comforting their respective girlfriends and I sat at the computer, wishing I wasn't in the room. I wanted to visit her in the hospital (she had to have surgery to fix this), but nobody ever took me to go or told me where it was she was staying. Grrr.
We had to write speeches in class for the farewell party given by the university that night. We arrived with our speeches, Fujikane-sensei translated, and we left. Wee . . . waiting for the others was boring. She did buy us gifts, though. How very thoughtful!
That night, at the party, I was a celebrity again. I took more pictures with people I hadn't seen since the welcome party (or even at all!). We gave our speeches, and apparently my pronunciation and rhythm is butt-kickin'! We saw a recorder group play, our host families gave speeches, we received gifts . . . it was a grand, if somewhat dull, occasion. Saying good-bye was hard, but all things must end.
On a side note, my gas was even worse this day. I had to do some very creative work at the party, let me tell you . . .
Thursday, 6/10
This day was really bad. First sickness, then gas, and finally full-blown diarrhea. I just knew the food was going to get to me at some point or another. I stayed home the entire day. I didn't want to leave at all. This was sad, though, because I was to go see a museum with the man who had translated at church for me on Sunday. I felt bad for cancelling on him, but there was no way I was going anywhere. By the evening, I felt a bit better, and went with Fujiko to the Hippo meeting. This was actually fun for the first time. I was sad to say good-bye, but it must be so.
Before the meeting, Fujiko bought me a pair of "jin-bei." It's a pajama/kimono thing, and I now look like a weirdo when I sit around the house :-)
Friday 6/11
Oh, I was glad to be feeling better this day! I went to Biei with Mike, Dan, Ayaka, and her cousin. This was pretty fun; being around Dan isn't bad all the time. We saw some mountains and flowers . . . very dull to explain, though the pictures are pretty. We made some stops along the way. The first was at a 7-11, where I tasted my first and last "Golden Grape Fanta". If I ever find this again, I shall be a happy man. The second stop was to try lavender flavored ice cream. Not bad, really. The third stop was so Ayaka could smoke. Oh well. We had a lot of fun all the same.
I returned, but Fujiko was not there, so I walked downtown to the grocery store and bought a bunch of Pocky. Yes! I hope to find it in America somewhere, because I am definitely now hooked on this stuff. The rest of the evening was TV and cards with the family, but we did have sushi for dinner. I must say, I'm not a fan, but it's the wasabi, not the sashimi. I had fun being with the family, though I couldn't sleep, so ended up watching some late night TV with Yasushi and Fujiko. Worked up, I guess.
Saturday 6/12
This was a ridiculous adventure. I have never packed so much into so little. My suitcase and other bags were literally bulging at the seams. I was afraid they would explode. Yasushi had to leave for work, so he said good-bye before I left. The rest of us went to Michael's at 9, with our plane departing at 10:30, and Mike wasn't ready to leave until almost an hour later. Yikes . . . I was so afraid we were going to be late because he couldn't pack his bags on time. We arrived at the airport to see the other guys, half of Hippo, many of the university students, and our professors. Wow. It was nice, as we were taking pictures and saying good-byes and people were continually shoving gifts into our hands and bags. (We guys agreed: We were already on the verge of collapse due to the weight of our bags, and there's a fine line between breaking your back and enjoying a warm muffin.) Lots of tears in saying good-bye to Fujiko and family, but it must happen.
Unfortunately, this is where my luggage adventure began. I had my 4 wine bottles in 2 boxes packed in my suitcase, but apparently this was not allowed. They made me take them out, but allowed them to come on the airplane in bags they provided(never mind the corkscrew in the box!). Now I had 3 carry-ons, but no one cared.
On the plane to Haneda, I read a newspaper in english. It was heavenly to see an english publication again. Arrival, though, alerted me to the fact that my combined luggage was WAY too heavy to lug around a lot. Quite miserable. When we made it to Narita, it was still perfectly fine for me to take 3 carry-ons . . . on. We had dinner at the Big Boy in the food court. Let's have some math . . . Airport + Japanese "American" food = Weird. At least it was food. It was also nice at this point to see westerners frequently. I missed english and people who didn't look at me like I was an alien. It was a good day . . . Dan and Mike got along, we made it to our destination . . . it was good.
The flight out was long, boring, and uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep, so I watched movies. What do I say about this? Long flights are boring, and my thoughts were continually centered around the same things they had been the entire time I was in Japan. Arriving, though, was a pain. First, we had to wait in LONG lines. Stupid customs. Customs stole my food that Fujiko had given to me. Apparently beef curry mix is too dangerous for America. Go figure. Then the airport shuttle was so crowded, and yet people insisted on shoving me and my abundance of luggage into a tiny space. Grr . . . To top things off, the luggage nazis of O'Hare suddenly refused to allow 3 carry-ons. Why was it okay in Tokyo but not Chicago? I managed to get it done, but not after a lot of hassle and a lot of dirty looks from people who were held up by me (If you want more details on this, just ask, but be warned: The story gets me riled up). Incidentally, the corkscrew still made it onboard. These people are not doing their jobs.
By this time, waiting for my flight back to St. Louis, I was so exhausted I just wanted to sleep, but I was alone now, having split with Mike and Dan, and thus was too fearful of luggage being pilfered to take a terminal nap. I was dead-tired, hungry, sweaty and gross (the bathrooms did not help the gross feeling, sadly), and could do nothing about any of those. Well, I did eat some dinner, but the place was so crowded that I didn't really get to enjoy it. Ach.
At least the flight back wasn't so bad. I got to chat with some very nice people. One was a guy who just finished finding an apartment in Boston near the university he was transferring to. Apparently he's a really good jazz pianist, as well. Cool. The other was a girl starting university in the fall who just returned from Europe. We all had a good chat before landing in St. Louis.
Well, after landing in St. Louis, my trip was finally over. I was very glad to see my family again. We talked a lot, but I mostly slept. I was glad to be home, and I continue to be glad to be home. I hope you all enjoyed reading the epic tale that was my trip to Japan, and do feel free to ask for any additional details or stories. I will gladly provide :-)
Hal
Sunday 6/6
Okay, this was the first day on the trip that I found myself feeling miserable. I woke up and felt quite ill. I couldn't figure out why. Had I not slept enough? Perhaps I was hungry? Either way, I just felt exhausted, sore, and generally unhealthy. There was no helping it, though; I was going to church! Hooray for my first trip to church since arriving in Japan! Maeda-sensei agreed to take me to this large (for Japan, apparently) Presbyterian church in town. It's a shame he himself is not a Christian, but I figured this was a good opportunity for him to at least have some exposure. He picked me up and off we went. One of the members, an older man, knew some english and translated as much of the service as he could for me. Actually, it turns out most of the 100 or so members were older. I saw very few people under 30, and I could count on one hand the number of people under 20. Oh well. Seeing a Japanese church was a cool experience, even if I couldn't understand a word of it. It was pretty much like any other traditional church service.
Returning from the service was a blessing. I had been feeling light headed the entire time, but by the time I returned, I thought I was going to just fall over. Yasushi ate a light lunch with me, but reminded me we were going to the park to meet Fujiko for a picnic at 2. The lunch helped some, so I thought I would be all right.
We left and arrived at the park to find Fujiko and another family there, with the children off playing. I talked with them a little, and ate a little bit of food, but I spent the afternoon napping in a chair off and on. They kept offering me food, but between my tiredness, my sore back, and my queasy stomach, I wanted nothing to do with it. I ended up leaving about 4, with Yasushi guiding me back. I returned, and slept then from 5 until 7. I awoke and prepared for bed and finished watching "The Fujitive" (Yay for movie channels in english!) and then went back to sleep. I was definitely sick.
Monday 6/7
By this time, I knew I was sick with something. I woke up and felt miserable again. Thankfully, I had no class until 1, and Fujiko wanted me to stick around so she could run errands. This was a fine opportunity to take a nap. Sadly, I slept on my hands, and when I woke up, Fujiko walked into my room to see me attempting to wake my hands up, waving them around and grasping at nothing. Ooops. Getting to class was then quite miserable. During class, I was so out of it that Fujikane-sensei surely noticed the funk I was in. I was barely coherent, much less teachable. Yikes. I went back right after class (another miserable ride) and rested the entire evening.
Tuesday 6/8
Tuesday did not fare much better. I felt much better and much livelier (is that a word?) . . . at first. After class in the afternoon, my stomach began to ache horribly. I thought the ghost of my appendix had returned to torment me, until the truth came out . . . pun intended. Let me just take a moment now to say that I apologize for nothing; having gas is part of being human and it really affected me at this point in my trip.
I spent my time after class that day sitting at home and trying to get rid of gas the natural, God-designed way :-)
Wednesday 6/9
This was a full day. It started with lunch on the quad with some of the Japanese students. "Jingis kan." Ha ha. It was fun, though socialization is hard when you don't speak much japanese, and the other don't speak much english. Someday, I will return with more and get so much more out of the trip. In any case, Dan and another guy were taking shots out of some bottle that was 110 proof or something. He was pretty buzzed by the time we made it to class later. What a loser.
It was after class that I found out that Aggie, one of the Chinese girls, broke her nose the night before. It made for an awkward moment when Dan and Young were comforting their respective girlfriends and I sat at the computer, wishing I wasn't in the room. I wanted to visit her in the hospital (she had to have surgery to fix this), but nobody ever took me to go or told me where it was she was staying. Grrr.
We had to write speeches in class for the farewell party given by the university that night. We arrived with our speeches, Fujikane-sensei translated, and we left. Wee . . . waiting for the others was boring. She did buy us gifts, though. How very thoughtful!
That night, at the party, I was a celebrity again. I took more pictures with people I hadn't seen since the welcome party (or even at all!). We gave our speeches, and apparently my pronunciation and rhythm is butt-kickin'! We saw a recorder group play, our host families gave speeches, we received gifts . . . it was a grand, if somewhat dull, occasion. Saying good-bye was hard, but all things must end.
On a side note, my gas was even worse this day. I had to do some very creative work at the party, let me tell you . . .
Thursday, 6/10
This day was really bad. First sickness, then gas, and finally full-blown diarrhea. I just knew the food was going to get to me at some point or another. I stayed home the entire day. I didn't want to leave at all. This was sad, though, because I was to go see a museum with the man who had translated at church for me on Sunday. I felt bad for cancelling on him, but there was no way I was going anywhere. By the evening, I felt a bit better, and went with Fujiko to the Hippo meeting. This was actually fun for the first time. I was sad to say good-bye, but it must be so.
Before the meeting, Fujiko bought me a pair of "jin-bei." It's a pajama/kimono thing, and I now look like a weirdo when I sit around the house :-)
Friday 6/11
Oh, I was glad to be feeling better this day! I went to Biei with Mike, Dan, Ayaka, and her cousin. This was pretty fun; being around Dan isn't bad all the time. We saw some mountains and flowers . . . very dull to explain, though the pictures are pretty. We made some stops along the way. The first was at a 7-11, where I tasted my first and last "Golden Grape Fanta". If I ever find this again, I shall be a happy man. The second stop was to try lavender flavored ice cream. Not bad, really. The third stop was so Ayaka could smoke. Oh well. We had a lot of fun all the same.
I returned, but Fujiko was not there, so I walked downtown to the grocery store and bought a bunch of Pocky. Yes! I hope to find it in America somewhere, because I am definitely now hooked on this stuff. The rest of the evening was TV and cards with the family, but we did have sushi for dinner. I must say, I'm not a fan, but it's the wasabi, not the sashimi. I had fun being with the family, though I couldn't sleep, so ended up watching some late night TV with Yasushi and Fujiko. Worked up, I guess.
Saturday 6/12
This was a ridiculous adventure. I have never packed so much into so little. My suitcase and other bags were literally bulging at the seams. I was afraid they would explode. Yasushi had to leave for work, so he said good-bye before I left. The rest of us went to Michael's at 9, with our plane departing at 10:30, and Mike wasn't ready to leave until almost an hour later. Yikes . . . I was so afraid we were going to be late because he couldn't pack his bags on time. We arrived at the airport to see the other guys, half of Hippo, many of the university students, and our professors. Wow. It was nice, as we were taking pictures and saying good-byes and people were continually shoving gifts into our hands and bags. (We guys agreed: We were already on the verge of collapse due to the weight of our bags, and there's a fine line between breaking your back and enjoying a warm muffin.) Lots of tears in saying good-bye to Fujiko and family, but it must happen.
Unfortunately, this is where my luggage adventure began. I had my 4 wine bottles in 2 boxes packed in my suitcase, but apparently this was not allowed. They made me take them out, but allowed them to come on the airplane in bags they provided(never mind the corkscrew in the box!). Now I had 3 carry-ons, but no one cared.
On the plane to Haneda, I read a newspaper in english. It was heavenly to see an english publication again. Arrival, though, alerted me to the fact that my combined luggage was WAY too heavy to lug around a lot. Quite miserable. When we made it to Narita, it was still perfectly fine for me to take 3 carry-ons . . . on. We had dinner at the Big Boy in the food court. Let's have some math . . . Airport + Japanese "American" food = Weird. At least it was food. It was also nice at this point to see westerners frequently. I missed english and people who didn't look at me like I was an alien. It was a good day . . . Dan and Mike got along, we made it to our destination . . . it was good.
The flight out was long, boring, and uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep, so I watched movies. What do I say about this? Long flights are boring, and my thoughts were continually centered around the same things they had been the entire time I was in Japan. Arriving, though, was a pain. First, we had to wait in LONG lines. Stupid customs. Customs stole my food that Fujiko had given to me. Apparently beef curry mix is too dangerous for America. Go figure. Then the airport shuttle was so crowded, and yet people insisted on shoving me and my abundance of luggage into a tiny space. Grr . . . To top things off, the luggage nazis of O'Hare suddenly refused to allow 3 carry-ons. Why was it okay in Tokyo but not Chicago? I managed to get it done, but not after a lot of hassle and a lot of dirty looks from people who were held up by me (If you want more details on this, just ask, but be warned: The story gets me riled up). Incidentally, the corkscrew still made it onboard. These people are not doing their jobs.
By this time, waiting for my flight back to St. Louis, I was so exhausted I just wanted to sleep, but I was alone now, having split with Mike and Dan, and thus was too fearful of luggage being pilfered to take a terminal nap. I was dead-tired, hungry, sweaty and gross (the bathrooms did not help the gross feeling, sadly), and could do nothing about any of those. Well, I did eat some dinner, but the place was so crowded that I didn't really get to enjoy it. Ach.
At least the flight back wasn't so bad. I got to chat with some very nice people. One was a guy who just finished finding an apartment in Boston near the university he was transferring to. Apparently he's a really good jazz pianist, as well. Cool. The other was a girl starting university in the fall who just returned from Europe. We all had a good chat before landing in St. Louis.
Well, after landing in St. Louis, my trip was finally over. I was very glad to see my family again. We talked a lot, but I mostly slept. I was glad to be home, and I continue to be glad to be home. I hope you all enjoyed reading the epic tale that was my trip to Japan, and do feel free to ask for any additional details or stories. I will gladly provide :-)
Hal
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Japanese Adventure VI
All right, trying this again . . . (If things are condensed, it is because I am frustrated at having to write this a second time, and I have a lot to put in. If you really want more detail and content, ASK and ye shall receive.)
Saturday 5/29
This was the day we took a trip to a hot spring resort on Mt. Asahidake. Four Americans, five Chinese, two Japanese, and two professors. We showed up at the train station and left by bus. Dan was hung over. He is my argument against heavy drinking. Seriously.
Unfortunately, it was raining. So, instead of ascending to the summit to see the sights, we hiked over to a waterfall. This was very beautiful; you can't see this kind of stuff in Illinois. However, when that was all said and done, we had to wait out our time at a rest stop until cabs picked us up and took us to our lodge. This was fine, but the arcade was weird. Games with cigarettes and beer in them right next to children's games. And, next to traditional children's video games, a video mah jong game that rewarded you with bikini-clad women and girls lifting their skirts. Yikes, Americans would have a heart attack if those ended up in a mall at home.
So, we ended up at the lodge. It smelled funny. The owner explained use to us, but it was in Japanese (surprise), so most of us let our minds wander to far away places. After settling down, we walked up the road to the visitor center to watch a "nature video." Essentially, it was flowers swaying in the breeze and gentle piano music . . . zzzzzz . . . Yeah, everyone slept. What was our professor thinking, scheduling that? After that, we walked up to the cable car station, but instead of going up the mountain like we had originally planned, we just bummed around the gift shop.
We pretty much just bummed until dinner after that. Played UNO with some of the other students. The Chinese students had never seen it before, so that was kinda fun. After a while, we finally started making dinner, and this was a big event. Everyone helped. We made some skillet dish whose name I cannot remember or pronounce properly, but it was good. Sadly, most ingredients for it are unavailable in the US. Alas.
After dinner, the guys were given their turn in the hot spring. It's a public bath, which means nakedness. Generally, naked Hal is very very shy, but I figured I may as well live for once in my life. Thankfully, all of us except for Dan wear glasses, so none of us could really see anything anyhow. This made it easier. And Dan was drunk, so he didn't matter anyhow. Ah, Dan, every charming. He constatly screamed out that he was so $#%&ing drunk. Good for you Dan, good for you.
I played cards with Mike after that. Tried witnessing to him. There's a lot of issues that he just doesn't want to think about. I hope God gives me another opportunity to share with him.
Sunday 5/30
Woke up early, but since there are no churches on the mountain, I walked around in the fog and enjoyed God's creation. It really is beautiful on the mountain. Came back and spent some time in the scriptures. Had breakfast with the others. Cleaned up the lodge. Left it MUCH cleaner than we found it. Took the bus back to Asahikawa.
Spent the afternoon resting. Met Fujiko's parents. They were nice, but didn't know much english, so we didn't have much to talk about. Went to Sugai to bowl with Mike. This was fun, but he's really anti-social, I could barely get him to talk the entire time. Oh well.
Monday 5/31
We were supposed to visit the high school this day, but the administration finally figured out that we aren't education majors. That was cancelled. The system works!
Our experience was replaced with a tour of a computer/mapping company after Japanese class. This was mostly interesting; I say mostly because after a while, one map looks just like another. The giant printers were cool, though, as were the special, 3D maps. And we were given free stuff for visiting. I'd say the school made a good choice on that one.
Tuesday 6/1
Okay, this day was weird. We had double sessions of Japanese lined up, but were given the option of only attending one, as one was indicated as "advanced", and the other "beginner". Which do you think I chose?
After class, we had "Flower Arrangement." This was just so strange. We show up, and there are more students in there than there are exchange students. Okay, fine, they're there to help. Well, they didn't really. None of them had done this before. Ooooookay, so the teacher will explain to us what to do . . . in Japanese. Okay, so now we're supposed to arrange flowers. How? I guess I'll just jam the flowers in, make it look kinda like what the picture on this sheet with all the Japanese writing says. And now everyone is applauding this and taking pictures. Oy.
I even asked the teacher what made a good/bad flower arrangement, and she just said that all of ours were good. Yikes. We finished after, maybe, half an hour. However, instead of leaving, they started the TEA CEREMONY. Yikes, why? This wasn't part of the plan. Then we sit around for a good 45 minutes in awkward, awkward conversation. The students asking us questions, us answering for them as best we could. No one ever said what we were supposed to be doing or what was on the schedule, so this was just bizarre and uncomfortable. To make matters worse, Dan changed one of Mike's answers for him because he didn't think anyone would know what Mike said, and Mike proceeds to call Dan things which I simply cannot repeat. Yeah . . . that helped matters.
I returned crabby and tired. After dinner, I managed to sneak the children out of my room (they just never leave me alone!) and fall asleep at 6:30. Wow. Unfortunately, I woke up at 8:30 and couldn't sleep again until about 10. Oh well.
Wednesday 6/2
We began the day with cooking class. This was interesting. We had four groups, and each made a different dish or two. This resulted, unfortunately, in way too much food. It was an interesting experience, but the end result was mixed. Most of the food wasn't very good (for example, the fish was VERY salty), and the largest part of the meal was tofu, and I really dislike tofu. Gross. At least the Japanese girls think I have good cooking skills.
The afternoon led to another "art history" class. This time, we watched an "artistic" movie. Dan liked it, but I found it to be just too strange. You could never tell what was happening, or when. "Labyrinth in the Field" was the title. Avoid it like the plague. Too strange, and too much gratuitous nudity/sex. I think my eyes must have leaped 3 feet from my head when a girl ripped her entire kimono off in one fell swoop and attempted to have her way with the main character. Yikes.
In the evening, I managed to skip a Hippo meeting to "study". I dodged the bullet on that one.
Thursday 6/3
Well, I forgot about class this morning and ended up there 10 minutes late. Oops. I did get to go bowling with one of the Japanese students in the afternoon. This was pretty fun, although I think she lied to me when she said she wasn't very good. She trounced me with a score of 150. Unfortunately, she wasn't too interested in discussing Christianity, but I guess you can't win them all.
This evening, though, I couldn't escape my fate any longer: I had to go to a Hippo meeting. This was thoroughly boring. Just like every other time. Thankfully, it didn't last forever. Fujiko took us for ice cream afterwards. She totally uses me as an excuse to indulge. Consequently, I shall return a much fatter man than I left.
Friday 6/4
Typical day to start: Morning Japanese class. In the afternoon, we learned to play koto, this traditional Japanese guitar/harp thingy. This was fun, but the little finger picks were too small, and I kept breaking the thumb picks. Mike didn't like it; I don't think music is his thing.
I returned home in the afternoon for a party at the apartment. Or so I thought. See, the building has this "party apartment" for residents to use. This is good; I wondered how the Hirabashis would fit people into their tiny apartment. Anyhow, the party was pretty boring. It was a few Hippo members, and since most only spoke a little english, we didn't have much to say. Mike showed up eventually, so I got to talk to him for a while. One of the Hippo moms did have fun dressing me up. You could say I was a "Kendo-Ken". Viewing of these pictures begins at $10 for negatives, $25 for photos.
Saturday 6/5
This was a full day. The morning was spent at an art museum (small, but worth is; they had a brand new exhibit by an artist who did nothing but nature scenes . . . sweet!). Had to leave early because Yuki wanted ice cream. Oy.
The afternoon was spent watching a marching band competition in the city. This was pretty neat. Most of the schools had no uniforms, though. T-shirts and jeans, mostly.
Okay, I have again run out of time. I would keep writing, but the days would not receive the justice they deserve (they already have been given too little), and I want you to actually understand what I've been up to, not just get the basic sketch. So, I shall update the rest later. Most likely, that will be after I return. So, pray for my safe return and anticipate some good stories and details when I return this weekend!
Hal
Saturday 5/29
This was the day we took a trip to a hot spring resort on Mt. Asahidake. Four Americans, five Chinese, two Japanese, and two professors. We showed up at the train station and left by bus. Dan was hung over. He is my argument against heavy drinking. Seriously.
Unfortunately, it was raining. So, instead of ascending to the summit to see the sights, we hiked over to a waterfall. This was very beautiful; you can't see this kind of stuff in Illinois. However, when that was all said and done, we had to wait out our time at a rest stop until cabs picked us up and took us to our lodge. This was fine, but the arcade was weird. Games with cigarettes and beer in them right next to children's games. And, next to traditional children's video games, a video mah jong game that rewarded you with bikini-clad women and girls lifting their skirts. Yikes, Americans would have a heart attack if those ended up in a mall at home.
So, we ended up at the lodge. It smelled funny. The owner explained use to us, but it was in Japanese (surprise), so most of us let our minds wander to far away places. After settling down, we walked up the road to the visitor center to watch a "nature video." Essentially, it was flowers swaying in the breeze and gentle piano music . . . zzzzzz . . . Yeah, everyone slept. What was our professor thinking, scheduling that? After that, we walked up to the cable car station, but instead of going up the mountain like we had originally planned, we just bummed around the gift shop.
We pretty much just bummed until dinner after that. Played UNO with some of the other students. The Chinese students had never seen it before, so that was kinda fun. After a while, we finally started making dinner, and this was a big event. Everyone helped. We made some skillet dish whose name I cannot remember or pronounce properly, but it was good. Sadly, most ingredients for it are unavailable in the US. Alas.
After dinner, the guys were given their turn in the hot spring. It's a public bath, which means nakedness. Generally, naked Hal is very very shy, but I figured I may as well live for once in my life. Thankfully, all of us except for Dan wear glasses, so none of us could really see anything anyhow. This made it easier. And Dan was drunk, so he didn't matter anyhow. Ah, Dan, every charming. He constatly screamed out that he was so $#%&ing drunk. Good for you Dan, good for you.
I played cards with Mike after that. Tried witnessing to him. There's a lot of issues that he just doesn't want to think about. I hope God gives me another opportunity to share with him.
Sunday 5/30
Woke up early, but since there are no churches on the mountain, I walked around in the fog and enjoyed God's creation. It really is beautiful on the mountain. Came back and spent some time in the scriptures. Had breakfast with the others. Cleaned up the lodge. Left it MUCH cleaner than we found it. Took the bus back to Asahikawa.
Spent the afternoon resting. Met Fujiko's parents. They were nice, but didn't know much english, so we didn't have much to talk about. Went to Sugai to bowl with Mike. This was fun, but he's really anti-social, I could barely get him to talk the entire time. Oh well.
Monday 5/31
We were supposed to visit the high school this day, but the administration finally figured out that we aren't education majors. That was cancelled. The system works!
Our experience was replaced with a tour of a computer/mapping company after Japanese class. This was mostly interesting; I say mostly because after a while, one map looks just like another. The giant printers were cool, though, as were the special, 3D maps. And we were given free stuff for visiting. I'd say the school made a good choice on that one.
Tuesday 6/1
Okay, this day was weird. We had double sessions of Japanese lined up, but were given the option of only attending one, as one was indicated as "advanced", and the other "beginner". Which do you think I chose?
After class, we had "Flower Arrangement." This was just so strange. We show up, and there are more students in there than there are exchange students. Okay, fine, they're there to help. Well, they didn't really. None of them had done this before. Ooooookay, so the teacher will explain to us what to do . . . in Japanese. Okay, so now we're supposed to arrange flowers. How? I guess I'll just jam the flowers in, make it look kinda like what the picture on this sheet with all the Japanese writing says. And now everyone is applauding this and taking pictures. Oy.
I even asked the teacher what made a good/bad flower arrangement, and she just said that all of ours were good. Yikes. We finished after, maybe, half an hour. However, instead of leaving, they started the TEA CEREMONY. Yikes, why? This wasn't part of the plan. Then we sit around for a good 45 minutes in awkward, awkward conversation. The students asking us questions, us answering for them as best we could. No one ever said what we were supposed to be doing or what was on the schedule, so this was just bizarre and uncomfortable. To make matters worse, Dan changed one of Mike's answers for him because he didn't think anyone would know what Mike said, and Mike proceeds to call Dan things which I simply cannot repeat. Yeah . . . that helped matters.
I returned crabby and tired. After dinner, I managed to sneak the children out of my room (they just never leave me alone!) and fall asleep at 6:30. Wow. Unfortunately, I woke up at 8:30 and couldn't sleep again until about 10. Oh well.
Wednesday 6/2
We began the day with cooking class. This was interesting. We had four groups, and each made a different dish or two. This resulted, unfortunately, in way too much food. It was an interesting experience, but the end result was mixed. Most of the food wasn't very good (for example, the fish was VERY salty), and the largest part of the meal was tofu, and I really dislike tofu. Gross. At least the Japanese girls think I have good cooking skills.
The afternoon led to another "art history" class. This time, we watched an "artistic" movie. Dan liked it, but I found it to be just too strange. You could never tell what was happening, or when. "Labyrinth in the Field" was the title. Avoid it like the plague. Too strange, and too much gratuitous nudity/sex. I think my eyes must have leaped 3 feet from my head when a girl ripped her entire kimono off in one fell swoop and attempted to have her way with the main character. Yikes.
In the evening, I managed to skip a Hippo meeting to "study". I dodged the bullet on that one.
Thursday 6/3
Well, I forgot about class this morning and ended up there 10 minutes late. Oops. I did get to go bowling with one of the Japanese students in the afternoon. This was pretty fun, although I think she lied to me when she said she wasn't very good. She trounced me with a score of 150. Unfortunately, she wasn't too interested in discussing Christianity, but I guess you can't win them all.
This evening, though, I couldn't escape my fate any longer: I had to go to a Hippo meeting. This was thoroughly boring. Just like every other time. Thankfully, it didn't last forever. Fujiko took us for ice cream afterwards. She totally uses me as an excuse to indulge. Consequently, I shall return a much fatter man than I left.
Friday 6/4
Typical day to start: Morning Japanese class. In the afternoon, we learned to play koto, this traditional Japanese guitar/harp thingy. This was fun, but the little finger picks were too small, and I kept breaking the thumb picks. Mike didn't like it; I don't think music is his thing.
I returned home in the afternoon for a party at the apartment. Or so I thought. See, the building has this "party apartment" for residents to use. This is good; I wondered how the Hirabashis would fit people into their tiny apartment. Anyhow, the party was pretty boring. It was a few Hippo members, and since most only spoke a little english, we didn't have much to say. Mike showed up eventually, so I got to talk to him for a while. One of the Hippo moms did have fun dressing me up. You could say I was a "Kendo-Ken". Viewing of these pictures begins at $10 for negatives, $25 for photos.
Saturday 6/5
This was a full day. The morning was spent at an art museum (small, but worth is; they had a brand new exhibit by an artist who did nothing but nature scenes . . . sweet!). Had to leave early because Yuki wanted ice cream. Oy.
The afternoon was spent watching a marching band competition in the city. This was pretty neat. Most of the schools had no uniforms, though. T-shirts and jeans, mostly.
Okay, I have again run out of time. I would keep writing, but the days would not receive the justice they deserve (they already have been given too little), and I want you to actually understand what I've been up to, not just get the basic sketch. So, I shall update the rest later. Most likely, that will be after I return. So, pray for my safe return and anticipate some good stories and details when I return this weekend!
Hal
Monday, June 07, 2004
Memo
All right, people, here's the deal: I spent about 2 hours this morning writing up a nice, long update, only to be interrupted half-way through by class starting in here. I am very annoyed by the concept of having class in our international lounge/computer lab area, but whatever. I figured I'd post what I had written in those 2 hours and finish the rest later.
However, the gods of the internet are not being merciful today. Something went wrong in within the bowels of the blogger servers, and my post became yet another sacrifice to said net deities, as you can see.
That being said, updates about my recent goings-on are delayed yet again, most likely until tomorrow, because I have class in about 20 minutes and I am spending my evening shopping and visiting the post office.
I apologize for the delays, and I thank you for your continued readership and patience in this matter.
Management
(AKA - Hal)
However, the gods of the internet are not being merciful today. Something went wrong in within the bowels of the blogger servers, and my post became yet another sacrifice to said net deities, as you can see.
That being said, updates about my recent goings-on are delayed yet again, most likely until tomorrow, because I have class in about 20 minutes and I am spending my evening shopping and visiting the post office.
I apologize for the delays, and I thank you for your continued readership and patience in this matter.
Management
(AKA - Hal)
Japanese Adventure V (Duplicate?)
A thousand lashes to the man who has lazily refused to update this blog . . . wait, that's me? Oops, never mind.
Ahem, er, sorry about the lack of postings. It takes a while to write all of this stuff down and I find myself unable to accomplish it all. Also, I write some things which I would not be comfortable with others seeing me write, so the constant presence of others over my shoulders prevents me from writing at times. However, this should be an epic update, so I hope it works for you. And now I present to you . . .
MEGA UPDATE: HAL IN JAPAN!
Saturday 5/29
Okay, this is the day we all left for our retreat to a hot spring resort on Mt. Asahidake. Fun times, eh? We met at the train station and left by bus. Dan was charming as ever in his hung over state. [Side-track: If you ever need a good reason against heavy drinking, just observe or point out someone who does it. Their state should be reason enough to put that can or bottle down.] So our strange little gathering left for the mountains: two professors, four American students (well, three and a Korean exchange student), five Chinese students, and two Japanese students.
After a long, boring bus ride, we arrived at a rest stop near the mountain. Our original plan was to take a cable car/hike up to the peak of the mountain, but because of a steady rain, any view from the mountain would be compltely obscured. So, instead, we hiked from the rest stop over to a waterfall. This was great fun, because mountain landscapes are beautiful, and so are waterfalls. You can't find this stuff in Illinois. Consequently, having not seen any corn for several weeks has seemed like a dream.
Next, we returned to the rest stop to wait for cabs to take us to our lodge. Nothing much to note here, except the arcade: American arcades are no comparison. We don't put candy or food as rewards in the games, especially beer or cigarettes. Also, we gear this stuff towards children. The Japanese, on the other hand, understand that adults play this stuff too. Thus why there was a mahjong game that rewarded good behavior with girls in bikinis or lifting up their skirts. I think if someone put that in a mall in America, we'd have a heart attack.
So, we ended up at the lodge eventually. This was pretty far up the mountain. It was kinda neat, it had a "log cabin" kind of feel to it, except it smelled pretty rank. Everything smells funny here. Why? Oh well. The owner sat and explained everything to us, but guess what? It was japanese. Most of us sat there and let our minds wander. I imagined what it would be like if I could understand him. Maybe he was just spouting off silly gibberish and my professors were too insane to care. Wouldn't that have been scary? Well, after that, we dropped our stuff off and hiked up the street to the visitor center. One professor decided that we should watch this video about the wildlife and landscape of the mountain (since, again, we couldn't go up the mountain). This was a video of flowers swaying in the breeze with slow, quiet piano music playing in the background. No joke. I think all of us slept for at least part of it. Well, after that, we walked even further up the road to the cable car station and checked out the gift shop, as that was the last thing we could do there. I thought about buying souvenirs, but most of it was junk.
Back at the lodge, we didn't do much. Settled down and played Uno for a while. The Chinese students hadn't seen it before. We did this until dinner time, where we all pitched in on preparation and cooking. We made some skillet dish which I cannot pronounce and was made of ingredients which you cannot find in the US. Sad day. It was good though. After we cleaned up, the men got their turn in the hot spring. This was interesting. First, I'm glad I wear glasses; it meant not having to see the other guys naked in the spa. Otherwise, the spa was relaxing, but VERY hot. Like, "we were in there 20 minutes before we felt like passing out" hot. Very relaxing, but potentially dangerous. Oh, and Dan just kept shouting the entire time about how drunk he was. Lovely. He tried to get me to down beers at dinner, and I was like, "Dan, I'm a Christian . . . I can't do that." He thought I just didn't want to look bad by getting drunk in front of others, that I couldn't let loose and have a good time. Some people just don't understand.
After that, not much happened. I got the chance to play cards with Mike for a while. I tried witnessing to him as much as I could, but I didn't get very far. He doesn't seem interested in learning the truth. For a lot of the questions I asked him, he seemed content to give trite, meaningless answers and let the question slide. I didn't like that, but it seems he doesn't want to confront a lot of those issues. I get the feeling this isn't over, but time will tell where this leads.
I went to be shortly after this, but it was hard; people kept coming in and out (drunkenly) and the walls separating the men's room from the women's was far too thin. Ah well.
Sunday 5/30
Being on top of a mountain, I couldn't go to church this day. So, I got up early and walked around the mountain side for a while. It was really foggy, so I couldn't see much, but everything was quite beautiful, and the sound of the river flowing really gave it some atmosphere. Words can't do justice to the natural beauty of the place. I returned, did some time in the scriptures, and then waited for breakfast.
Well, after cleaning up and everything, we returned to the city. I rested most of the afternoon. I got to meet Fujiko's parents. They were nice, but they didn't speak much english, so it was awkward (it always is).
Mike and I were to try again for StarCraft in the afternoon, but instead I joined him and his host family for bowling at the Sugai. This was pretty fun, but Mike certainly has an anti-social streak to him. He didn't hardly talk at all whilst we were bowling. At least this place had a great arcade.
Monday
Not much to say here. We were supposed to visit a high school, but that was thankfully cancelled. I think they finally figured out that we aren't education majors. Instead, after Japanese class, we visited this computer/mapping company. This was interesting, but minimally.
Okay, update cut short. I thought I had more time, but there is class in here now. Strange, but I shall explain later. Enjoy this for now!
Hal
Ahem, er, sorry about the lack of postings. It takes a while to write all of this stuff down and I find myself unable to accomplish it all. Also, I write some things which I would not be comfortable with others seeing me write, so the constant presence of others over my shoulders prevents me from writing at times. However, this should be an epic update, so I hope it works for you. And now I present to you . . .
MEGA UPDATE: HAL IN JAPAN!
Saturday 5/29
Okay, this is the day we all left for our retreat to a hot spring resort on Mt. Asahidake. Fun times, eh? We met at the train station and left by bus. Dan was charming as ever in his hung over state. [Side-track: If you ever need a good reason against heavy drinking, just observe or point out someone who does it. Their state should be reason enough to put that can or bottle down.] So our strange little gathering left for the mountains: two professors, four American students (well, three and a Korean exchange student), five Chinese students, and two Japanese students.
After a long, boring bus ride, we arrived at a rest stop near the mountain. Our original plan was to take a cable car/hike up to the peak of the mountain, but because of a steady rain, any view from the mountain would be compltely obscured. So, instead, we hiked from the rest stop over to a waterfall. This was great fun, because mountain landscapes are beautiful, and so are waterfalls. You can't find this stuff in Illinois. Consequently, having not seen any corn for several weeks has seemed like a dream.
Next, we returned to the rest stop to wait for cabs to take us to our lodge. Nothing much to note here, except the arcade: American arcades are no comparison. We don't put candy or food as rewards in the games, especially beer or cigarettes. Also, we gear this stuff towards children. The Japanese, on the other hand, understand that adults play this stuff too. Thus why there was a mahjong game that rewarded good behavior with girls in bikinis or lifting up their skirts. I think if someone put that in a mall in America, we'd have a heart attack.
So, we ended up at the lodge eventually. This was pretty far up the mountain. It was kinda neat, it had a "log cabin" kind of feel to it, except it smelled pretty rank. Everything smells funny here. Why? Oh well. The owner sat and explained everything to us, but guess what? It was japanese. Most of us sat there and let our minds wander. I imagined what it would be like if I could understand him. Maybe he was just spouting off silly gibberish and my professors were too insane to care. Wouldn't that have been scary? Well, after that, we dropped our stuff off and hiked up the street to the visitor center. One professor decided that we should watch this video about the wildlife and landscape of the mountain (since, again, we couldn't go up the mountain). This was a video of flowers swaying in the breeze with slow, quiet piano music playing in the background. No joke. I think all of us slept for at least part of it. Well, after that, we walked even further up the road to the cable car station and checked out the gift shop, as that was the last thing we could do there. I thought about buying souvenirs, but most of it was junk.
Back at the lodge, we didn't do much. Settled down and played Uno for a while. The Chinese students hadn't seen it before. We did this until dinner time, where we all pitched in on preparation and cooking. We made some skillet dish which I cannot pronounce and was made of ingredients which you cannot find in the US. Sad day. It was good though. After we cleaned up, the men got their turn in the hot spring. This was interesting. First, I'm glad I wear glasses; it meant not having to see the other guys naked in the spa. Otherwise, the spa was relaxing, but VERY hot. Like, "we were in there 20 minutes before we felt like passing out" hot. Very relaxing, but potentially dangerous. Oh, and Dan just kept shouting the entire time about how drunk he was. Lovely. He tried to get me to down beers at dinner, and I was like, "Dan, I'm a Christian . . . I can't do that." He thought I just didn't want to look bad by getting drunk in front of others, that I couldn't let loose and have a good time. Some people just don't understand.
After that, not much happened. I got the chance to play cards with Mike for a while. I tried witnessing to him as much as I could, but I didn't get very far. He doesn't seem interested in learning the truth. For a lot of the questions I asked him, he seemed content to give trite, meaningless answers and let the question slide. I didn't like that, but it seems he doesn't want to confront a lot of those issues. I get the feeling this isn't over, but time will tell where this leads.
I went to be shortly after this, but it was hard; people kept coming in and out (drunkenly) and the walls separating the men's room from the women's was far too thin. Ah well.
Sunday 5/30
Being on top of a mountain, I couldn't go to church this day. So, I got up early and walked around the mountain side for a while. It was really foggy, so I couldn't see much, but everything was quite beautiful, and the sound of the river flowing really gave it some atmosphere. Words can't do justice to the natural beauty of the place. I returned, did some time in the scriptures, and then waited for breakfast.
Well, after cleaning up and everything, we returned to the city. I rested most of the afternoon. I got to meet Fujiko's parents. They were nice, but they didn't speak much english, so it was awkward (it always is).
Mike and I were to try again for StarCraft in the afternoon, but instead I joined him and his host family for bowling at the Sugai. This was pretty fun, but Mike certainly has an anti-social streak to him. He didn't hardly talk at all whilst we were bowling. At least this place had a great arcade.
Monday
Not much to say here. We were supposed to visit a high school, but that was thankfully cancelled. I think they finally figured out that we aren't education majors. Instead, after Japanese class, we visited this computer/mapping company. This was interesting, but minimally.
Okay, update cut short. I thought I had more time, but there is class in here now. Strange, but I shall explain later. Enjoy this for now!
Hal
Japanese Adventure V
A thousand lashes to the man who has lazily refused to update this blog . . . wait, that's me? Oops, never mind.
Ahem, er, sorry about the lack of postings. It takes a while to write all of this stuff down and I find myself unable to accomplish it all. Also, I write some things which I would not be comfortable with others seeing me write, so the constant presence of others over my shoulders prevents me from writing at times. However, this should be an epic update, so I hope it works for you. And now I present to you . . .
MEGA UPDATE: HAL IN JAPAN!
Saturday 5/29
Okay, this is the day we all left for our retreat to a hot spring resort on Mt. Asahidake. Fun times, eh? We met at the train station and left by bus. Dan was charming as ever in his hung over state. [Side-track: If you ever need a good reason against heavy drinking, just observe or point out someone who does it. Their state should be reason enough to put that can or bottle down.] So our strange little gathering left for the mountains: two professors, four American students (well, three and a Korean exchange student), five Chinese students, and two Japanese students.
After a long, boring bus ride, we arrived at a rest stop near the mountain. Our original plan was to take a cable car/hike up to the peak of the mountain, but because of a steady rain, any view from the mountain would be compltely obscured. So, instead, we hiked from the rest stop over to a waterfall. This was great fun, because mountain landscapes are beautiful, and so are waterfalls. You can't find this stuff in Illinois. Consequently, having not seen any corn for several weeks has seemed like a dream.
Next, we returned to the rest stop to wait for cabs to take us to our lodge. Nothing much to note here, except the arcade: American arcades are no comparison. We don't put candy or food as rewards in the games, especially beer or cigarettes. Also, we gear this stuff towards children. The Japanese, on the other hand, understand that adults play this stuff too. Thus why there was a mahjong game that rewarded good behavior with girls in bikinis or lifting up their skirts. I think if someone put that in a mall in America, we'd have a heart attack.
So, we ended up at the lodge eventually. This was pretty far up the mountain. It was kinda neat, it had a "log cabin" kind of feel to it, except it smelled pretty rank. Everything smells funny here. Why? Oh well. The owner sat and explained everything to us, but guess what? It was japanese. Most of us sat there and let our minds wander. I imagined what it would be like if I could understand him. Maybe he was just spouting off silly gibberish and my professors were too insane to care. Wouldn't that have been scary? Well, after that, we dropped our stuff off and hiked up the street to the visitor center. One professor decided that we should watch this video about the wildlife and landscape of the mountain (since, again, we couldn't go up the mountain). This was a video of flowers swaying in the breeze with slow, quiet piano music playing in the background. No joke. I think all of us slept for at least part of it. Well, after that, we walked even further up the road to the cable car station and checked out the gift shop, as that was the last thing we could do there. I thought about buying souvenirs, but most of it was junk.
Back at the lodge, we didn't do much. Settled down and played Uno for a while. The Chinese students hadn't seen it before. We did this until dinner time, where we all pitched in on preparation and cooking. We made some skillet dish which I cannot pronounce and was made of ingredients which you cannot find in the US. Sad day. It was good though. After we cleaned up, the men got their turn in the hot spring. This was interesting. First, I'm glad I wear glasses; it meant not having to see the other guys naked in the spa. Otherwise, the spa was relaxing, but VERY hot. Like, "we were in there 20 minutes before we felt like passing out" hot. Very relaxing, but potentially dangerous. Oh, and Dan just kept shouting the entire time about how drunk he was. Lovely. He tried to get me to down beers at dinner, and I was like, "Dan, I'm a Christian . . . I can't do that." He thought I just didn't want to look bad by getting drunk in front of others, that I couldn't let loose and have a good time. Some people just don't understand.
After that, not much happened. I got the chance to play cards with Mike for a while. I tried witnessing to him as much as I could, but I didn't get very far. He doesn't seem interested in learning the truth. For a lot of the questions I asked him, he seemed content to give trite, meaningless answers and let the question slide. I didn't like that, but it seems he doesn't want to confront a lot of those issues. I get the feeling this isn't over, but time will tell where this leads.
I went to be shortly after this, but it was hard; people kept coming in and out (drunkenly) and the walls separating the men's room from the women's was far too thin. Ah well.
Sunday 5/30
Being on top of a mountain, I couldn't go to church this day. So, I got up early and walked around the mountain side for a while. It was really foggy, so I couldn't see much, but everything was quite beautiful, and the sound of the river flowing really gave it some atmosphere. Words can't do justice to the natural beauty of the place. I returned, did some time in the scriptures, and then waited for breakfast.
Well, after cleaning up and everything, we returned to the city. I rested most of the afternoon. I got to meet Fujiko's parents. They were nice, but they didn't speak much english, so it was awkward (it always is).
Mike and I were to try again for StarCraft in the afternoon, but instead I joined him and his host family for bowling at the Sugai. This was pretty fun, but Mike certainly has an anti-social streak to him. He didn't hardly talk at all whilst we were bowling. At least this place had a great arcade.
Monday
Not much to say here. We were supposed to visit a high school, but that was thankfully cancelled. I think they finally figured out that we aren't education majors. Instead, after Japanese class, we visited this computer/mapping company. This was interesting, but minimally.
Okay, update cut short. I thought I had more time, but there is class in here now. Strange, but I shall explain later. Enjoy this for now!
Hal
Ahem, er, sorry about the lack of postings. It takes a while to write all of this stuff down and I find myself unable to accomplish it all. Also, I write some things which I would not be comfortable with others seeing me write, so the constant presence of others over my shoulders prevents me from writing at times. However, this should be an epic update, so I hope it works for you. And now I present to you . . .
MEGA UPDATE: HAL IN JAPAN!
Saturday 5/29
Okay, this is the day we all left for our retreat to a hot spring resort on Mt. Asahidake. Fun times, eh? We met at the train station and left by bus. Dan was charming as ever in his hung over state. [Side-track: If you ever need a good reason against heavy drinking, just observe or point out someone who does it. Their state should be reason enough to put that can or bottle down.] So our strange little gathering left for the mountains: two professors, four American students (well, three and a Korean exchange student), five Chinese students, and two Japanese students.
After a long, boring bus ride, we arrived at a rest stop near the mountain. Our original plan was to take a cable car/hike up to the peak of the mountain, but because of a steady rain, any view from the mountain would be compltely obscured. So, instead, we hiked from the rest stop over to a waterfall. This was great fun, because mountain landscapes are beautiful, and so are waterfalls. You can't find this stuff in Illinois. Consequently, having not seen any corn for several weeks has seemed like a dream.
Next, we returned to the rest stop to wait for cabs to take us to our lodge. Nothing much to note here, except the arcade: American arcades are no comparison. We don't put candy or food as rewards in the games, especially beer or cigarettes. Also, we gear this stuff towards children. The Japanese, on the other hand, understand that adults play this stuff too. Thus why there was a mahjong game that rewarded good behavior with girls in bikinis or lifting up their skirts. I think if someone put that in a mall in America, we'd have a heart attack.
So, we ended up at the lodge eventually. This was pretty far up the mountain. It was kinda neat, it had a "log cabin" kind of feel to it, except it smelled pretty rank. Everything smells funny here. Why? Oh well. The owner sat and explained everything to us, but guess what? It was japanese. Most of us sat there and let our minds wander. I imagined what it would be like if I could understand him. Maybe he was just spouting off silly gibberish and my professors were too insane to care. Wouldn't that have been scary? Well, after that, we dropped our stuff off and hiked up the street to the visitor center. One professor decided that we should watch this video about the wildlife and landscape of the mountain (since, again, we couldn't go up the mountain). This was a video of flowers swaying in the breeze with slow, quiet piano music playing in the background. No joke. I think all of us slept for at least part of it. Well, after that, we walked even further up the road to the cable car station and checked out the gift shop, as that was the last thing we could do there. I thought about buying souvenirs, but most of it was junk.
Back at the lodge, we didn't do much. Settled down and played Uno for a while. The Chinese students hadn't seen it before. We did this until dinner time, where we all pitched in on preparation and cooking. We made some skillet dish which I cannot pronounce and was made of ingredients which you cannot find in the US. Sad day. It was good though. After we cleaned up, the men got their turn in the hot spring. This was interesting. First, I'm glad I wear glasses; it meant not having to see the other guys naked in the spa. Otherwise, the spa was relaxing, but VERY hot. Like, "we were in there 20 minutes before we felt like passing out" hot. Very relaxing, but potentially dangerous. Oh, and Dan just kept shouting the entire time about how drunk he was. Lovely. He tried to get me to down beers at dinner, and I was like, "Dan, I'm a Christian . . . I can't do that." He thought I just didn't want to look bad by getting drunk in front of others, that I couldn't let loose and have a good time. Some people just don't understand.
After that, not much happened. I got the chance to play cards with Mike for a while. I tried witnessing to him as much as I could, but I didn't get very far. He doesn't seem interested in learning the truth. For a lot of the questions I asked him, he seemed content to give trite, meaningless answers and let the question slide. I didn't like that, but it seems he doesn't want to confront a lot of those issues. I get the feeling this isn't over, but time will tell where this leads.
I went to be shortly after this, but it was hard; people kept coming in and out (drunkenly) and the walls separating the men's room from the women's was far too thin. Ah well.
Sunday 5/30
Being on top of a mountain, I couldn't go to church this day. So, I got up early and walked around the mountain side for a while. It was really foggy, so I couldn't see much, but everything was quite beautiful, and the sound of the river flowing really gave it some atmosphere. Words can't do justice to the natural beauty of the place. I returned, did some time in the scriptures, and then waited for breakfast.
Well, after cleaning up and everything, we returned to the city. I rested most of the afternoon. I got to meet Fujiko's parents. They were nice, but they didn't speak much english, so it was awkward (it always is).
Mike and I were to try again for StarCraft in the afternoon, but instead I joined him and his host family for bowling at the Sugai. This was pretty fun, but Mike certainly has an anti-social streak to him. He didn't hardly talk at all whilst we were bowling. At least this place had a great arcade.
Monday
Not much to say here. We were supposed to visit a high school, but that was thankfully cancelled. I think they finally figured out that we aren't education majors. Instead, after Japanese class, we visited this computer/mapping company. This was interesting, but minimally.
Okay, update cut short. I thought I had more time, but there is class in here now. Strange, but I shall explain later. Enjoy this for now!
Hal
Monday, May 31, 2004
Japanese Adventure IV
Heh, I can't believe how long it's been since my last update on the trip. I guess I can only assume that people are actually reading this, though. The absence of any sort of replies to my questions (*cough cough*) makes it difficult to determine. Ah well. So, on the one hand, it's been a week since I've updated my activities. On the other hand (I have five more fingers?), not much has happened since then. So, I hope the update is sufficient. Without further ado . . .
Tuesday
This was 5/26. It was an interesting day, too. I spent most of this day worrying about catching whatever it is the little girl I'm living with has. I would have absolutely no immunity to cold strains from Japan, so I've become slightly paranoid about that. But, well, I don't want my trip ruined by sickness.
In any case, my morning began with a trip to a Shinto shrine. Shinto is the dominant religion of Japan, with Buddhism pulling up a close second. The shrine is really quite beautiful. It practically sits on a nature preserve. Unfortunately, everything I heard and saw in the shrine leads me to believe that these people are worshipping demons. Sad. I wanted so badly to share the truth with the priests in the shrine, but they wouldn't have understood a word I said. Also sad. Really, though, I can see why Shinto has lasted as long as it has in Japan. It is a religion of very few formal teachings, no set of actual scriptures, and no requirements of faithful observance. Most Japanese show up at the temple a few times a year, depending on the events of the year, give some money, say a few prayers, and they're good to go (It's amazing such a thing hasn't caught on in America). It's strange though. This religion is an animistic polytheism. Yet the west, in its religious laziness, turned to atheism as progress was made. Why didn't the same thing happen here? I cannot really say.
The rest of the day was spent in class. Japanese class was interesting, as only two of the four of us showed up. Dan and Young were more interested in being with their girlfriends than listening to me struggle with Japanese. Losers. Well, after that, we took part in a calligraphy class (shodo). This was fun. It's not particularly difficult, but I suppose I would have to practice a lot to get down some of the particularities in being great at it. I got to draw haru, spring, which is what I am called by the Japanese here. They can't pronounce "Harold."
Yeah, so the rest of this day turned out interestingly. We didn't know about the guys having girlfriends until after class. Well, we find out, and I'm just kinda like, "Oh, okay." I don't think it's a good idea. Dan, in his ever friendly way, asks me what I think, and I tell him. He then calls me a jerk for my opinion, and asks me why I don't think it's a good idea. Of course, he wasn't interested in my answer; every 2 or 3 words, he interrupted me with an attempt to justify his opinion. Oh well. I guess we aren't entitled to our own opinions after all.
Wednesday
Wednesday was spent visiting the schools. This was yet another reminder that this program was meant for the education majors, which none of us are. The morning was with the kindergarten, and the afternoon was with the elementary school. We could mostly understand the kindergarten (it is, afterall, kindergarten), especially since we showed up at recess. The elementary school was another story. The classes are in Japanese. I don't know Japanese. Consequently, watching the classes was rather dull. I did, however, have an interesting time watching the science club do their thing. These kids do far cooler things than I did when I was their age.
My time here is making me sad though . . . I haven't met one Christian yet! There's even a Nazerene church by the university. I stopped by on this day, and there were two cars and three bikes parked outside of it . . . but no people! I searched the entirety of that tiny building high and low, and found not one person! Did I miss the rapture or something? *Sigh* . . . I miss home.
Thursday
So, Thursday began with a visit to the Junior High. We'll do some math again: Observing classes in Japanese + Not knowing Japanese = Boring. We did get to see English class, though. This was funny. However, the administration here didn't make us feel welcome like they did at they did at the other schools. I felt like an annoyance here.
This feeling did not improve as the day went on. See, we return, and I ask if anybody is going to eat lunch, and no one answers. I ask again, and Dan calls me a whiny child. Yikes. I try to politely tell him that I simply wanted to know if anyone was going to eat in the cafeteria or not, and he responds that he might later. Twenty minutes later I declare my intentions to leave and eat, and no one says a word. So, I get up and leave. While waiting in line for food, Dan flicks me in the back of the ear and asks why I left without him when he said he would be here. Well, all right, whatever. I wait for him to get his food, but he takes too long and tells me to go sit down. Okay, well, not seeing an empty table in the main room, I go off to the other room and sit next to a window so he can see me. However, he never comes. I even see him sit at a table with some of the local students. I leave, and he's on his way out, asks in a rhetorical manner (and not very politely) why I chose to eat in there. Well, when I return to the computer lab with these guys, he gives me the finger and the accompanying verbal cue. After I give my explanation, and everyone in the room looks at him incredulously, he says he was "just kidding." Yikes.
It made me glad he skipped class again. I had to return right away, too, because my host mother was leaving for Sapporo and needed me to stay around to watch the children. Oh well. An afternoon in front of the computer wasn't so bad.
Friday
Friday, Mike and I attempted to get a game of StarCraft going, but alas, the network here is inexplicably dumb. You'd think the Japanese would be a step ahead of us on this, but apparently not.
Japanese class was fun again. In the afternoon, though, we had an art history class under the guise of Japanese culture. This was obscenely boring. It's not that art history is boring, and the professor's english was fine. The problem was that he kept addressing the same things over and over and over because he either thought we didn't understand or he felt the need to emphasize the same issues over and over and over. It was awful.
Friday night, however, was a bit more fun. After my family laughed at my attempts to eat Soba, we attended a music concert at the city concert hall. Piano, singers, french horn, clarinet . . . I thought this would be classy. No, it was an evening of Disney music. Well, not all Disney music is bad, per se, but the Japanese lyrics to "Bippity-Boppity-Boo" are just bizarre. It was interesting, and kinda fun to attend, but I think I was glad when it was over. On a side note, even in Japan the youth don't seem to understand that you dress up for concerts that involve "classical" instruments. Oh well.
Afterwards, we attended for ice cream what I can only refer to as the Japanses equivalent of a Denny's or a Shoney's. The name? Surprise Donkey. Ooooookay . . .
Well, this post is getting long, and I find myself tiring of writing. So, I shall leave it at this for now, and post my weekend later today, or perhaps in the next few days. Enjoy, and please let me know that you're reading!
Hal
Tuesday
This was 5/26. It was an interesting day, too. I spent most of this day worrying about catching whatever it is the little girl I'm living with has. I would have absolutely no immunity to cold strains from Japan, so I've become slightly paranoid about that. But, well, I don't want my trip ruined by sickness.
In any case, my morning began with a trip to a Shinto shrine. Shinto is the dominant religion of Japan, with Buddhism pulling up a close second. The shrine is really quite beautiful. It practically sits on a nature preserve. Unfortunately, everything I heard and saw in the shrine leads me to believe that these people are worshipping demons. Sad. I wanted so badly to share the truth with the priests in the shrine, but they wouldn't have understood a word I said. Also sad. Really, though, I can see why Shinto has lasted as long as it has in Japan. It is a religion of very few formal teachings, no set of actual scriptures, and no requirements of faithful observance. Most Japanese show up at the temple a few times a year, depending on the events of the year, give some money, say a few prayers, and they're good to go (It's amazing such a thing hasn't caught on in America). It's strange though. This religion is an animistic polytheism. Yet the west, in its religious laziness, turned to atheism as progress was made. Why didn't the same thing happen here? I cannot really say.
The rest of the day was spent in class. Japanese class was interesting, as only two of the four of us showed up. Dan and Young were more interested in being with their girlfriends than listening to me struggle with Japanese. Losers. Well, after that, we took part in a calligraphy class (shodo). This was fun. It's not particularly difficult, but I suppose I would have to practice a lot to get down some of the particularities in being great at it. I got to draw haru, spring, which is what I am called by the Japanese here. They can't pronounce "Harold."
Yeah, so the rest of this day turned out interestingly. We didn't know about the guys having girlfriends until after class. Well, we find out, and I'm just kinda like, "Oh, okay." I don't think it's a good idea. Dan, in his ever friendly way, asks me what I think, and I tell him. He then calls me a jerk for my opinion, and asks me why I don't think it's a good idea. Of course, he wasn't interested in my answer; every 2 or 3 words, he interrupted me with an attempt to justify his opinion. Oh well. I guess we aren't entitled to our own opinions after all.
Wednesday
Wednesday was spent visiting the schools. This was yet another reminder that this program was meant for the education majors, which none of us are. The morning was with the kindergarten, and the afternoon was with the elementary school. We could mostly understand the kindergarten (it is, afterall, kindergarten), especially since we showed up at recess. The elementary school was another story. The classes are in Japanese. I don't know Japanese. Consequently, watching the classes was rather dull. I did, however, have an interesting time watching the science club do their thing. These kids do far cooler things than I did when I was their age.
My time here is making me sad though . . . I haven't met one Christian yet! There's even a Nazerene church by the university. I stopped by on this day, and there were two cars and three bikes parked outside of it . . . but no people! I searched the entirety of that tiny building high and low, and found not one person! Did I miss the rapture or something? *Sigh* . . . I miss home.
Thursday
So, Thursday began with a visit to the Junior High. We'll do some math again: Observing classes in Japanese + Not knowing Japanese = Boring. We did get to see English class, though. This was funny. However, the administration here didn't make us feel welcome like they did at they did at the other schools. I felt like an annoyance here.
This feeling did not improve as the day went on. See, we return, and I ask if anybody is going to eat lunch, and no one answers. I ask again, and Dan calls me a whiny child. Yikes. I try to politely tell him that I simply wanted to know if anyone was going to eat in the cafeteria or not, and he responds that he might later. Twenty minutes later I declare my intentions to leave and eat, and no one says a word. So, I get up and leave. While waiting in line for food, Dan flicks me in the back of the ear and asks why I left without him when he said he would be here. Well, all right, whatever. I wait for him to get his food, but he takes too long and tells me to go sit down. Okay, well, not seeing an empty table in the main room, I go off to the other room and sit next to a window so he can see me. However, he never comes. I even see him sit at a table with some of the local students. I leave, and he's on his way out, asks in a rhetorical manner (and not very politely) why I chose to eat in there. Well, when I return to the computer lab with these guys, he gives me the finger and the accompanying verbal cue. After I give my explanation, and everyone in the room looks at him incredulously, he says he was "just kidding." Yikes.
It made me glad he skipped class again. I had to return right away, too, because my host mother was leaving for Sapporo and needed me to stay around to watch the children. Oh well. An afternoon in front of the computer wasn't so bad.
Friday
Friday, Mike and I attempted to get a game of StarCraft going, but alas, the network here is inexplicably dumb. You'd think the Japanese would be a step ahead of us on this, but apparently not.
Japanese class was fun again. In the afternoon, though, we had an art history class under the guise of Japanese culture. This was obscenely boring. It's not that art history is boring, and the professor's english was fine. The problem was that he kept addressing the same things over and over and over because he either thought we didn't understand or he felt the need to emphasize the same issues over and over and over. It was awful.
Friday night, however, was a bit more fun. After my family laughed at my attempts to eat Soba, we attended a music concert at the city concert hall. Piano, singers, french horn, clarinet . . . I thought this would be classy. No, it was an evening of Disney music. Well, not all Disney music is bad, per se, but the Japanese lyrics to "Bippity-Boppity-Boo" are just bizarre. It was interesting, and kinda fun to attend, but I think I was glad when it was over. On a side note, even in Japan the youth don't seem to understand that you dress up for concerts that involve "classical" instruments. Oh well.
Afterwards, we attended for ice cream what I can only refer to as the Japanses equivalent of a Denny's or a Shoney's. The name? Surprise Donkey. Ooooookay . . .
Well, this post is getting long, and I find myself tiring of writing. So, I shall leave it at this for now, and post my weekend later today, or perhaps in the next few days. Enjoy, and please let me know that you're reading!
Hal
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Making Decisions and the Will of God
Hey guys!
This isn't a formal update of my activities so much as it is an update of the thoughts that have been running through my mind while I've been here. I've shared this with a few of you, but I thought I'd get some larger feedback, see what everyone thinks about this.
I've been reading a book while I've been here called "Making Decisions and the Will of God." It is by Pastor/Dr. Garry Friesen. Basically, Dr. Friesen outlines two approaches to decision making in the Christian community. One he calls the traditional view. The traditional view works like this: God has three wills. These are his sovereign will, which dictates everything that will happen in the universe towards our ultimate good and his ultimate glory and cannot be known; his moral will, which is found in the Biblical revelation and contains all of the guidelines a believer needs for holy and righteous living; and his individual will, which is his unique, ideal, detailed life plan for each believer. This individual will is the one which is difficult to discover, such as figuring out where to go to college, whether and whom to marry, or what to do for a vocation. By the traditional view, the individual will is discovered by correlation of the signs, which are: the Bible, mature counsel, inner witness, circumstances, personal desires, common sense, and special guidance. By paying attention to these signs and determining the correlation of them, we can know God's will for our life.
At least, that's the traditional view. Dr. Friesen says that this is view is an incorrect understanding of the Bible. He spends the second part of his book giving a Biblical critique of this view, and then spends the third part laying out what he considers to be the Biblical approach to decision making, what he calls the wisdom view. By this view, there is no "individual will" of God. Christian freedom allows us to make decisions in our lives based on the revealed moral will of God, though we must make them with wisdom and spiritual expediency in mind. Thus, there is no right or wrong answer to the question of "Where should I go to college?" or "What should I do for a living?" If there is no moral prohibition against it, then the roadsigns, tempered by wisdom, may dictate your decisions.
What do you think? To some, this may seem very radical, and I understand, as it goes against everything we've been taught in our churches. Have we been wrong? Dr. Friesen certainly makes a very compelling case Biblically, though I cannot lay out the entire thing here. If you wish, you would do well to read the book.
Myself . . . I'm inclined to agree with him, but my jury is still out. That's part of why I'm putting this on here. What does everyone think? Do you have questions or objections? If I've left out important details, I'll try to fill in as I go, but I want to know what everyone thinks about this. Please, let me know!
Hal
This isn't a formal update of my activities so much as it is an update of the thoughts that have been running through my mind while I've been here. I've shared this with a few of you, but I thought I'd get some larger feedback, see what everyone thinks about this.
I've been reading a book while I've been here called "Making Decisions and the Will of God." It is by Pastor/Dr. Garry Friesen. Basically, Dr. Friesen outlines two approaches to decision making in the Christian community. One he calls the traditional view. The traditional view works like this: God has three wills. These are his sovereign will, which dictates everything that will happen in the universe towards our ultimate good and his ultimate glory and cannot be known; his moral will, which is found in the Biblical revelation and contains all of the guidelines a believer needs for holy and righteous living; and his individual will, which is his unique, ideal, detailed life plan for each believer. This individual will is the one which is difficult to discover, such as figuring out where to go to college, whether and whom to marry, or what to do for a vocation. By the traditional view, the individual will is discovered by correlation of the signs, which are: the Bible, mature counsel, inner witness, circumstances, personal desires, common sense, and special guidance. By paying attention to these signs and determining the correlation of them, we can know God's will for our life.
At least, that's the traditional view. Dr. Friesen says that this is view is an incorrect understanding of the Bible. He spends the second part of his book giving a Biblical critique of this view, and then spends the third part laying out what he considers to be the Biblical approach to decision making, what he calls the wisdom view. By this view, there is no "individual will" of God. Christian freedom allows us to make decisions in our lives based on the revealed moral will of God, though we must make them with wisdom and spiritual expediency in mind. Thus, there is no right or wrong answer to the question of "Where should I go to college?" or "What should I do for a living?" If there is no moral prohibition against it, then the roadsigns, tempered by wisdom, may dictate your decisions.
What do you think? To some, this may seem very radical, and I understand, as it goes against everything we've been taught in our churches. Have we been wrong? Dr. Friesen certainly makes a very compelling case Biblically, though I cannot lay out the entire thing here. If you wish, you would do well to read the book.
Myself . . . I'm inclined to agree with him, but my jury is still out. That's part of why I'm putting this on here. What does everyone think? Do you have questions or objections? If I've left out important details, I'll try to fill in as I go, but I want to know what everyone thinks about this. Please, let me know!
Hal
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Peanut gallery? Hello?
Okay, just a clarification. In order to post a comment, at the bottom of each entry, there is a link to the number of comments already posted. You click on that, and then you'll the current comments, and a link to leave your own. So please, if you're reading, don't be shy!
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Japanese Adventure III
Well, I apologize that it's been a while since I've posted, but like I say, I have better things to do in Japan than sit in front of a computer. (Sadly, right now, I really don't have much else I could be doing).
So here's the run down on my recent events:
Friday
This was just another one of those days. My host mother again wouldn't let me ride my bike to school because it was supposed to rain (hooray for typhoon season!). So, I had to be shuttled over to the university again (yet another limitation on my freedom). I spent the morning studying Japanese with one of the guys before we had class. And yikes, yet again, I did not understand one bit of class. It's very hard to have Japanese taught to you IN Japanese when you are just learning the language. Why? Well, when all those little things such as particles, modifiers, and sentence structure start creeping in, you can't understand the explanations of how they work. Oy.
After class, we had the sado, traditional tea ceremony. This was very neat for a variety of reasons, but ended up being quite boring. Why? Well, there's a lot of Buddhist philosophies that transformed this thing into an artform of movement. However, all explanations for everything were given in Japanese. They said you could come on this trip without having any Japanese, and that's been true so far, but you surely get so much more from this by knowing at least some. Ah well. As it is, green tea, the way it was meant to be, is gross. Totally bitter, and a very strange consistency. Additionally, the way you are supposed to sit for this ceremony, the way most Japanese people sit, is very painful to the legs. We westerners are not used to it. It must take a lifetime to aclimate to it.
Well, the evening was supposed to be a night out on the town with my newfound friends, but it was raining. We all get around by bike. The conflict is obvious. So, I got picked up by my host mother and taken home. She did take me over to the home of one of the other guys, Michael, which was pretty fun. We got to hang out and chat, which was cool enough. But they (our respective host mothers) wanted me to stay the night there, and I really didn't feel comfortable with that. I'd see him the next day.
Saturday
And see him I did. My host mother, her children, Michael, his host mother, and I all packed into a van and headed to Furano, a nearby town, to see the sights. Wine, lavender, and dairy and the kings there. First I must say, the rural countryside is exquisitely beautiful, especially for the mountains. I guess it's my Illinois residency that makes me appreciate mountains. We had lunch at a restaurant at the winery, which was nice. It was the first time I didn't have to use chopsticks since I had arrived! Next, we went to the winery, which was quite fun. We did some taste testing and looked around, but there was no tour to take. Additionally, I couldn't understand the signs, so I basically looked at the pretty objects. Once again, not knowing Japanese reduces the joy. Ah well. After that, we headed over to the cheese factory to make ice cream. This was fun and delicious. It was funny, too. We made ice cream in a device called the "hyper-tron". You know that anything with a name like that is going to be cool.
Well, we returned, and I was left at Michael's to hang out with him. This, again, was fun, but also a disappointment. We were supposed to go out with our friends that night, but it was really cold out. Lots of walking when it is cold = bad. So, we simply hung out. Plus, everyone wanted to start at 10 (and they stayed out until almost dawn!). I returned to my host family at 9, and still woke people up with my return. *Sigh*, that part is really frustrating me. They go to bed so early I cannot stay out and enjoy the evening with my friends. If I had a key, that would be different, but they won't give me one.
Sunday
Well, it just keeps getting better. The night before, I struggled with my thoughts quite a bit, because I'm really uncertain about where my life is heading, what I want to do with myself vocationally. As much as I'm unlikely to get a burning bush or to find myself sitting in a beam of light and hearing the divine voice, it really would be nice, wouldn't it?
The morning was no improvement. First, we had to get up early to go to Yuki's (my host sister) school for sports/field day. I gave up on breakfast because I could tell she was developing a cold; she was coughing all over the food! Then the younger children, who really don't get this "closed door" concept, kept barging into my room as I was changing from my shower. Sometimes, I just want to be alone, and in a Japanese apartment such as theirs, it is nearly impossible. My mood was quite foul, but I did what I consider to be a pretty good job hiding it.
We ended up at the field day, but it was pretty boring. All of the kids look the same to me, and I really didn't have a stake in watching the events. So, I read my book all day. 7:30-2:30. At least I'm almost done.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I rode off to the university to use the computer, returned for dinner, and was taken to the mall for grocery shopping (unusual, eh?). One thing of note on that: Fujiko wanted to go to a bookstore, so you can only imagine the problems I foresaw with that. Well, I thought I'd just look at the magazines, as pictures are pretty easy to understand. I grab this men's fashion magazine. Clothing, hats, accessories, clothing . . . half-naked girls? That's right, the last fourth of the clothing catalogue was a girly magazine. All right, I'll try again. Next was a men's hairstyle magazine (BTW, I really don't like the men's hairstyles here . . . too flamboyant). Hair . . . hair . . . hair . . . girly magazine. Yikes, okay, something safer, perhaps? Hey, video games are safe, right? Oooh, looky, cell phone games, game boy games . . . adult comics? Yikes. You can't read ANYTHING here geared towards men without it having a naked SOMETHING in it. Oy.
Monday
Monday was rather dull. I spent the morning trying to get the phone system to work right. This was frustrating. First, the thing wouldn't accept my calling card number. Once it did, it wouldn't accept the phone number. Once it did, it thought I was trying to call South Africa. FINALLY, I managed to call home, but my time to talk with my family was limited. Hey, Japan to America phone calls are expensive.
One note of good news, though, is that I put my foot in the door in witnessing to one of the Chinese girls here. She's Buddhist, and she didn't seem to interested in hearing anything about my faith or Christianity in general. However, I did tell her that I would gladly teach her anytime about it. Pray that her and others around me are softened towards that prospect. I haven't met one other Christian since I came here, and that includes the guys I came with! (In a recent development, she started dating a Korean exchange student who came here with us from ISU, so I'm afraid she will be too distracted to listen to me, but I'm still praying that God will get her attention).
The afternoon was filled with class. In a very bright note, however, I'm beginning to actually understand class! Sweet, joyous day! Granted, I can't really USE it well, yet, but at least I understand what I would be saying if I could remember any of it. Heh, I guess I oughta spend time studying.
After language class, we had our reminder that this program was meant for the education majors (which none of the people on the trip are). We had a seminar about the historical development and structure of the educational system in Japan. It was fairly interesting, but only in a limited sense. Dan was banging his head on the desk. If any of you education-type people are intersted, you're more than welcome to a glimpse of that material.
We were supposed to go to downtown to bum around after class, but delays on the part of others made this difficult. We finally made it, but I had to leave about 20 minutes into our "bumming around" stage because of dinner. Oh well. Had I stayed with the others, I would have ended up in the drinking room at the karaoke bar with them for 3 hours, racking up a ￥11,000 ($110) bill. Yikes. Incindentally, the alleyways between the buildings downtown contains the seedier parts. It's not in its own separate world, its just in the alleys. By that, I mean the questionable Pachinko parlors, the strip shows, adult stores, and what not. From now on, no more shortcuts.
The rest of the evening was dull. I came back, read a lot, ate dinner, watched cartoons which I barely understood, and went to bed. I really need to figure out how I can make my schedule more flexible, because I am just not making enough of my time here. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a lot of fun, but I could definitely be having more fun.
Well, that's about it for now. I hope everything is well with you all, and I hope to hear from you! Thanks for the emails from those of you who wrote!
Hal
So here's the run down on my recent events:
Friday
This was just another one of those days. My host mother again wouldn't let me ride my bike to school because it was supposed to rain (hooray for typhoon season!). So, I had to be shuttled over to the university again (yet another limitation on my freedom). I spent the morning studying Japanese with one of the guys before we had class. And yikes, yet again, I did not understand one bit of class. It's very hard to have Japanese taught to you IN Japanese when you are just learning the language. Why? Well, when all those little things such as particles, modifiers, and sentence structure start creeping in, you can't understand the explanations of how they work. Oy.
After class, we had the sado, traditional tea ceremony. This was very neat for a variety of reasons, but ended up being quite boring. Why? Well, there's a lot of Buddhist philosophies that transformed this thing into an artform of movement. However, all explanations for everything were given in Japanese. They said you could come on this trip without having any Japanese, and that's been true so far, but you surely get so much more from this by knowing at least some. Ah well. As it is, green tea, the way it was meant to be, is gross. Totally bitter, and a very strange consistency. Additionally, the way you are supposed to sit for this ceremony, the way most Japanese people sit, is very painful to the legs. We westerners are not used to it. It must take a lifetime to aclimate to it.
Well, the evening was supposed to be a night out on the town with my newfound friends, but it was raining. We all get around by bike. The conflict is obvious. So, I got picked up by my host mother and taken home. She did take me over to the home of one of the other guys, Michael, which was pretty fun. We got to hang out and chat, which was cool enough. But they (our respective host mothers) wanted me to stay the night there, and I really didn't feel comfortable with that. I'd see him the next day.
Saturday
And see him I did. My host mother, her children, Michael, his host mother, and I all packed into a van and headed to Furano, a nearby town, to see the sights. Wine, lavender, and dairy and the kings there. First I must say, the rural countryside is exquisitely beautiful, especially for the mountains. I guess it's my Illinois residency that makes me appreciate mountains. We had lunch at a restaurant at the winery, which was nice. It was the first time I didn't have to use chopsticks since I had arrived! Next, we went to the winery, which was quite fun. We did some taste testing and looked around, but there was no tour to take. Additionally, I couldn't understand the signs, so I basically looked at the pretty objects. Once again, not knowing Japanese reduces the joy. Ah well. After that, we headed over to the cheese factory to make ice cream. This was fun and delicious. It was funny, too. We made ice cream in a device called the "hyper-tron". You know that anything with a name like that is going to be cool.
Well, we returned, and I was left at Michael's to hang out with him. This, again, was fun, but also a disappointment. We were supposed to go out with our friends that night, but it was really cold out. Lots of walking when it is cold = bad. So, we simply hung out. Plus, everyone wanted to start at 10 (and they stayed out until almost dawn!). I returned to my host family at 9, and still woke people up with my return. *Sigh*, that part is really frustrating me. They go to bed so early I cannot stay out and enjoy the evening with my friends. If I had a key, that would be different, but they won't give me one.
Sunday
Well, it just keeps getting better. The night before, I struggled with my thoughts quite a bit, because I'm really uncertain about where my life is heading, what I want to do with myself vocationally. As much as I'm unlikely to get a burning bush or to find myself sitting in a beam of light and hearing the divine voice, it really would be nice, wouldn't it?
The morning was no improvement. First, we had to get up early to go to Yuki's (my host sister) school for sports/field day. I gave up on breakfast because I could tell she was developing a cold; she was coughing all over the food! Then the younger children, who really don't get this "closed door" concept, kept barging into my room as I was changing from my shower. Sometimes, I just want to be alone, and in a Japanese apartment such as theirs, it is nearly impossible. My mood was quite foul, but I did what I consider to be a pretty good job hiding it.
We ended up at the field day, but it was pretty boring. All of the kids look the same to me, and I really didn't have a stake in watching the events. So, I read my book all day. 7:30-2:30. At least I'm almost done.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I rode off to the university to use the computer, returned for dinner, and was taken to the mall for grocery shopping (unusual, eh?). One thing of note on that: Fujiko wanted to go to a bookstore, so you can only imagine the problems I foresaw with that. Well, I thought I'd just look at the magazines, as pictures are pretty easy to understand. I grab this men's fashion magazine. Clothing, hats, accessories, clothing . . . half-naked girls? That's right, the last fourth of the clothing catalogue was a girly magazine. All right, I'll try again. Next was a men's hairstyle magazine (BTW, I really don't like the men's hairstyles here . . . too flamboyant). Hair . . . hair . . . hair . . . girly magazine. Yikes, okay, something safer, perhaps? Hey, video games are safe, right? Oooh, looky, cell phone games, game boy games . . . adult comics? Yikes. You can't read ANYTHING here geared towards men without it having a naked SOMETHING in it. Oy.
Monday
Monday was rather dull. I spent the morning trying to get the phone system to work right. This was frustrating. First, the thing wouldn't accept my calling card number. Once it did, it wouldn't accept the phone number. Once it did, it thought I was trying to call South Africa. FINALLY, I managed to call home, but my time to talk with my family was limited. Hey, Japan to America phone calls are expensive.
One note of good news, though, is that I put my foot in the door in witnessing to one of the Chinese girls here. She's Buddhist, and she didn't seem to interested in hearing anything about my faith or Christianity in general. However, I did tell her that I would gladly teach her anytime about it. Pray that her and others around me are softened towards that prospect. I haven't met one other Christian since I came here, and that includes the guys I came with! (In a recent development, she started dating a Korean exchange student who came here with us from ISU, so I'm afraid she will be too distracted to listen to me, but I'm still praying that God will get her attention).
The afternoon was filled with class. In a very bright note, however, I'm beginning to actually understand class! Sweet, joyous day! Granted, I can't really USE it well, yet, but at least I understand what I would be saying if I could remember any of it. Heh, I guess I oughta spend time studying.
After language class, we had our reminder that this program was meant for the education majors (which none of the people on the trip are). We had a seminar about the historical development and structure of the educational system in Japan. It was fairly interesting, but only in a limited sense. Dan was banging his head on the desk. If any of you education-type people are intersted, you're more than welcome to a glimpse of that material.
We were supposed to go to downtown to bum around after class, but delays on the part of others made this difficult. We finally made it, but I had to leave about 20 minutes into our "bumming around" stage because of dinner. Oh well. Had I stayed with the others, I would have ended up in the drinking room at the karaoke bar with them for 3 hours, racking up a ￥11,000 ($110) bill. Yikes. Incindentally, the alleyways between the buildings downtown contains the seedier parts. It's not in its own separate world, its just in the alleys. By that, I mean the questionable Pachinko parlors, the strip shows, adult stores, and what not. From now on, no more shortcuts.
The rest of the evening was dull. I came back, read a lot, ate dinner, watched cartoons which I barely understood, and went to bed. I really need to figure out how I can make my schedule more flexible, because I am just not making enough of my time here. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a lot of fun, but I could definitely be having more fun.
Well, that's about it for now. I hope everything is well with you all, and I hope to hear from you! Thanks for the emails from those of you who wrote!
Hal
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