Sakura Spring

I know it's been a long time since my last post, sorry grandma.  I've been really busy this spring and I find it hard to believe I only have about 2 more months left here. After winter, it seems like time has gone by so quickly.  

Since my last post I've changed host families twice.  The first move (The Hondas) was temporary and I only stayed about 2 weeks because my current host family (The Noguchis) was still preparing my room. Mr. Honda is a Rotarian and the brother of my current host mom.

Here are some pictures that I've taken this spring:

This is a cherry blossom tree or sakura.  I was surprised by how many of them bloom in a city like Nagasaki.

Here are the current inbounds and the soon to be Japanese outbounds in my district. 

On my walk home from school.

The next several photos were taken at a shrine hidden in the woods near the Noguchi's house.  

The Hondas and Noguchis

I felt settled in with the Hondas shortly after moving in.  Tokio and Kazue are in their 60's and their 3 daughters all live in Tokyo.  So, I was the only kid in the house.  During the days there, I usually had school and our nights were mostly spent eating dinner and watching The Olympics.  

Kazue is trying to learn English as she thinks learning a new language will help her age slower.  I learned on the first day there that she loves to chit-chat.  After dinner most nights, her and I would sit and talk.  The conversations usually ended up gravitating towards the strangeness seen in the Japanese language from an English speakers point of view or visa versa.  On the weekends, if she left the house before I was up, she would write a short note in English to tell me where she was.  Then when she got back home, she'd have me make corrections.        

Tokio owns a popular cake and dessert shop in Nagasaki called Baigetsudo .  One weekend I was able to go on a tour of the factory along with Tokio.  It was interesting to see how some of the desserts I had previously tried were made.

After my two weeks with the Hondas,  I moved in with the Noguchis.

The Noguchis are a small family comprised of Miho (my host mom), Ken (my host dad) and Shu (my host brother).   Ken is an architect and Miho is the owner of a small baked goods store.  Despite having only one child, they are a very busy family.  I had gotten to know them a little bit before moving in because they came to eat dinner with the Hondas and I a couple times.  This made the transition into their house really easy as well.  I really like living with the Noguchis. They're fun and we're always doing something.

From left to right: Tokio, Miho, Kazue, me, two members from my rotary club and Shouko.

I cooked chicken wild rice soup for the Noguchis.  It was my first time but it turned out good.

The Noguchis and I.  Our pet fox too.

Kendo（けんどう）

Shortly after moving in the the Noguchi family, they had me involved in Kendo.  It's pretty big in the family as Miho has been playing since she was in high school and Shu also plays.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I practice in the dojo of a nearby shrine.  Ken has been wanting to start playing since before I arrived and decided to start when I did as well.  It was nice not being the only new one. Miho comes along too and is kind of an assistant to the dojo's sensei.  It's cool being able to do something like this with the entire family.

There are kids from about 13 years old and under that participate and then my host dad and I.  Since we're just beginning, him and I practice with the easiest group which is made up of about ten 5 or 6 year olds. So far, practices have consisted of us working on different types of strikes as well as footwork.  I'm sure it's entertaining to watch us next to all of the little kids.  

Lots of very particular rules exist in the sport and I've been trying to learn them as well.  Things like when to bow and how to do it and certain ways to put on/take off gear.  Kendo equipment and attire consists of a shinai (bamboo designed to represent a katana), a dou (hard plastic or wood that covers the stomach and chest), a tare (protects hips and below the dou), kote (cover the hands and forearm) and a men (covers the face, head, neck and tops of shoulders).  

The head, forearm and stomach are the three places that can be hit.  Each hit is supposed to be accompanied by either a step forward or step back.  Much of our practice is working on hitting these places with the correct footing and form.  So for example, our sensei will tell us a sequence of where were supposed to strike and whether were supposed to be moving forward or backwards when it happens.  Then, and I was surprised the first time I saw it, we pretty much just start hitting the sensei with our shinai in the order that he previously had instructed.    

  

On my third day of practice, my host mom was helping my group out.  She was acting as our target for our practice strikes.  I felt a big strange whacking my host mom on the head with a wooden sword.

It's difficult getting used to it as I've never done anything like this before.  Besides the couple days of karate I went to when I was younger, this is the first martial art I've tried or even watched.  I'm having a lot of fun though and it's cool to be practicing something that originated in Japan.

This is one of Shu's kendo tournaments.

Shodo （しょどう）

I also started practicing the Japanese calligraphy called Shodo.  Miho's friend teaches a class at her house and after school every Tuesday, I walk down to the lesson. 

Like kendo, I take the class with a several other little kids.  I think they like having me there.  Some of them seem really excited about it and others act a little confused as to what I even am.  They're all nice though.      

Brushes are used in shodo along with black ink.  Each brush stroke must start and end in a certain position depending on what type of character is being written.  The amount of pressure put on the bristles, how fast the brush moves and the angle that the brushes touches the paper are all things that have to be paid attention to which makes it really difficult.  We're required to sit on our knees during shodo so sometimes I have to take a break and stretch them out.

Here are some photos of the characters that I've done:

This means song and is pronounced uta (うた).  My name is on the side.

This is the Kanji for left (top) and right (bottom).  Left is hidari and right is migi.  (左右）

Mountaineering

Just about every weekend the mountaineering team and I go out hiking to practice for our next competition.  I was recently able to compete in my first one a few weeks ago.  It actually went a lot better than I had expected. Especially considering the fact that I wasn't allowed compete in the the last one because I wouldn't have been able to read anything on our maps.  The competition consisted of two parts: A race to the top of the mountain and then mapping. The trail is probably a little over 10 Kilometers total.  I placed 4th overall in the race section and I ended up with 6/10 correctly marked points on my map.  The mapping was the hardest part for me as everything was written in Japanese. The total time it took each participant to complete the entire course and the number of points we marked correctly were used to give us our final scores.  I was happy with how it went.

These little crabs are found all over in the mountains where there is running water.

New School Year

In Japan, the new school year starts after spring break.  So, after I returned from break I had an entirely new class and the new school building that had been under construction since before I arrived in Japan, was opened. 

The third year students at my school are very busy with studying and aren't even allowed to be in a school club.  So, I was put into another second year class.  It's been going well so far. It's been a bit strange settling in with a new class since I'm so used to seeing the same classmates everyday.

I've been asked to help out with 1st and 2nd year English classes a lot lately which can be a nice break. School in it's entirety is still not the most fun place for me.  I'm at the point where I feel that I learn more when I'm not at school.  I started getting tutored in Japanese every Monday, Thursday and Saturday outside of school.  It would be nice to have the tutor come into Minami Ko to help me but it's not allowed.

Recently, I've started reading children's books and Japanese manga.  It's something for me to do when I want a break from the normal school routine.  Sometimes I don't understand everything that's going on but it's good Japanese reading practice.  I sit right next to the window so when the weather is as nice as it has been, it's even harder to sit through class.

I found a Japanese copy of Goodnight Moon.

My new class.

たべもの

This is fugu which is the poisonous puffer fish.  Apparently its really hard to prepare safely which makes it expensive.

Fried fugu.

This is bread with bean paste on the inside.  The beans are sweet and a purple color.  These are very popular in Japan.

Oden

Janglish

This is a pencil case which doubles as anything you'd like.

The two most important things

There isn't any English on here but I didn't know where else to put it.  This is a can filled with Helium made for the soul purpose of inhaling.

Looking Ahead

This month I'll be going on a trip to Kyoto and Tokyo along with another group of exchange students. The same group that came to Nagasaki way back in October.  I'm excited to see them all again and it sounds like there are a lot of cool places we're going to get to visit.  

I'll also be switching host families again soon.  The next will be my last.  They're daughter is the next exchange student going to St. Paul starting this August.  I've gotten to know them a little bit at our rotary orientations so I think that moving in will be just fine.

I'll plan on having a new blog post after the rotary trip.