Monday, October 5, 2009

September 18, 2009: My Kyoto Host Family

Went to a Japanese pub (Izakaya) with my host parents day one.
I want them both!

My host mom and me.


Let me introduce you to my host family before I continue on my adventures. I love coming home because I love to interact with my host family, and just listen to them talk. They use Kyoto-ben (the Japanese dialect for this city) all the time, which I find entertaining and definitely cool. I can understand it, and have been trying to be able to use it myself. It’s hard because once you’re used to a certain way of talking, it’s hard to use a totally new word instead or end a word slightly differently that you are used to.

My host mother is 66 years old, but she acts like a 30 year old. She is so active and healthy. To show me around we each rode on a bicycle (even up small, but steady inclines) around the city. She goes to the gym regularly, works part time, and pursues her hobby (making these works of art with just paper; I’ll post pictures sooner if not later) through classes and regularly at home at her own time. On top of that she cooks and cleans (does all my laundry and folds my clothes! I feel like a child!) and pays very close attention to the way I eat my food so she can adjust when preparing for my next meal.

My host father is 67 years old and works full time at a business company. He is always reading the economy newspaper. On the days when my host mother works part time, she comes home late, and he makes dinner instead of her. He’s always encouraging and happy. 7 years ago he almost died (some kind of illness having to do with his heart almost failing) and they didn’t have a host student for 7 years, but before that, they hosted 12 students, so I am number 13. They have kids, but they are grown and married with kids of their own.

My host mom and dad always bicker, but playfully, with laughter and expressive intonation. I love it! Generally my host father says that someone should make sure something or the other is cleaned or properly wrapped, and my host mother whines and says she is only one person, and orders him to do it. Then he sighs and says she’s right, and gets up right away and complies.

Yesterday I was doing my homework in the living room, creating sentences with new grammar that we learned in class, and asking them if it sounded correct. Sometimes I was a little stuck and they helped me out, and I tried to make a sentence that was something to the effect of: It’s is psychologically difficult to understand a 10 year old girl who wants to wear makeup. My host father thought my sentence was okay, but suggested instead of 10 year old girl, that I could write boy. My host mother, from the kitchen, yelled at him, asking him why he would teach me such things and that my sentence was fine. And told him he was gay. Later that night they somehow brought it up again, and my host mom said my host father says those types of things because in actuality he is more than a mom than a dad. I laughed hard. I feel like I am living in a comedy. I feel very comfortable here. Their hospitality alone makes me want to stay another semester, although I know I shouldn’t.

The first night I met them (Saturday), they took me to an Izakaya (Japanese Bar restaurant, where young people go) in a very young/active part of the city. They ordered so much food. They didn’t even ask and ordered 3 big glasses of beer. I don’t fancy beer, but it would be rude to refuse, right? So I drank it. Slowly. My host mom loves beer, drank the whole mug, and ordered a second smaller one for herself. She definitely has a high tolerance. I was impressed she didn’t even turn red. I, on the other hand, even though I am just half Japanese, was glowing, radiating heat, and was a nice shade of rose. My host father, unlike my host mother, doesn’t have the best tolerance for alcohol and was also a bit red in the face. I can’t believe they got me slightly drunk the first night they met me. Why? I’ll ask them tomorrow. Then afterwards we passed by this ice cream place that served huge $150 ice cream dishes and more. I was impressed by the towers of ice cream, glued to the display glass, and so we sporadically walked in and my host mother and I each had a tower of ice cream. My host father, because he is at risk for diabetes, had a small Japanese dessert.

To call them awesome is truly an understatement.

September 14, 2009: Kobe





























Kobe at night.







Kobe pier.








Waiting for the train.









A few blocks away from Himeji castle.










View from one of the windows of Himeji castle.



Me with Himeji castle in the background.




The map of the grounds of Himeji castle.





A model of what they did to pass their time in Himeji castle.

A samurai inside the castle. He was with his girlfriend. Everyone was respectful and didn`t take pictures, but I couldn`t help myself.



Let me start a few weeks ago, before I started orientation/school in Japan.

Andre, from the Bronx, who went to the same High School as I went to (Dewitt Clinton), and was in the same AP English class a few years before me, had apparently been living in Kobe. I met him once in NYC, but didn’t remember him until I spoke to him on the phone and he reminded me of that time. Ms. Polan, my AP English teacher from High School, apparently sent Andre an email, and put in a good word for me. Maybe it’s because Andre didn’t really want to bother with meeting up with me, or wasn’t too interested but I’m glad Ms. Polan did that.

So I met up with Andre, who lives in Sannomiya, Kobe. He was very kind, agreeing to host me and provide a place to stay. He swore me to secrecy, so I am not allowed to reveal the décor of his apartment. We walked around Kobe during the day and night, walking into Kobe’s Chinatown as well. We went to Himeji castle next day. I think once you go to one castle in Japan, you might think they are all the same. The outside looks relatively similar. When you take the narrow and steep stair climb to the uppermost floors, you get a spectacular view of the city. But the inside has its small and big differences. Sometimes it’s almost like a museum, with pieces of history that represent the lifestyle of the samurai that lived in the castle rooms. Of course there are just a lot of empty rooms. As you humbly walk through and feel the grandeur of the respectable wooden rooms, you might stop and wonder how the samurai lived long ago. Or at least that’s what I did. What did they do in those rooms?

Behind the master’s headquarters, there was a place designated just for suicide. I guess when the war came to a close and the master realized he would be defeated and captured, to defend his honor he would kill myself. For a samurai, it was about honor. It was more honorable to kill yourself than to fall into the hands of the enemy.

The castles in Japan all seem very old (some older than others, I’m sure), but don’t be fooled, the truth is most of them had been rebuilt. Some of it was rebuilt very recently. Most of it was rebuilt a little farther back in history. They were rebuilt mostly because of the fires that were caused by local warfare. Himeji castle is the biggest castle in Japan.

I really want to see the castle in Kyoto (Nijo) and if I have time, the castle in Okasa (Osaka-jo). At KCJS (Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies) I am taking Japanese Civilization and Japanese Theater. I was reading the book for Japanese Civ class and it said that back then castles were usually built atop a hill as a defensive strategy. The master and his family didn’t live in the castle, but lived at the base of the hill, and used the castle when they were attacked.