I saw another white person today. 3, actually! That makes 5, so far. I saw the first white person earlier this week. It shocked me, then I thought…”No…I must have seen a white person since I got here.” But I realized I hadn’t. Mid-week I saw one more, and today I saw three. I think it was because I was in Kyoto, though, which is more tourist-y. 5 white people in two weeks. Now you understand why I feel out of place. Actually, the only people who stare at me are occasional small children. I’m not actually that different looking, other than not being Asian. I went to Kyoto today with Takemori-San to see the chemical heat pump that is one of my projects, sort of – I’m ‘providing assistance’ to other members of the team. We took a train, and it was a 30 minute trip for 540 Yen – about $5. I had to pay. I think that if I’m going somewhere for work, with work, they should pay! But I’m in Japan, and I don’t know how these things work, so I figure that if they were going to pay, he would have paid! We went to Kyoto University, which was neat. It’s not so different than UBC…it has old and sketchy engineering buildings, a clock tower, and a big fancy entrance to the library. We got there at around 2:30 and stayed until 6:00. They were chattering in Japanese the whole time, and I was staring at the system trying to figure out how it works. Thermodynamics is not exactly my strongest subject. It was in a graduate lab which wasn’t heated, and the door was wide open. On the bright side, I did get to watch the large snowflakes fall for part of the time, and it made me miss snow. Tomorrow is my presentation, and I should be practicing right now, but I’m practiced out.
I had an up and down day today…partially excited that I’m in Japan, and partially super homesick again. The homesickness is always there, but some days it’s harder to deal with. Fortunately – this weekend I may get some friends! I’m meeting up with JP (another coop student in Osaka) on Saturday morning. It sounds like the group of Co-ops in the area aren’t exactly the ambitious and planning type. I’m going to meet JP at the train station near his apartment and hang out there and use the internet for a while. I’m excited!!! I’ll get to post all these blogs, email people back, and check my Facebook. I can check email at work, but use it minimally – I think I have 30 or so Facebook emails to deal with. Yay – somebodies love me! :)
I found out today that miso soup and rice are part of every meal in Japan. Yes, every meal. I make my own breakfasts, so today I asked what a ‘Japanese breakfast’ would be. Guess what. Yep – it includes rice and miso soup. Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper all include a bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup. Interesting…I told my friends at work that to eat the same thing, every day, three times a day – in Canada, this would be very strange. I also had a heckuva time trying to explain oatmeal to them. The closest things we came up with were cornflakes and flour. I printed a picture later to show them tomorrow. It’s weird to think someone doesn’t know what oatmeal is.
Osaka is a large city, and I’m not sure what the rest of Japan is like, but don’t think I could live here long term. It’s not the big-city-ness, I love Vancouver. I realized today, watching fields fly by between Osaka and Kyoto, that within Osaka, itself, green space is rare. Vancouver has lots of parks and trees and green areas. Osaka doesn’t, at least not that I’ve seen. It does, however, along with the Pachinko & Slot and vending machines, have hair salons around every corner. Everywhere. The Japanese must love their hair!
I’m going to bed early – I got caught up studying last night and went to bed late…I hate being tired in the mornings. Goodnight – I miss Kelowna and Vancouver and Sparwood and Canada and my stuff and my bed and my friends and my other friends and my family and English signs and English food and cheese and Swedish Berries and Smarties and hugs. Especially hugs. Especially hugs.
Showing posts with label details. Show all posts
Showing posts with label details. Show all posts
Friday, January 25
Thursday, January 24
January 23rd
I had my first Japanese lesson today, with Ego-San. Oh, speaking of names…the guy who I called ‘M’ is actually Yoda-San (I don’t know his first name, it might start with M). The other friend I go to work wit his Maurita-San. I don’t know if I’m spelling their names right, I’m just spelling them how they sound to me. Ego-San (Nihongo Sensei, Japanese Teacher) edited my Japanese introduction for my presentation on Friday. I was surprised – there were relatively few and minor changes, and she said it was very good. I’m better at writing in Japanese than I thought! The hardest part of learning a new language is recognizing it when other people say it. I can learn to write it and to say it, but when people speak, everyone speaks in different tones and speeds, so words sound very different from one person to another. That will take the most practice. I think my 3 minute Japanese intro will be shorter than 3 minutes, but I’m not about to try and change it now. I’m just going to work on perfect pronunciation of what I have, speak slowly, and enunciate.
There are a couple things that are everywhere, in Japan. And by everywhere, I mean within 100 metres of each other. These things are: drink vending machines, cigarette vending machines, and ‘Pachinko & Slot’ facilities. The legal age for cigarettes is 18 or 20 or something like that, but the vending machines are everywhere, with no restrictions. Apparently Japanese kids aren’t rebellious and don’t buy things they’re not supposed to… The number of Pachinko & Slot (gambling places) makes me wonder how anyone in Japan has any money. They’re everywhere! That’s it for Japan details today…I got caught up in studying again, and I should have been in bed 10 minutes ago. Speaking of studying – I’m learning! I can recognize most Hiragana & Katakana characters. Now I just have to learn the words…when I recognize the characters, I can put a word together, for instance: ‘mi-ru-ku’. But then I need to remember that miruku is ‘milk’ in Japanese. So it’s still difficult to read. Oh!! Also…I got my ‘inkan’ today! Inkan is a small stamp that is equal to a signature. Mine has three Kanji (Japanese Chinese characters) on it – for ‘Su-Te-Hane’…the translation of my name. The characters mean ‘Red-Heaven-Feather’. It’s so neat! It comes in a little case with it’s own small stamp pad. It will be one of my favorite souvenirs from Japan, I think. That’s it for now…good night! :)
There are a couple things that are everywhere, in Japan. And by everywhere, I mean within 100 metres of each other. These things are: drink vending machines, cigarette vending machines, and ‘Pachinko & Slot’ facilities. The legal age for cigarettes is 18 or 20 or something like that, but the vending machines are everywhere, with no restrictions. Apparently Japanese kids aren’t rebellious and don’t buy things they’re not supposed to… The number of Pachinko & Slot (gambling places) makes me wonder how anyone in Japan has any money. They’re everywhere! That’s it for Japan details today…I got caught up in studying again, and I should have been in bed 10 minutes ago. Speaking of studying – I’m learning! I can recognize most Hiragana & Katakana characters. Now I just have to learn the words…when I recognize the characters, I can put a word together, for instance: ‘mi-ru-ku’. But then I need to remember that miruku is ‘milk’ in Japanese. So it’s still difficult to read. Oh!! Also…I got my ‘inkan’ today! Inkan is a small stamp that is equal to a signature. Mine has three Kanji (Japanese Chinese characters) on it – for ‘Su-Te-Hane’…the translation of my name. The characters mean ‘Red-Heaven-Feather’. It’s so neat! It comes in a little case with it’s own small stamp pad. It will be one of my favorite souvenirs from Japan, I think. That’s it for now…good night! :)
Tuesday, January 22
January 21st
I got so caught up in learning Japanese, it’s bedtime and I forgot to blog! I also realized, on my adventure home today, that I’ve been writing mostly about how I’m feeling instead of what it’s like here. It would probably be a lot more interesting to read about Japan, instead of the ramblings of Stephanie’s mind and heart. So here goes…details! But first, my adventure home…all went well until Tsurahashi, when I got on the wrong train – I just walked to the wrong platform because I wasn’t paying attention. It took me several stations to realize that none of the names sounded familiar. So I asked a woman, in broken Japanese, if this train was going to Yao station. My heart (and stomach) dropped when she started chattering in Japanese but was pointing back the way we came. I realized that – yes – I had gotten on the wrong train. I thanked her (that’s one thing I can and do quite proficiently) and got off at the next station. After another broken conversation with a man on a train, I found my way to the platform I needed to be at. I recognized a station name and knew I could go back to there and find my way from that point. Yay! The adventure ended well.
I live in a company dormitory – everyone who live here works for Osaka Gas. Osaka Gas is something like Terasen Gas – there are buildings and centers and labs all over the city. There is a woman’s section and men’s section, and the opposite sex is not allowed in the other section, at all. There are four other women in the dormitory – we are all on the same floor – the 3rd one. At the end of our floor is a bathroom (sinks & toilets). I think there’s another floor up above us that is empty. On the second floor is a TV room, a kitchen area with North American style tables, a bathroom/shower, a kitchen area with Japanese style tables, a bigger shower room, and laundry. On the main floor is the lobby area, the cafeteria, and the mysterious hallway leading to the men’s section of the dormitory. There are 95 men in the dormitory. Yoshida-san and (I think?) his wife run the dormitory. They’re a very kind couple that doesn’t speak English, but we make do between their random English words and my busted up Japanese. My room is a decent size – about the size of my room in Sparwood. I have a cot-type bed, a small shelving unit, a desk with a chair, two closets, and my own little entryway with some shoe shelves. There are also two overhead storage areas. The dormitory is right beside the road, and it’s very loud! I’m used to it now, but at first it drove me nuts. You can hear all the cars going by and everything that’s happening outside. The lobby area has a reception area, and the shoe area. When you enter the dormitory (or any Japanese home), you remove your shoes and put on slippers. There’s a compartment for each person to keep their shoes on. There’s also a message board (which I can’t read), but I did notice a sign that said ‘Welcome’ on it, with my name in Japanese, below. I get suppers at the cafeteria, on weekdays. On weekends and for mornings, I’m on my own. Usually, supper consists of a vegetable-type thing, a salad-type thing, a fish-type thing, rice, and miso soup. It’s all very good and I’m always starving when I get home from work. On weekends, I cook for myself, but I miss the Japanese dinners (they’re pretty yummy). For breakfast, I have toast with butter & tomato slices, a glass of milk, and yoghurt. The bread, milk, and yoghurt are slightly more expensive than I’m used to, but it’s worth it! The train station (Takayasu) is about a 5 minute walk from my house. From there, I can get anywhere in Japan, pretty much. There is a decent-sized grocery store within a 15 minute walk from my house, and several within 30 minutes. I’ve discovered that maps are infinitely useful and provide a universal language. I got Yoshida-san to draw me a map to a swimming pool. I think I found it, but you couldn’t see inside and it looked…special. It was all wooden and Japanese-looking (most things in the city aren’t actually what you would picture Japanese buildings looking like). I didn’t feel like trying to venture inside (it looked very closed), so I figured I’d leave it at that for the day. I’ll put some pictures up of my dormitory, to add to my brief descriptions. I’m off to bed now, more details will have to wait until tomorrow! Oh – and my presentation is now on Friday – ahhh!!
-Photos (in order):
*My dorm room - from the entrance and from the opposite side of the room.
*The main kitchen area I use...
*The Japanese-style table
*Bathroom area - you can't really tell, but the sinks are light pink! Cute.
I live in a company dormitory – everyone who live here works for Osaka Gas. Osaka Gas is something like Terasen Gas – there are buildings and centers and labs all over the city. There is a woman’s section and men’s section, and the opposite sex is not allowed in the other section, at all. There are four other women in the dormitory – we are all on the same floor – the 3rd one. At the end of our floor is a bathroom (sinks & toilets). I think there’s another floor up above us that is empty. On the second floor is a TV room, a kitchen area with North American style tables, a bathroom/shower, a kitchen area with Japanese style tables, a bigger shower room, and laundry. On the main floor is the lobby area, the cafeteria, and the mysterious hallway leading to the men’s section of the dormitory. There are 95 men in the dormitory. Yoshida-san and (I think?) his wife run the dormitory. They’re a very kind couple that doesn’t speak English, but we make do between their random English words and my busted up Japanese. My room is a decent size – about the size of my room in Sparwood. I have a cot-type bed, a small shelving unit, a desk with a chair, two closets, and my own little entryway with some shoe shelves. There are also two overhead storage areas. The dormitory is right beside the road, and it’s very loud! I’m used to it now, but at first it drove me nuts. You can hear all the cars going by and everything that’s happening outside. The lobby area has a reception area, and the shoe area. When you enter the dormitory (or any Japanese home), you remove your shoes and put on slippers. There’s a compartment for each person to keep their shoes on. There’s also a message board (which I can’t read), but I did notice a sign that said ‘Welcome’ on it, with my name in Japanese, below. I get suppers at the cafeteria, on weekdays. On weekends and for mornings, I’m on my own. Usually, supper consists of a vegetable-type thing, a salad-type thing, a fish-type thing, rice, and miso soup. It’s all very good and I’m always starving when I get home from work. On weekends, I cook for myself, but I miss the Japanese dinners (they’re pretty yummy). For breakfast, I have toast with butter & tomato slices, a glass of milk, and yoghurt. The bread, milk, and yoghurt are slightly more expensive than I’m used to, but it’s worth it! The train station (Takayasu) is about a 5 minute walk from my house. From there, I can get anywhere in Japan, pretty much. There is a decent-sized grocery store within a 15 minute walk from my house, and several within 30 minutes. I’ve discovered that maps are infinitely useful and provide a universal language. I got Yoshida-san to draw me a map to a swimming pool. I think I found it, but you couldn’t see inside and it looked…special. It was all wooden and Japanese-looking (most things in the city aren’t actually what you would picture Japanese buildings looking like). I didn’t feel like trying to venture inside (it looked very closed), so I figured I’d leave it at that for the day. I’ll put some pictures up of my dormitory, to add to my brief descriptions. I’m off to bed now, more details will have to wait until tomorrow! Oh – and my presentation is now on Friday – ahhh!!
-Photos (in order):
*My dorm room - from the entrance and from the opposite side of the room.
*The main kitchen area I use...
*The Japanese-style table
*Bathroom area - you can't really tell, but the sinks are light pink! Cute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)