Saturday, August 25, 2012

On the Consumption of a Great Deal of Octopus

The past couple days have seemingly whizzed past me.  Each day is filled with a various touristy activity with a different member of Rotary.  Its nice to get to know these members though, I feel truly connected to the club now.  Its from my understanding that I am the first exchange student they have hosted in twenty years.  I don't know the validity of this as my host father mentioned it and he has become infamous for getting his facts jumbled up in translation.

Tuesday came around and I was given a tour of Koryo High School with Hiroshi and another member of Rotary.  The school is exquisite in design and seems pretty simple to navigate at this point, especially as I will be sitting in the same classroom for the better part of everyday.  I was surprised to learn that the students do all of the cleaning in the classroom and they have twenty minutes set aside everyday for it.  In addition, the schedule is equally as strange.  On Monday's and Thursday's I have school from 8:30 to 3:30, with club activity to follow after that, however, on Tuesday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's, I have a fabled 'seventh hour' which lasts until 5:15 or so.  Its safe to say school will consume my life, seeing as I have an hour commute one way.  I also have to give a speech on the first day of school introducing myself.  The issue being, it's in Japanese.  To the entire school.  And staff.  That's roughly 1,300 natural born human beings.  It's a bit daunting at this point.  I was then invited to play soccer with my 'host brother', he's 35 with a wife and two kids, I use the term loosely.  I was initially very scared seeing as he played in college and appeared to be pretty good.  With some people you can just tell.  It was a lot of fun despite the fact that I was far and away the worst player.  It's never good when people can't tell that you played in high school.  I even met a guy who had tried out for the Minnesota Thunder a couple years back, small world.

The next couple days were filled with various activities such as the hitting up the Hiroshima Art Museum, braving a Japanese Haunted House with a former race car driver and my first Rotary meeting.

Yesterday, I piled into a van with a Japanese family I had not met ever before, save for the father once or twice and headed to someplace.  Hiroshi had told me, but I had no idea what he meant.  This was one of the more horrifying experiences I have had.  But it turned out to be a lot of fun.  We drove to Shimane , the least populated area in Japan, and went to an aquarium.  The  drive was beautiful, as green mountains jetted up from both sides of the road.  The aquarium was nice and the ocean it was by was absolutely beautiful.  We stopped off at a fish market on the drive back and took in the sights and smells of a Japanese fish market.

As for the cuisine, its excellent.  However, they have been feeding a great deal of Octopus.  I have had octopus in various incarnations for the past three days, whether it be raw or fried.  Its not really my thing but its slowly growing on me.

All for now

My apartment building, as far as I know its the tallest building in Hiroshima
 Life's a beach sometimes
If you like your squid still respirating then the Shimane Fish Market is for you

This kid. Shongo, son of Shingo, at the futsal complex

Sunday, August 19, 2012

On Touching Down and the Beginning

I would like to start off by apologizing to everyone for my lack of presence upon this blog in the past days.  It was a struggle to find an internet connection, which I find to be very ironic due to Japan's notoriety for it's blazing fast internet.

But anyways, my journey began on August 15th at 9 a.m. and boarded a plane for Chicago.  After landing in Chicago I transferred onto a plane bound for Narita Airport located in Tokyo.  It was my first international flight and it was strange due to the fact that I was always flying into the sun.  A nice Singaporean couple sat to my left and whenever the wife opened the window it was always sunny, never dark.  After touching down, I helped them with their luggage seeing as they were only 5 feet tall on a good day.  I was initially very scared of the Tokyo airport, however, it proved to be easy to navigate.  I was able to find my small chartered flight to Hiroshima and boarded and promptly fell asleep as I was dead tired.  After waking up and landing, I picked up my luggage and walked out into the awaiting arms of my host dad, Hiroshi, and counselor, Genko.  I then hopped into Hiroshi's Toyota Prius and began the hour long drive to my new home.  We had a pleasant conversation, mainly revolving around his occupation and his sons.  I dined on some fruit and went to bed when I arrived.

The next day I awoke and had breakfast and Hiroshi and went for a walk around Hiroshima.  Its a beautiful city filled with many parks and green spaces.  He then took me to his office and introduced me to his son, Shinji.  Shinji is an Okonomiyaki chef at the restaurant Hiroshi owns.  We discussed my school, as he attended it for a year when he was in high school.  We then left and headed home and had lunch.  After lunch I was whisked away to the shopping arcade were I was fitted for my swanky school uniform.  For dinner when dined at my fathers restaurant on food prepared by my three host brothers.  There, I met several members of Rotary and my host niece and nephew.  The dinner was excellent, consisting of chicken throat, pig feet, and cow intestine.

The next day, in the morning I went to the Shuikken gardens with my host mother, Michiko.  The gardens were absolutely gorgeous.  And it was a two minute walk from my house!  Its so strange to be in the middle of everything.  After spending the afternoon at home, I traveled to my school with Hiroshi after dinner, to get used to the routine.  The baseball team was practicing, despite it being 8:30 in the evening on a Saturday.

And that brings us to Sunday.  In the morning I went with Hiroshi to the Hiroshima Castle and the nearby Shinto shrine.  It was an amazing experience to see the least.  I then spent the afternoon watching Japanese baseball (which I do quite frequently to kill the time) and drawing and called it a day  at 10 after having dinner of fried chicken, crab, and tofu with dried immature sardines.

Its now 9 a.m. in the morning and I believe I am going back to the restaurant this evening for dinner with some Rotary members.  School starts on the 30th, and I look forward to it immensely.  Both for its structure and for the fact that I will finally meet kids my own age (something that has yet to happen).

 The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial
 The view from my bedroom
 Shuikken Gardens
 My host mom and niece and nephew
 Hiroshima Castle
 Shinji, my host brother, preparing Okonomiyaki
 Shinto shrine
 Another view of the shrine
Praying at the shrine and that about wraps it up