Lucie in Utsunomiya

Hello again, world. Long time no see.

2010-07-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written in ages. My fingers got sliced off by samurai and took a while to grow back.

New link, new blog, fresh start over at Wordpress:

CLICK TO GO!

Visit if you'd please. And that's up to you. Sorry for letting you down with blogging - I can't promise I'll keep the next one up either, but I'll do my got damn best!

Crowded.

2010-07-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

And hot. Very, very, very hot.

That, my friends, was Harajuku.
Now, I know what all the folks in Australia back home are thinking; "It's Japan, Lucie. Japan. How bad can it get?".

Don't argue with me, you Australian folk, you, what with your current Winter Wonderland of chilly goodness back at home. It's a little more than just 'toasty' here. In early Summer, most of Japan's prefectures are actually blessed by the Horrible Fairy with a rainy season called 'Tsuyu', which usually brings relentless rain for a couple of weeks and very bipolar weather. Right now, we're coming out of Tsuyu, but it's extremely humid here, to the point that sometimes you wish you could just stay inside, gladwrap ice to your body, hide under the floorboards and become a House Goblin for the rest of the Summer. But seeing how House Goblins don't get out very much (hey, have you ever seen one in Harajuku?), I decided to accompany my other Utsunomiya-dwelling exchange student buddy, Jessica, to set off for the land of Neverending Sales and Lacey Dresses.

I can't tell you how therapeutic the day was, really. Whilst being an exchange student in Japan does wonders for your Japanese (it's sink or swim, really - to communicate, you've got to really get into it and overcome that fear of making mistakes), it's often at the cost of your English, so when you're able to have an in-depth conversation with someone in your native tongue, it's a good feeling, like sitting down after a long run and stretching out your legs again. It's also done wonders for my self-confidence, because although I'm still not a person of the spoken word, I find that mixing with strangers and making connections with new people is much more fun than it used to be. In fact, I look forward to it now. Woo!

Chris being ninja with his camera.

After greeting Melbournite AIIU student, Chloe, and The American (who, from this point on, I'll refer to as 'Chris', although just 'The American' does have sort of a masochist Superhero ring to it, doesn't it?) and miraculously finding a lost and phoneless Michael wandering amongst five billion other people all squashing together in the same side-street, we were off to do the usual Harajukuey shenanigans, like shopping for clothes, Lolita gear, doubletaking a few times passing several fairy hairy trappy Man-Lolitas and having our money and change stolen by Family Restaurant after some relatively alright ice-creams.

500 calories of choco-banana goodness.

Probably been a million snaps of this on the internet, but I'll join the other hundreds of foreigners in finding "Ohoho those silly Japanese'-like amusement at this 'No Smorking sign".

You better not tout anyone either.

I did have a five second exciting reunion with a Swedish girl and Adelaide guy from Australia that I'd met from a previous International Relations Excursion Shindig, but that chance meeting was foiled by fate as we, well, lost eachother in the crowd again after a bout of Purikura and only five minutes of Harajuku exploration. Easy come, easy go! I'm sure we'll meet again, somewhere, in some place random.

.
We shall meet agaaaain.

Ah, part of me did want to pick up some cheap Mary-Janes to go with my Victorian Maiden attire from Atelier Pierrot (ha, more on that little embarrassing secret later), but I was lured back to reality by some awesome PVC figures from Harajuku's five level character goods store, KIDDYLAND.

The famous Humping Dog USB. One of my more tasteful purchases.
The boxes (Little Trickers and Ye Old English Dunny - Dunny reffering to a bunny-like character, not a toilet, which I write for the benefit of you Aussies out there reading this) contain figures, but you don't know which one you're going to get, so it's a bit of a lucky-dip system. There was only one figure of the fifteen possible designs that I didn't particularly want, a hot pink rabbit with big anime eyes and a tourist sun-cap, and Chris was like, "What if you get that one?" to which I thought in reply, "The Gods wouldn't be that cruel."

I hate the Gods.
This has only strengthened my resolve to go back and snag myself one of those other awesome designs! That is, if I don't get bloomin' Tourist Bunny again. But I guess it's kind of trendy in a campy way (yep... that's what I have to tell myself to sleep at night...counting the ten dollar notes as they jump out of my wallet and over Japan's economic fence).

Dinner was spent eating creamy unagi (eel) and some shellfish limpets guys in soup whilst being disturbed by 'The Lovely Bones' with my host father. Fun times.

The Best Day of Golden Week (so far)

2010-05-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

Today's story begins in... this lovely place!

Well, I know I promised to tell you about my school buddies, but since I don't want a backlog of "things to blog" to prevent me from actually blogging about my recent activities, here's a short blog about what I did today (hey, an actual blog about something that happened recently! Wow!).
Today, I thought, would be like most days. You know. The usual... watch some Japanese boy idols sing on variety shows on television for a while, study a little, roll around on the floor, go out for a bike ride and buy my usual Kinoko no Yama snacks at the supermarket (well, I still did that today... I don't know why, but I just LOVE LOVE LOVE Kinoko no Yama... when I return to an Australia without them, that shall be a sad, sad day).

Even the advert fills me with unadulterated joy.　ちょう好き！

But today, my amazing Host Grandparents took my Host Sister and I out for soba at a delightfully traditional Japanese restaurant. We sat on tatami mats at low tables and had the most delicious tempura I've ever eaten. Ever!

Mmmmmmmmmmm! おいしかったよ！：’D

In Australia, I've often found the tempura kind of bland. "Why fry the vegetables?" I often wondered, "Why not just eat them fresh? The way they are?". Well, after trying the real deal, I now know the draw to good tempura... the flavour just burst in my mouth, and unlike in Australia, the fried panko-stuff was especially cr-cr-cruunchy! I've never really liked prawns, but the prawns (ebi えび） at this restaurant were nice and meaty, and I gladly helped myself to another after polishing off the first. The cold soba noodles were also very refreshing on such a warm day.

Then it was off to Totoro's Forest (well, not really, it was a park in neighbouring town 'Koganei', I think, but I did see a few little white creatures running about out of the corner of my eye - you never know!) with my Host Grandparents (after dropping Mina off at the house) to go and see the (or one of the) Graves of Murasaki Shikibu (a Japanese writer, responsible for the classic "The Tale of Genji"), which was very beautiful. I absolutely loved exploring the forest - so much greenery, a cool refreshing breeze whistling through arches upon arches of ancient trees, mossy rock structures abound - Japanese forests seem to have an element of mystery about them. Or maybe I've just watched too many Ghibli movies (personally, when I wandered through the forest, images of Mononoke-hime and Totoro sprung to mind).

The sign and three beautiful stone structures marking the grave of Murasaki Shikibu; 紫式部の墓　Murasaki Shikibu no Haka

Afterwards, we headed towards this mysterious hill, where Japanese children were playing with soccer balls in front of lines of Japanese people clapping hands. My Japanese is still not very good, so excuse me if I get the details completely and utterly wrong (which I most certainly will), but I managed to find out that the people clapping were actually praying. This area was famous for granting wishes about wealth, apparently. So, of course, I climbed to the top of the little hill, left my 1 yen offering on a rock, returned to the bottom of the hill and clapped my hands twice after making my wish.

The rock where I left my 1 yen offering. You can see other offerings have been left there, too!

You stand on a white line painted at the bottom of the hill (so that you're directly in the centre, facing the hill) and clap your hands (as demonstrated by my Host Grandmother in the two pictures! :D ).
The sound made when you clap was squeaky (thanks to some kind of echoing effect caused by the hill. I'm no scientist, so I'm just going to stick with my Host Grandparents explanation that it was the sound of the Crying Dragon (Nakiryuu) appearing suddenly when you clap, summoning it. Something poetic like that).

Please make me rich, crying dragon of the hill! :D

Afterward we joined the sake drinking, partying-underneath-the-cherry-blossom masses as we wandered about the park's 花祭り-Hana-Matsuri, or Flower Festival. There were people sitting under the blooming cherry blossom trees eating lunch, and small market stalls selling delicious food everywhere. My Host Grandparents treated me to a very generous sausage and Snowcone, which I ate gratefully (hey, it was pretty damn hot today!). See HANAMI / flower viewing on Wikipedia for more on this gorgeous activity!

Gorgeous flowers of the Flower Festival

We also went to a kickass farm area with neat industrial farm-house looking buildings (forgive my slowly diminishing English abilities).

This picture would be boring to anyone else but me. But I mean, look at it. It has cool steel wheels out the front! COOL STEEL WHEELS! :D

And angry MEGAhens!

Look at it staring at me. Like, "If this cage wasn't here, I'd be pecking you to pieces so fast, you meaty, meaty human." And the photo does not accurately convey how huge that beast was.

Anyway, that's today's entry. Tomorrow I'm going on yet another whirlwind adventure to go Apple Picking amongst the apple blossoms (ha, I love how perfectly cheerful that sounds - I bet we'll all make daisy chains whilst we skip and hold hands as well) with my Host Grandparents whilst my Host Sister goes on a date with Loverboy in Utsunomiya City and my Host Mum gets better at home (she's pretty sick atm). Well, またね mata ne (see ya later!)

- ルーシー Lucie

Your Utsunomiya Bunsei Campus Guide

2010-05-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

The view from outside my window - now the sakura have gone green, but when I came, WOW!

Well, I’ve been in Japan for a more than a month now, so by now, it’s only natural that I would know my school well. You guys, however, don’t! So, before I can update you on all my adventures so far, I need to give you the setting of this story, and that setting is Utsunomiya Bunsei Girls High School.

The Place

My class, 1-3 (Koala/Tesshi Class). They're brilliant! More on them later, though. ;D

When I first entered the gates of Bunsei, I was pretty damn impressed. Like most Japanese schools, it has the token vast athletics field (“The Ground”, often frequented by a chanting regiment of soccer club members in the morning as they jog along the entire area), pretty white buildings, a small well-kept Japanese garden out the front (a place with neatly clipped trees, where the Japanese flag is raised every morning and lowered every afternoon to the Japanese national anthem) and a whole cluster of breathtakingly beautiful sakura trees (which have, sadly, since reverted from their ‘pinkity’ to their normal green state).

The school is full of gorgeous small gardens, and even a space/patch (2nd picture) for the different classes to grow their own vegetables or flowers. I'm on the planning committee for that, but actually forgot about it until seeing the photo again... guess we've just been too busy lately!

The main building is sea shell white and, in the spring, surrounded by pink sakura blossoms. The 2nd picture shows the main path and building a little more (near the school entrance).

Surprisingly, this is a picture of the garbage area! Interesting juxtaposition with the sakura against the tin shed full of rubbish, isn't it?!

What surprised me was that they also have a pool (which I have not yet seen, but that’s my homework! It’s used by the swimming club), an area for the kendou club to practice, a small dojo for the karate club, a small private exercise room filled with equipment (for the use of the teachers, apparently… wow, talk about luxury!), a few small gyms, rooms especially made for the art and music classes, a few dozen small gardens scattered about here and there, and a larger gym/assembly hall with a small stage, where assemblies, ceremonies and gym classes are held.

Bunsei’s restraunt is also amazing, and one of my favourite places to be (because there’s deeeelicious FOOD there, of course)! I spend a lot of my time (and money) in there. There’s so much to buy there… dango (small, round traditional Japanese snacks filled with sweet azuki bean paste), mochi (which, according to wise old wiki, is a “Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and moulded into shape”, filled with a sweet melt-in-your-mouth azuki bean centre… mmmmm-!), an assortment of sweet breads and drinks which you can purchase for around 100 yen, and, surprisingly, a huge range of hot ramen, curries and udon (pricing at around 300 yen each) to choose from.

The teachers in Bunsei can all be found not in staff rooms of different faculties, but in one main “hive” of teacherly goodness, which is most convenient (but at the same time, the atmosphere is very formal – you must enter the staffroom with a “shitsureishimasu”, meaning “excuse me”, but literally, “I’m being rude”) and there’s a certain lack of that “heeey we’re all pals here hangin’ in the same faculty, sharing lollies and high-fiving each other” smaller staffroom feel, if you know what I mean. It’s like everyone in the collective faculties Japanese staffroom means srs professional business.

So, what’s my classroom like?

There's a map, and two flags! :'D Plastic koalas are also abound!

In contrast to the staffroom, my classroom has a very homely feel. I suppose, because my classroom is home to the students of the Ryugakusei ‘Exchange Student Course’ (studying a more intense English-focused course in preparation for their one year exchange to Adelaide, Australia, next January) it is decorated with Australian memorabilia, from the homely (Aussie flags and a large map of Australia adorning the back of the classroom) to the sweet (clip on koalas, everywhere!) to the tacky (did someone say cardboard didgeridoos?). In a way, it’s certainly “natsukashii” (nostalgic) and, in a strange way, very comforting.

The hallway outside our classroom, and the signs outside our class welcoming you in (in English, of course - we're the English Class! :D). The Hello Kitty sign certainly sets the atmosphere for our class - light-hearted!

As you can see, everyone sits separately on different desks. You enter the classroom using the sliding doors (often with a big “ohayooouu gozaiiimaaaasu”, “good morning!” in the morning).Everyone will greet you with a big smile, of course.

Here’s the front of the room, where the teacher dictates their lecture to the students. The front of the classroom is also peppered with notes of all kinds that I have yet to learn to read (漢字があまりよめないから) and our class timetables, which I check often. Beyond the blackboard being a place of education, it's also the place for entertainment and hilarity with our しりとりshiritori games and countless まんがmanga renditions of our homeroom teacher, Tesshi.

Our second home-room teacher, Tesshi (teacher in 2nd pic), looking bemusedly at his mangaself (1st pic).

Well, there's more to post (about people, especially) but that's all for tonight. I've run out of juice! Please forgive any strange stuff happening with the post layout or fonts... this computer is a little hard to use without a mouse and has a life of it's own all the time, doing its own thing. Blogging takes forever!

Anyway, thank you for reading! I will get around to doing some individual emails and letters soon!

- Lucie ルーシー

I'm Alive! : AIIU Newlsetter Article

2010-04-25T02:23:00.001-07:00

Here's my contribution to the AIIU newsletter, I thought, since I haven't posted in a long while, I should post it here too as an assurance that I will soon update. Expect more updates this week! I've been working on some "catch-up" posts to make up for my slackness.
Thank you for reading. :D I will also reply to all your comments (starting from... NOW!). Alright, over and out!

...

It’s five thirty in the morning.

“HEY hey, YOU you, I could be your GIRLLFRRRIEND!,” Avril Lavigne screams from the futon beside me, giving me a small heart attack for the umpteenth time this week. Stunned, it takes me a moment to realise that it’s not really Avril going off at me, but just my host mother’s alarm clock. Wincing at the clash of ring tone guitars, I groan, check my watch, roll over and reluctantly rise, body swaying unsteadily as I do, still groggy with sleep. Legs shaking, I make a quiet but somewhat precarious leap over the sleeping bodies of my host family (who, being veterans of Avril’s wake-up-call, are able to maintain composure over the roar of her guitar), and land safely (thank goodness) on the other side of the tatami mat. Today, I made the leap. But tomorrow could be the day I don’t. I resolve to practice my landings in たいくtaiku (PE) class.

But for now, it’s shower time.

With three cranks of a small lever, the little fire inside the heater of our Japanese bathtub is lit. Shivering and, well, stark naked (as one usually is when taking a shower), I utter a grateful sigh as the warm water rushes over me. Let me tell you, the minute that warm water comes out, it’s like HEAVEN ON EARTH. It’s quite cold here, in Oyama City, Tochigi (a city, not entirely country, but not entirely city, that lies approximately one hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen) and hey, I'm a bit of a wimp. After my usual shower (my 'daily trial', I suppose!), I take a peek out the window, and gasp as I see that the cars parked outside have been lightly tipped with snow. Beautiful! I’ll be able to take a closer look at it after my host sister and I make our usual bicycle ride to school, dressed in our navy Japanese seifuku school uniform. That is, after eating our Japanese breakfast prepared by our Host Mum, and packing our neatly wrapped おべんとうobentou (Japanese lunch boxes). Today, it’s curry rice.

A month here, and I am in awe of Japan. It’s, as others will and probably already have assured you in this newsletter, a very different, but very beautiful place, rich in culture. The scenery in Tochigi is absolutely gorgeous, and sakura (cherry blossom trees) adorn almost every street corner, constantly drawing looks of admiration from passersby. In a park by Oyama Library, street musicians often softly practice singing their music in Japanese, sitting in a circle together and strumming their guitars, which makes for a pleasant backdrop. A distant bark in the morning will reveal that the little white Akita dog of the neighbourhood has escaped once again and is performing his morning ritual of chasing cars on the street. The locals shake their head as they pass by. Just a normal morning in Oyama.

Lovely Oyama City - the urban and the rural

I am really enjoying my time here. Whilst I do think about my friends and family in Australia and miss them very much, being here, every day, is an adventure. So far I have tried foods that, in Australia, I would never have dared go near (牛タン‘gyutan’, or cow tongue, こぶくろkobukuro, pig uterus and うに‘uni’ or ‘sea urchin’ sushi, for example, and have developed a taste forたこ tako, or octopus); have braved the Japanese 温泉Onsen during our First Year school trip with some of my classmates (think naked public bathing); have been shopping and to Karaoke with friends (and took advantage of the free drinks; boy, did I abuse the system! 5 litres of Calpis, oh yeah!) and have visited a Japanese traditional temple at night time with my Host Grandparents to gaze upon the six hundred year old sakura tree, blossoming for another year.　すばらしくて、いっしょう忘れられないけいけんです。

My classmates, who will be introduced to you soon!

I am struck by the kindness of the Japanese people; the politeness of shop staff (during our school trip, for example, the entire hotel staff filed out of the building, including the chefs, and waved us all a hearty goodbye as we left), the kindness of strangers (an ‘おみやげomiyage’ charm from Korea I dropped – yes mum, I was clumsy again, stop shaking your head! - was returned to me at school, as someone had picked it up and had the heart to give it in rather than keep it for themselves), the kindness of my teachers (two of which who particularly go out of their way to make sure I loosely understand the contents of their classes, one by giving me little letters written in simple Japanese after class, which I am very grateful for) and the accepting nature of my classmates (whilst there is a definite language barrier, it doesn’t stop us from being pals, and they do their very best to include me. Despite my not yet being able to express myself in Japanese words, they have made me feel like one of the group).

Utsunomiya Bunsei Girls High School, too, is beautiful.
In short, I love it here.　日本がほんとうに大好きですよ！

Blossoms in the park near Oyama Station

Well, time’s up! If you’re interested to hear any more of my experience in Japan (both the exciting and the mundane of my rants!) please feel free to visit my blog:
www.lucie-in-utsunomiya.blogspot.com
Shameless advertising! :D

I hope all the other exchange students are having fun out there too, and I can’t wait to hear about what you’re up to. みなさん、がんばってください！：‘D　FIGHT！

Over and out for now,
Lucie ルーシー

NEXT POST: All about my school, its teachers and the students (introducing our story's setting and the all important characters)! Will have some new photos/information to show, and I'll post this either tomorrow or the next day, depending on how busy I am with my recently joined club (who knows what the next few days will bring)... please look forward to it! おたのしみに！

Rollercoaster - The Happenings

2010-04-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

Japan is a rollercoaster ride!

Exchange, it seems, is not exactly a holiday. I mean, I’ve only been here for about two weeks, but my mood has been going up and down, up and down, and probably sideways as well (round and round, this way and that way, like my emotions are in a giant blender - mainly due to the fact that I'm now way out of my comfort zone, and have been thrust into a new lifestyle). This is, perhaps, a good thing, because I’m not experiencing Tourist Japan, rather, I’m having a shot at Real Japan. Daily Life Japan. I think, in the long run, what I’m experiencing will definitely do me some real good.

So, you ask, do I want to come home yet?

Definitely not!

Well, let me share some things I have learnt whilst staying here:

In Japan, New Super Mario Brothers on Wii is SRS Business.

Never, never have I played such a hardcore game of Super Mario Brothers in my life! During our three player (Mina, Yumi and I) Wii New Super Mario Brothers gaming session, we were so loud and excitable (screaming 'じさつしないで’ and many 'あぶな～い’s) that eventually the people in the unit upstairs rang up to complain about the noise, bringing our voices down to still very shrill whispers. Yes. It was Mario, alright. Mario, Hardcore Style.

Every night, my stomach is filled with delicious food.

Soon, I’ll be able to roll home. We eat snacks every day here, so I’m really glad that my daily routine includes riding a bike to school. Really, really glad! However, the food itself is delicious. During my stay in the Machida household, we’ve made Japanese style pizza, takoyaki, macha (green tea), held a Temakizushi sushi party at the grandparents house (where you make your own sushi rolls), among other foods of impeccable deliciousness. Om nom nom nom.

During the sushi party, I also tried the much feared Natto. For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s actually one of those fabled “must try” Japanese foods that is famously known for being disliked by foreigners to Japan – stinky, rotten, fermented soybeans covered in goo that hold a pretty repugnant scent, a powerful taste and slippery texture. Before coming to Japan, having read my share of Japan related blogs, I knew about the powers of Natto. And I also knew that one day, my turn to eat it would come. And it came.

Perhaps, because I’d braced myself to eat something I thought to be an unspeakable horror, when it came to tasting it, it really wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t the tastiest thing I’d ever eaten. But it surely wasn’t the worst. If you come to Japan, don’t fear the Natto! To me, its bark was worse than its bite!

Interestingly, I found that tackling the Sakana Kobukuro dish presented a greater challenge than Natto. Sakana Kobukuro is the fish version of pig uterus, apparently (although I could be wrong). Whatever it was, it was intestiney. And creamy. And let us never speak of it again.

Japanese schools are very different to those in Australia!

For one thing, the sakura tree outside my classroom is just breathtakingly spectacular. No photograph could do it justice. For another thing, I found that Japanese school rules are much more strict than Australian schools, and the atmosphere much more formal. Although my first day was not my official "first day" at school (I had to come for a uniform fitting), there was a lot of bowing in the hallway to be done to every student or teacher that passed (I felt like one of those Wooden Bird Things that dip up and down a lot... you know, like the one in The Simpsons that obese Homer uses to press the Yes key on his computer whilst he goes to the movies/does other stuff instead of working? No? Damn) and so, so, so many おはようございますohayou gozaimasu's ("good morning"s).

In Japan, there's formal and informal speech, and sometimes I muddle up each one (you speak informally with your friends, but must be extra polite to the teachers and use polite form - です、ます). But nevertheless, I really felt the importance of Japanese formalities that first day. You must bow, smile, speak formally to your superiors. It's a culture of respect. I was so surprised that in my Nyugakushiki (First Year Opening Ceremony) everybody was so disciplined when it came to standing still and listening to the teacher during the ceremony. Nobody moved a muscle. Well, except to stand up, bow, and sit down. It went like this:

"Mr Kobayashi is going to speak. Stand up!"

We stand up.

"Bow"

We bow.

"Sit down"

We sit down.

Mr Kobayashi gives his speech. He finishes. We stand up, bow, sit down. The next speaker takes the stage. We stand up, bow, sit down. He finishes. We stand up, bow, sit down. This continues on for 40 minutes.

Still, it was extremely interesting... and good exercise, yeah?

Self introductions are also extremely important.

On my first day, I was forwarded into the staff room to do a jikou shoukai (self introduction) in front of a staff room full of teachers, which was nerve wracking. Man, was I nervous. I managed to stutter it out and completely butcher the Japanese language ("K-k-konichiwa"!)but still got the obligatory polite "Nihongo jouzu desu ne" from the teachers, which was nice of them. :D I also had to do a speech today, in front of the whole school at one of the Opening Ceremonys, which I'll write about later, because I'm running out of time.

I also went to Karaoke for four hours with Mina and her friend Mari for about four hours, which was quite fun. The best thing about the karaoke joint, in my opinion, was the fact that you could have as many free drinks from the vending machine as you wanted during the karaoke session... in my mind I was like, "Dude... I am so going to abuse the system." And the system I did abuse!

Free drinks over singing any day! I drank a truckload of Calpis (a yoghurty drink).

Well, signing out... oh! And thank you very much for your comments... I'll work on replying to them tonight! Really, they make me so happy and encourage me to write this thing, rather than abandon it. :） So thank you very much!
I miss you guys, and for the people I haven't met in real life who are still commenting, another THANK YOU to you! :D I'm honored that my blog is being read by other people!

じゃ、またね！

Lucie

Nihon Adobenchya: SUUTATO! And Japanese Style BBQs!

2010-04-01T03:29:00.000-07:00

H-h-howdy there! :D

Lucie here, and feeling much more refreshed now that I’ve finally started to settle in. The first few days have been a little difficult, but, as they say, as soon as school starts (which it does for me, next week) I’ll get into a routine and get myself busy and not "floating in limbo land", so to speak!

But for now, things are still sketchy, and every day is a surprise. Today, for example, I walked into the living room only to see two giggling, completely naked grown men wrapping eachother with clingwrap, followed by four dancing bears holding rolls of toilet paper walking on stilts singing to me in Japanese whilst a bunch of foreigners did the moonwalk. On TV, of course. But Japanese tv is still so surprising… programs usually involve people dressing up in strange costumes and scaring eachother, people in fluffy tv mascot suits dancing merrily around stern-faced newsreaders, men in dresses (in fact, over here on tv, I see a man in a dress about twice a day… that's an official statistic!) and lots and LOTS of bad karaoke. It’s a guilty pleasure. Although, I did spend the other day putting socks on chairs:

Lol, Japan。

However, there are the genuinely awesome days. On my second day with my host family, I had the opportunity to visit my host family’s grandparents house, a charming Japanese style home complete with sliding doors, tatami mats, small shrines and pictures of the ancestors displayed on the walls (there was even a small, modest shrine built for “Dai”, their golden retriever that passed away last year whilst Mina was on exchange in Australia… Mina’s grandma rang a pretty little bell for him as she told me about him :’D ).

The grandparents, Yukio (but ‘Yuki’ for short, as the family like to call him) and Yoshiko (a very pretty grandma), were extremely kind and were quite enthusiastic about showing me aspects of Japanese life (for example, as soon as we got to their home, Yukio-san pulled out a bag of brown rice and asked, “Do you want to see them become white?” and an interesting and quite enlightening visit to a rice-polishing machine soon followed suit).

Stepping onto their property (only five minutes from the Machida appartment), I was greeted with the nostalgic smell of burning wood (almost like an Australian campfire… I love that scent!) and fields of cultivated land with sakura trees sprouting out from the earth. It was quite beautiful, in that rural way (like a Japanese version of Robertson, Australia). Apparently, the sakura there will be more beautiful as the weather gets warmer, so I’m looking forward to going back and taking lots and lots of photos then (たのしみにしていますよ).

Anyway, the highlight of the day was definitely the food. It was definitely a “try new things” day. Although, when Mina first divulged the fact to me that we were about to eat 牛タン 'gyutan' or ‘Cow tongue’, I have to admit… I was a little apprehensive. I mean… a cow’s… tongue… Old Bessie’s flapper… eat it?! Me?! Could I?!

I could.

Surprisingly, cow tongue was the tastiest meat of the day (goes to show that you have to try new things, right?). I also tried れば 'reba' or 'cow liver' (which was quite nice, if not a little gooey, but you should eat it with a really salty sauce to get the best flavour), こぶくろ 'kobukuro' or 'pig uterus' (very 　コリコリ　‘korikori’, gummy… it was alright, but I only tried one piece… I couldn’t get past the fact that I was eating an organ, ack! Actually, you know, I thought it was just an intestine until I googled it just now… uterus, huh?... my gosh! xD), かるび 'Karubi' beef and さし 'sashi' raw fish. These were all cooked on a Japanese style BBQ, and my gosh, it was such a feast!

I also really like 'tako', octopus, now! :D

The vegetables we cooked were しいたけshiitake mushrooms (also very delicious),　えりんぎ Eringi mushrooms, そらまめ　‘soramame’ or ‘sky beans’ (broad beans), はぼちゃ'habochya', pumpkin, さつまいも 'satsumaimo', sweet potatoe and たまねぎ 'tamanegi', onion.

The remainder of the day was spent relaxing under the family’s kotatsu,

a kind of low wooden frame that is covered by a futon and a tabletop, with a hole in the ground where you put your legs to warm up… its like a heater in the ground. There, under the kotatsu, the family gathered around to eat some very professional looking AND tasting sushi, served direct to us fresh from Mina’s Iron Chef-like uncle, a real sushi chef. It was definitely some of the tastiest sushi I’d ever eaten. I called him a ‘sushi samurai’… I mean, the way he swiftly put those delicate little morsels together was so swift and cleanly done that it was quite amazing! Upon us, he with the hurricane fingers rained down a hundred sushi!

The sushi samurai himself:

Oishiisou desu ne? :D Yokudekimashita!

Sushi: Tai, Salmon, Tuna, Clam, among others I've forgotten. Basically everything in the 'Under the Sea' sequence in The Little Mermaid. Except Sebastian. I'll get him later.

That day was definitely the highlight of my Japan stay so far, but I have also been to Karaoke (350 yen for 3 hours, wow!) with Mina and her friend Chinatsu, walked around AEON supermarket, taken two lots of Purikura and made delicious Takoyaki with Mina, Yumi and Mina’s friend who stayed over, Natsumi.

It was really tasty.

I’m actually looking forward to school and the prospect of being really busy and joining a club excites me. Eating delicious snacks like Kinoko no Yama every day, I know I’m going to get fat! たいへんですよ! でも日本で、すべてはおいしそうだから。。。;o;

Me being an idiot with dango

Also, walking around the streets of Oyama, everyone stares at me like I’m some kind of celebrity. At first, it was slightly off-putting (seeing people literally double-take every time they walk past me, and gawk for a few minutes before hurrying off) but I’m getting used to it, slowly. On the street, a Japanese baby was waving to everyone behind it, and, being polite, I waved back, only to be met with its puzzled eyes and gaping mouth (“What the hell are you?!” it seemed to be saying xD). Yes, that’s right! I even scare babies now! 8D

Warning: Here, the peace sign is infectious.

All in all it’s pretty hard, but I’m getting used to things! This week is supposed to be the hardest so I’ll がんばります. Thank you to everyone reading this back at home! :’D I’ll try and make these entries a little more interesting in the future (it’s hard to edit, though, because time is scarce and I shouldn’t be on the computer forever, but I’ll do my best).

- Lucie

The Good News

2010-03-28T04:32:00.001-07:00

My lovely room-mate and fellow Utsunomiya adventurer Jessica in our hotel room. 8D And below: the view from our window

As per usual, I've got my headphones plugged into the computer and am now listening to the Philyjays rocking out. The only difference is, I'm doing it in a Japanese apartment in Oyama City. I must say, listening to their songs is quite comforting... it's nice to have a little slice of Australia with me. Although people talked about having "full immersion" into the culture by only listening to Japanese music... I need my Philyjay fix, I'm sorry (it's taking me back to the concerts with Ling... people in Australia, seriously, go see them play sometime, they're at their BEST live... so full of energy and stage presence). :'D Okay, enough nostalgic music talk. xD I'm in Japan. What am I doing (isn't that the point of this blog?!).

So, what's THE GOOD NEWS?
The flying tin can hurtling through the sky that I rode to get here (also known as "the plane to Japan") didn't break up in the atmosphere, which is definitely a plus (I hardly got a wink of sleep, but I did get to finally watch Shane Acker's '9', which had some AWESOME robots and visuals... the plot was so-so, but man, those machines were just frightening eye-candy, which I loved xD). When we stepped out of the plane, a rush of cold air just swept over us and pretty much bowled us over. Gasps all around. Yes, right now, Japan. Is. Freezing!
Orientation and the day after the plane ride was a blur for me. Everyone was just really tired and fatigued from our general lack of sleep on the plane (ah! We had some fierce turbulence in the last 30 minutes to landing too, fun fun! The ride itself wasn't that bad, though :D) but I think the day involved a lot of lectures... and more lectures... and then a really awesome trip to a Japanese school (in pouring rain, but despite everyone being tired, the whole "we're in Japan" spirit was there and the Japanese students were all really enthusiastic, which helped). I got talking with one girl in particular, Arisa, a fourteen year old student who's going to Australia next year. We had a lot of fun talking a rather broken conversation of English and Japanese, haha. I've also learned that namedropping Japanese idol group Arashi gets you points over here too, wahaha. xD

That day, though, I made a terrible mistake. I don't know if it was just because I tempted fate by eating the dangerous mixture of plane food, Calpis Water (it's a soft drink) and convinience store onigiri... or perhaps the onigiri was off or something... but I payed the price. My gosh. Cue a lot of kneeling over the toilet. And waking up at night with a bad stomach ache. Thinking about onigiri and feeling nauseous. Opening my mouth. You fill in the blanks.

Onigiri are off the menu for a while.

The next day was much better, though, after my stomach recovered and appetite returned! My student group for Orientation (White Team... my Asian friends will probably be like, "appropriate group name, Lucie xD") took purikura (our team leader, Take, shouted us :D thank you Take - and I'll add the pics later 8D) and explored an AEON shopping center. And stuff. Sorry, I'm probably not making this entry entertaining but I'm too tired to edit or actually think, so... you know. xD

We took farewell photos, of course!
FIRST: White Team ; SECOND: The NSW AIIU Group

Day three, though, was special! I met my HOST FAMILY (after a ride on the Shinkansen with Jessica - a fellow exchange student going to Utsunomiya Kaisei :D - and Evan, who travelled onwards further through Japan). Below: The last of us left before we split up for the Shinkansen. xD

Mina's English is amaaaazing! She talks to me in English a lot, though, because she's so fluent, although I'll have to try to speak more Japanese. ><
And Yumi, my host mum, is also really really kind!

Oh, and we all wear red glasses. 8D STYYYYLE (xD)

At the station, I was greeted by two teachers (although I didn't get to talk to them... @_@ I will at school, though!), my soon-to-be classmates in Grade 1 (who don't speak much English yet :D I get to practice japanese so... thats good! xD), Atsuko (Mina's friend who also went to Aus... so her English is also great), and Yumi and Mina (of course). After awkward but sweet introductions, it was back home from Utsunomiya to Oyama City!

I'll write about today in more detail later, since I have to go to bed now! But today was the best day I've had so far, I think... xD It involved meeting the grandparents, and sushi, and trying strange foods... more on that later. 8D

Well, this entry has been a bit of a rush (you can probably tell, with my loose style of writing I'm using here) but my next entry should be more detailed, so yes. 8D

Well, mata ne!

- Lucie

Outbound!

2010-03-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

When I found out I had been accepted into AIIU's Japan Exchange program, I drew the stereotypical robot picture above in joyous celebration of what was to come. Today, tonight, I'll be catching the 10'o clock Qantas flight bound for Narita Airport, Japan. "What was to come" now has. It seems strange that the Exchange I was so excited about, that generated the above image (drawn on the 17th November, 2009... quite long ago! xD) is now about to become a reality!

And here I am now, still sitting in my house at 2pm, watching the clock, suitcase packed and everything all ready to go, and despite all that, still the realisation that for the next ten months I'll be in another country hasn't hit me. Holy papolio! Still, I'm looking forward to meeting all the other exchange students at the airport... I'm sure when we all meet, we'll start feeling the excitement BIG TIME!

Anyway, this is it! Thank you to everyone who's wished me well (:'D), and you know, I'll really miss you all terribly (and my family... ;o; I'LLMISSYOU), but now, I think I'm ready (well, as ready as I'll ever be... xD) to go off exploring Japan. Here. We. Gooo!

オーストラリアのみなさん、またね！；＿； I'll ttyl, whether it be through skype, or when I get facebook again (xD yes Jiaqi), or through email, letter or this blog.

Time to catch that plane and dig my nails into the unfortunate person sitting next to me as it takes off... xD

Well, until my next post (in Japan, my gosh!)... jya ne!

Host Family Fun Time!

2010-03-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

Only two more sleeps to go! ;o;

Wow, the realisation that I’m leaving so soon is still not getting through my thick skull. It’s almost like I know that I’m going off for ten months, but… it hasn’t sunk in yet. I suppose it won’t until I get on that plane. :’D

Anyway, here’s my belated Host Family Information (received on the 1^st of March):

"There are 2 people in our family. We are a small family but happy family talking a lot between the two. We often visit grand parents' house nearby and like barbecuing in the yard."

I'm really excited about meeting my first host family. Not only are they the family that will have to put up with me at my most clueless (with my constant "tourist expression" and broken, often incomprehensible Japanese) but I've had brief email contact with my host sister, Mina. When I read this:

"my mom and i will be at Utsunomiya station in 27th of March!
see u soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon <3
ルーシーに会えることを楽しみにしています(^A^)/"

... I felt all warm and fuzzy-like inside (I don't know if it's just my personal experience, but emails from Japanese girls tend to be pretty cute, and therefore come with a side effect of Extreme Happy Smile Fluffiness that cause even the most stoic people to melt inside! I dare you to look at that " (^A^)/'' " emoticon and say it doesn't warm your heart even a little!

Reading her email made me feel kind of welcomed, sort of as if I could put a name and face to the first family whose arms I would be stumbling into as soon as I got off the train at Utsunomiya Station. So I appreciated the email (thank you Mina :D)!

Kawaiiness aside, Mina mentioned that lately she and her mum are addicted to playing New Super Mario Brothers on Wii (and that her mum is "absorbed in playing it again and again" xD hahaha, go Mina's mum!) which is definitely cool, because I can see myself joining in enthusiastically until we're all eating up mushrooms, growing into giants and jumping on eachother's heads (both in-game and out-of-game, if possible!).

Apparently Mina has studied in Australia before, so her English is really good! However, I'm going to have to try and stop myself from resorting to English every time I'm in a pickle, and remind myself that I'm there in Japan to learn Japanese. I'm looking forward to speaking both English and Japanese with Mina though, because, after all, this is a reciprocal thing so the use of both languages will help the both of us improve (although I'm going to be the one who has to do most of the improving, because Mina's English = pretty awesome and my Japanese = faaail xD).

I'm looking forward to meeting the grandparents, too! Mina's family lives in Oyama City, so travel to school will take approximately one hour, and will be done, apparently, by bicycle, train and bus.

"There are four people in our family... Hikari was taken well care of by host family during her 1 year stay in Australia. Now we feel very close to the Australians and have decided to host Lucie in return for it."

Family two is a little more mysterious, but I’m looking forward to finding out more about them just as much, and really looking forward to meeting them (Hikari also goes to Utsunomiya Bunsei, so no doubt I'll meet her soon)! I can't wait to meet them either. :D

My host sister, Hikari (17) lives with her mother and father and cat (:D) in Utsunomiya. Hikari also has a 20 year old sister, Misato, who is a university student living in another prefecture. Going to school will apparently take me approximately 40 minutes and I’ll get there by train and bicycle!

"We are a cheerful family. Teruyo has gotten interested in the interaction with the exchange students at school, which led us to have decided to host Lucie. We often have chance to communicate with European people and the Chinese people and we parents would like our children to cultivate the international sensibility. We all have come to the conclusion that we try hosting an exchange student."

Host Family Number Three is gigantic (I’d like to remind you that this is coming from an only child from a small three person family!). My host sister is Teruyo (16), also a student at Utsunomiya Bunsei, who likes music (I wonder what kind?). :D She lives in Utsunomiya with her parents (who like golf), her 19 year old brother, Satoshi (who likes movies and anime… I think we’re going to get along xD), her 13 year old sister, Naruyo (who likes music, particularly saxophone… sounds sophisticated!) and little sister Hiroyo, 11 (who likes “tv games”, another thing I can relate to). A music, video-game, movie and anime loving family? I’m so there! 8D

They live only 20 minutes away from school, which I’ll get to by bicycle, which is also super-dooper!

All of my Host Families sound really interesting and kind, and I’m so grateful for them for putting themselves out to host me and be a part of what promises to be a very cultural experience! I’ll definitely do my best to not be so absent-minded, and during these next ten months, I promise I’ll keep my room SO clean that it’ll sparkle (messiness will resume only on arrival back to Australia 8D… mum, I’m just kidding… put the squeegee down). Of course, I’m really grateful to my families for agreeing to host me. <3

Also, thank you very much to the guys back here, in Australia, for surprising me on Saturday. Thank you very, very much. The photo is sitting in my room, ready to be framed, and the card is out in the display area in the main lounge room! xD I loved reading your messages, but most of all, I was SO SURPRISED TO SEE EVERYONE HIDDEN BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF DARKNESS! You guys gave me a heart attack (yep, before I go away to Japan... you kill me)! And as bemused as I looked when you threw a wedding dress at me (xD), I really enjoyed myself that night. I loved the photos, I loved the food at Fujiya, I loved the book (the ART OF TIM BURTON, MoMA EDITION?! :'D MAN, YOU GUYS GOT IT SPOT ON!!), but most of all, I loved all your company. Seeing and partying with you all before I left Australia was the best going away gift you could have given me. I know I seem kind of formal writing this, but I really appreciated it, everyone. Thank you all, really, very, very, very much! Really!
AHEM. But my overly emotional sentimental drivel doesn't belong here publicly on this blog, so I'll make sure to contact you on MSN sometime to thank you all individually, so GET ONLINE FOLKS! :D

Presents for Host Family Number One were all wrapped today! But I haven't actually packed all my stuff IN my suitcase yet. Yes, you heard me, I'm packing the day before. Oh ho ho ho, isn't tomorrow going to be a bag of laughs...

Signing off as it's late and I need to attempt to fix my horrible sleeping patterns that are all out of whack!

- Lucie

Host School Information: DIVULGED!

2010-03-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Days left: Five! Snakes alive!

On a side note (who opens their blog entry with a ‘side note’?! Me, that’s who! Look, I'm breaking convention, okay? xD) I wonder if I’ll automatically make up lame counter rhymes when I start learning Japanese? It’s like these rhymes have been so hammered into me since childhood (seven, go to heaven, eight, lay them straight, etc) that I can’t think of a number without my mind screaming a silly phrase in rhyme at me in an annoyingly smug sing-song voice… man, I hate that voice... hmm, so, what’s this blog about again? "Japan"? Oh yeah! My rambles have no place here, do they? In fact, I'd say that this is the last place I should be-

Ahem! I’m sorry! I'm guess I'm lucky I have these bossy little webcreatures around my blog to make sure I'm blogging properly. Even if they do steal food from the pantry and make nests under my bed using the loose hair off combs... and hold loud 3am-in-the-morning social gatherings on Wednesdays and Fridays in my closet... hmmm... remind me to contact pest control after this blog is done...

Well, while I know all my friends are slaving away at Uni, soon I'll also be slaving away... back at high school! My host school in Japan will be Utsunomiya Bunsei Girls High School (宇都宮文星女子高校), a non-religious, 1035 student, all-girls private school located in (obviously) Utsunomiya City. Whilst I don't know too much about my school yet, from what I can gather, it's situated on the same campus as the Utsunomiya Bunsei Art University (awesome) and offers an Arts and Design course (although I'll probably be put in the English Course classes, for obvious reasons xD), so I'm hoping that Bunsei will be quite arty farty. 8D There is, of course, computer and internet access, which means that I'll be able to update this blog occasionally if I'm not too busy during my 学校生活 (school life). :D

School starts at 8:35am and finishes at 3:30pm, although I'm looking forward to seeing what clubs Bunsei has to offer. From what I've found on the website, there are the 運動クラブ "Sport/Moving Clubs", including:

Kendou ( :D I'm interested ), Field/Athletics, Basketball,Volleyball, Softball, Tennis, Tabletennis, Badminton, Dance, Cheerleading/Baton Twirling Club (their uniform is quite cute! Too bad I'm horribly uncoordinated when it comes to dancing and definitely don't have the "kawaii" factor to pull it off... yep... time to go wrestle another bear), Swimming (the school has their own pool :D), Soccer Club (I'd like to join this club if they don't have a supersuperstrict militant-style training regime that requires me to train until I've gained a six-pack and become an Unstoppable Soccer Warrior or something) and Karate Club (according to Google Search, Utsunomiya Bunsei is supposed to have a really strong and competitive Karate team!)

And then there are the 文化クラブ Cultural Clubs:

* Band
* Some kind of traditional dancing club?
* The 'Word Pro' or Computer Club
* Chorus Club

There could be more but those are the clubs that are showcased on the website, so the rest are up to me to scout out, I suppose. :D I think it'll be important to join a club I can really "get into"... and whilst I'll do my best to try and achieve a passing grade in most classes, having already finished the HSC final exams in Australia and done the whole "souless Year 12 study robot" thing last year, school in Japan will for me be less about studying subjects, and be more about socialising, learning Japanese, being a part of the culture, dealing with new surroundings and situations, and the experience of being completely immersed in Japan, Japan, Japan!

Here's hoping they have a tea ceremony club (eating sweets and drinking tea, mmm, delicious!... and my friends would know about my weird tendancy to sit on my legs, so I'll be immune to your leg numbing powers, Much Feared 'Seiza' Sitting Position)!

The campus also looks great!

My favourite part is that they have their own gallery (although technically, I think it's for the Uni students, but bleh ;D), shown above. :D

The school pays for my uniform and books, too. Brilliant, Bunsei! Speaking of which, here it is:

Ta- daa!

I think I like the Winter Uniform and the shirt/skirt combo best, although the vest is quite cute, too. It's not your stereotypical Japanese sailor uniform, but I guess it's very unique and has it's own charm! I can't tell exactly, but I think that the buttons on the uniform have the school logo engraved on them... Japanese uniforms really seem to have attention to detail! I can't wait to try it on. :'D

Best thing: My host sisters ALL go to Bunsei GH! <3
I'll write more about my host families really soon. :)