A Little More About Ashiya Gakuen

For those who are interested, here are some photos of things and places around Ashiya Gakuen (taken from their website).

 Sailor suits are one of the most common school-uniform styles. Even public schools have them. This will drastically reduce the number of clothes I pack, and ultimately save me from the "Oh god, what do I wear to impress a country full of dignified and polite people?" crisis, which will inevitably happen sooner or later. 

So much class. I'm sitting here in a sweatshirt from Barnard, Vermont, a pair of work boots and jeans. And frog earrings. Nothing that I'm wearing goes together, yet somehow in Japan, it seems that everyone there could wrap themselves in party streamers and plastic wrap and STILL they would look more presentable. Or maybe that's the French. I'm mixing up my stereotypes here.

Still. Of all the stereotypes. Class is not a bad one.

And now for the exciting part.

I posted a picture earlier of the 

school from a different angle, but basically, Ashiya Gakuen looks like a cruise liner. There is no other way to describe to you what this reminds me of architecturally. It is a giant boat.

Ah, the hallway. Nothing says JAPAN louder than cleanliness and LOOK AT THIS. LOOK AT THE CARPET.  In America, it would be covered in crumbs and footprints and little stains, but no. It doesn't even look like it's been walked on yet. And can we talk about the color scheme?? Pink and green is a fabulous combination. 

That is a computer embedded into a desk. 

There are tears of confusion and happiness coming out of my eye holes right now. Are you seeing what I'm seeing because what I am seeing is a professionally designed gymnasium. I don't even play sports but I want to be on that waxy floor. MMMMMMMMHM.

I don't get the tennis thing but apparently my host brother is captain of the tennis team at his high school (he doesn't go here) :((. Either way, their courts are in the mountains so that makes it all worthwhile.

Their school store is an actual store. Our school store is a little room only accessible by a small door and a window with metal blinds that opens for 15 minutes after school four days a week during three months out  of the year. Trojan Pride? Right. Didn't the founders of my high school know that the Trojans lost?? 

Cafeterias are not special, unless we're talking about the food court in the Native American Museum in D.C. But we're not, so this isn't special.

DAT KANJI -______-
Calligraphy is beautiful, but do NOT mess up that stroke order or it's punishable by death. In English, everyone writes however they want but in Japan, all the letters are written with the strokes in the same order and everything in its right place. Calligraphy is comparable to knitting a sweater.

The girl in the corner wants you to notice how red the seats are.

Just kidding. I have no idea what she's saying but damn if those seats aren't electrifying.

Only a language geek gets excited to stand in a room filled with books that aren't written in English. I'm not ashamed. I wear that badge proudly. 

Oh, natural light.  How inspiring thou art. Literally all of my teachers hate windows. All the light in all of my classes is artificial. Then again, KCHS was built in the 70s when architecture was dying a slow and painful death, so the needs of a student were put behind how many winding hallways they could work into the blueprints. That archway is pride-worthy.

There you have it. Ashiya Gakuen in a shiny, polished nutshell.

m e r r y  c h r i s t m a s , c h i l d r e n ! !

I'm very lucky to have a family and friends like I do. The gifts were nice, but in my house, we know it's really about the panettone. Ah well. 2 Christmases down, 1 to go.

Enjoy the break!!

An Announcement.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the internet. 
I have an announcement.

I have been accepted in Bard College. 

On the outside I am 



but on the inside I am



TAKE THAT, MAYANS. 2013 IS GONNA BE AWESOME.

Culture Shock!

I just read an article about culture shock . 

o_O <<<---that is what my face looks like.

Here's what happened.
This girl and her international student friends were in Osaka (#represent) and were about to get on the train to meet some other friends. They knew they'd be on it for a while so they all ran to McDonalds (there has to be better street food in Osaka), bought some stuff and then hopped on the train.
She was like "Euhhhhh, whyyy is everyone staring at ussssss?"

OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE YOU'RE WHITE AND NOBODY EATS ON THE TRAIN.

Gurl. Here's the thing: if you are an American, you will be gawked at. And if you break a rule while also being American, you will be double-gawked at.

I have a THREE HOUR TRAIN RIDE. EVERY DAY. That's an hour-and-a-half TO school and an hour-and-a-half FROM school.

No eating?
I'll look like a whippet.
Maybe if I bring some little weights I'll look like Starla from Napoleon Dynamite.  ^^^^

Just kidding. I don't think the Japanese commuter-folk would like that either. 
It'd be like Richard Simmons walking into a sushi-yama.
No thanks.

Anyway, it's getting to that point where I'm excited and terrified in equal amounts. 50% elation, 50% pleading-with-god.

I'll just bribe people to like me with Kit-Kats. I hear they're HUGE over there.

While I Wait

Here I am, sitting in first period on a rather uneventful Tuesday, working on statistics and feeling like this kid

 


       

Also, tomorrow is the JPN201 final, so I'm not too keen on that. 
Oh well. After tomorrow life will be easier and then I can focus on wrapping up this math.
I am not responsible enough to take an online class. #fact.

A Tour

This is a virtual tour of Ashiya Gakuen Senior High School.
http://www.ashiya.ed.jp/hi/life/facilities/all.html
All I can say is .......
Yeah. I'm speechless. 

Requests? Anyone?

Here are some things people have asked that I bring them back:

* A Totoro bed

* pictures of literally everything

*A samurai sword

* Weird gummy candy

*Jackie Chan

* an old man, preferably a fisherman

* School uniforms

* tempura

Also, I know Jackie Chan is not Japanese. The kid who asked me, however, doesn't seem to care. It went like this.

"Yo, Sofia, bring me back a Japanese guy."
"Jesus, I'm not bringing you back anything."
"Pleaaaaaase."

"No."

"WAIT. BRING ME JACKIE CHAN."
"wtf? he's chinese!"
"So? Swim across and get him."

I'll try to send trinkets and tchatchkies. And postcards/letters. Lots of those.

Leave a comment if you have a request. Just no people or weapons. Only Andrew Vargo can ask for weapons.

FINALLY. My home-stay information is here. 

Town: Neyagawa
Prefecture: Osaka*

*This is scary. Osaka has its own dialect. Yes, they speak Japanese, but the grammar is different from that of all of the other prefectures, but I'll be going to school in Hyogo, a good hour-and-a-half bus ride away. 

School: Ayashi Gakuen Senior High School (If Michael Wessell is reading this, he should know that this is a private high school).

Family: The Migitas. 
Yukio (dad)
Yukako (mum)
Yukika (sister, junior)
Kouzaburou (brother, senior)
Yon and Supika, their dogs

BLOGFRIENDS. THIS IS CRAZYAWESOME. They sent me a letter and pictures. I'll try to translate and post the letter in its entirety. 

If you're reading this (which, if you are, you deserve a hug and a brownie because I have no way of knowing if I have any followers), please comment with your address so I can send a post card and a tchatchkie when I get to Japan.

 

Just some girl showing off the school, which looks like a cruise liner

That tiny dot. THAT TINY DOT.
thisissocrazyidonteven

 

More Basics

more basics.
sorry about this.

POPULAR SPORT: baseball and sumo. great combination
OTHER SPORTS: judo, kendo (fencing)
FAVORITE MUSICIANS: j-pop
TRADITIONAL FORMS OF MUSIC: koto, shamisen
POPULAR GAMES: goh, 
FAVORITE FOODS: sushi, tempura, all seafood
ENTERTAINMENT: kabuki, video games

thank you for sitting through that. 
here is a machine throwing tennis balls for a beagle.
 

Straight Basics

The almighty global online course wants me to tell you guys about Japan's geography. You ready?

CONTINENT: asia
CAPITAL: tokyo
SIZE: 377385 sq.km.
NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES: china&korea but you already knew that
CLIMATE: chill
NATURAL DISASTERS: well that's a sensitive topic
NATURAL RESOURCES: wood
POPULATION: 127287277
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men - 78.8,women - 85.6 
FERTILITY RATE: 1.39 kids
MORTALITY RATE: 3.32 people
ETHNIC GROUPS: japanese - 99%,other - 1%
RELIGIOUS GROUPS: buddhism/Shintoism
LANGUAGES: japanese, english
LITERACY RATE: 99%
PERCENTAGE THAT GOES TO UNIVERSITY: 44.8%
 NATIONAL HOLIDAY: could not find it
CONSTITUTION DAY: may 3
COUNTRY FROM WHICH THEY GAINED INDEPENDENCE: none
YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE: always 
PRIME MINISTER: yoshiko noda
POLITICAL PARTIES:   -democratic party of japan
                                       -liberal democratic party
                                       -people's life first
                                       -new komeito
                                       -your party
                                       -japanese communist party
                                       -social democratic party
                                       and like 50 million others
POLITICAL SYSTEM: parlimentary with a constitutional monarchy

 

71 days until I leave


 

Holllllllllllly sh-

A Taste of Japan

This is one of my favorite websites

www.wtfjapanseriously.com

Happy Friday!!

I have to MEMORIZE this paragraph?!?

If I make it through tomorrow, I can do anything.
Tomorrow, I have an oral test in Japanese where I recite FROM MEMORY this huge paragraph I wrote. IMMEDIATELY following that, I will drive BY MYSELF to UMD so I can attend the very end of their Maryland Marquee Day (and maybe chat up some Arabic/Persian/Hebrew students).

AAAAAGGGHHHH.

This is nuts.
Also. This is the paragraph:

みなさん、こんにちは！私の名前はソフィアです。１７歳で高校の四年生です。私の家族は四人です。母と父と弟がいます。そぼの家も近いです。母の家族はイタ リアから来て父の家族はプエルトリコから来ます。スペイン語とイタリア語を話せません。スペイン語はにが手全くです。でも、日本語を勉強するが好き。母は ギターをえんそうするのとどくしょがしゅみです。母はバンジョもひくのはほとんどだれにもは知っていません。けどちちは家具をつくるのはみなはしります。 父もギターをえんそうするがしゅみです。弟のしゅみはだいにじせかいたいせんについて読んで学ぶのです。それでも私たちは Mad Men を見るがだいすき。聞くのは本当ありがとう。

Should have capped it at 10 sentences.

Tongue Twister

So the kids of the Night-time JPN201 class got bored yesterday and came up with a nonsensical tongue twister in Japanese.

Some Things You Need To Understand
kami = hair
kami = paper
kami = god, divine (as in kamikaze, divine wind)
hana o kamu = to blow one's nose, which conjugates to "kamimasu" (see where I'm going?)
kamoshirenai = might or might not

and thus, we get:

神の髪は紙があるのはよく鼻を嚼むかもしれない。
かみのかみはかみがあるのはよくはなをかむかもしれない。
Kami no kami wa kami ga aru no wa yoku hana o kamu kamoshirenai.
As for the god whose hair is made out of paper, she may blow her nose often.

I'm 100% sure that this is 93% right.

Also, we came up with the Japanese word for "weave" (as in the hair thing). and that is 
ウイブ　or "uibu" which sort of sounds like it. In Japanese, everything is written in syllables, and there is no character for the syllable "wi" or "wee". Also, the "v" sound doesn't exist.

Go figure.

 

A Japanese Post?? What A Curious Idea!

じゃあ、
今日は、日本語でポストしています。
ええ。
私は日本語でポストしています。
日本語が少し分かって話して書くできますから、このポストはとても長さが短い。

あの〜〜〜。。。

さあ、書いてみる！！
 日本語でブロッグすることは難しいだよ！

Transcription:
Jaa,
Kyou wa Nihongo de posuto shiteimas(u).
Ee.
Watashi wa Nihongo de posuto shiteimas(u).
Nihongo ga sukoshi wakatte hanashite kaku dekimasu kara, kono posuto wa totemo nagasa ga mijikai.

Anooooooooo .  .  .

Saa, kaitemiru!!
Nihongo de buroggingu-suru koto wa muzukashii.

Translation:
Well,
Today I am posting in Japanese.
Yep.
I'm posting in Japanese.
Since I speak/understand/can write a little Japanese, this post will be short.

Sooooooooo  .   .   .

See! I'm trying!
Blogging in Japanese is hard.

日本語のテスト ー＿＿＿＿ー

Blogfriends: 

So yesterday, I was enjoying myself

 
But then I remembered 

That I signed up for the Japanese SAT II Subject Test

And I was like

So I ran to the bookstore and bought a huge book of grammar.

All I did yesterday was study

cause I was really nervous

and halfway through my study session I fell asleep

This? Already?

On Sunday, my friend Kana Takio and her father visited us. Besides being a really good friend, Kana also tutored me in Japanese for three years. (5th-8th grade). 

At one point, Kana whipped out her camera and aimed it at me. You should know that I downright hate impromptu pictures of me. Like, a lot. I will always reject a photo op, simply because I am not Gisele Bündchen and my face does not look good in pictures. 

Anyway, in embarrassment, I covered the lower half of my face with my hand. It was a reaction. I didn't think anything of it. From across the room, my mother was pointing to her teeth and covering her mouth, then shrugging her shoulders. She did this a couple of times before I ignored her. 

Later, when my mother and I were washing dishes:
"I saw you cover your mouth when she wanted to take a picture."
"Yeah, I did."
"Didn't you tell me it's impolite for Japanese women to show their teeth when they laugh?"
"I might have, but that was eons ago. Why?"
"You covered your teeth."
"...."
"I think you're absorbing that culture."
"But I'm not even there yet."
"Doesn't matter. You just did a very Japanese thing as a reflex."
"....."

COOOOOOOOL. 
 

GIFs EVERYWHERE!

I just did the Carlton dance.

Insight Everywhere

Yesterday, I stopped by Mr. Bob Behr's house (whom I call Be'ah-sama) to talk to him about Japan, since he had opened the invitation a few days ago, and also he's hilarious.

It's interesting to hear from people who know what to expect but who are still just as excited as you about something . 

Things I Learned:
"If you like their food, and are able to enjoy it, they will LOVE you."

"Japanese words do not have gender, but slang-y sentence endings and pronouns do. Try not to speak like a guy. And do NOT teach your friends the feminine endings. Guys who speak like women in Japan sound ridiculous. It's....weird."

"Just know this: you are going to be stupid for quite some time while you're there. But don't think that just because you can't understand your biology teacher that you are not learning. You are always learning. You're just learning something different from your classmates."

"Sever as much connection with The West as you can. The only way to pick up your language skills is to be stubborn. If people want to speak English, pretend you don't know it. You went all that way to learn THEIR language. If you can memorize a sentence that says that, people will understand. DO NOT GIVE IN." 

"Join a club. Don't do the sewing club or something meaningless, unless you are sewing your own kimono, because that would be fantastic."

"It will be hard, but you will remember those 6 months for the rest of your life."

どうもありがとうございました、ベア様。
Thank you so much, Be'ah-sama.:)

Tales From An Accidental Harlot

OK. The title is kind of misleading.

I'm not like that, but apparently, the international community has its doubts.

Women in small-towns smile at passers-by, but usually people we know. For strangers, it's a nod of the head and a twitch of the lips. In those situations, we want to seem indestructible; invincible; NOT harmless. 

Being a woman is empowering, but that doesn't make you powerful. You have to work hard at it, and it's not always an easy thing to wear or assert. 

I've heard a million times not to make eye contact in Japan.
BUT HOW?
If you do that in America, you're labeled as "awkward" and "strange" and "rude". 

So many rules are changing. 

Obviously, I will have to arrive a fly on the wall, and I may very well be that way for weeks. 

I've heard a million times that acknowledging a stranger on the sidewalk is not.......polite; that it doesn't have the same....connotations. 

Maybe friendliness doesn't matter over there the way it does here. Maybe we're so obsessed with first impressions that we're bent on creating situations that aren't necessary as an excuse to have them. Maybe it's selfish; our own image trumps other people's space and privacy. Is that what it is? Or are we truly more socially aware and better-intentioned? Is there a correct answer? Who is wrong? Is anyone wrong?

Unfortunately, none of these questions will be answered in English.

None of them will be answered in words. 

I will just have to keep walking and find out.

Here Are Some Things

Here is a list of things:

Woman

Man

First Generation High School Graduate

Christian

Muslim

Jew

Hindu

Buddhist

Atheist

Democrat

Republican

Progressive

Green Party

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender

Person with a Disability

Black or African American

Asian or Pacific Islander American

Latino/a or Hispanic American

Native American

Middle Eastern

White

Bi-racial                                                         

Fan of a particular sport                  

Music Fan (what kind?)

Healthy/Athletic/Over-/Under-Weight

Urban Dweller

Country Dweller

Musician

Artist (what kind?)

Student Athlete

Other identities

And I'm supposed to classify myself as 3 of these. You know me. I could rant about any of these. I hate having to identify and classify myself. Let me try: 



WOMAN There's so much power and history behind that word. Views of women around the world are very different, but it's still an empowering identity. I don't assert my womanlyness, so hopefully people in Japan won't be intimidated by how much female they're getting, but I don't see any real problem here. 

MUSICIAN This is definitely something I include as part of me. I'm not a traditional musician, per say, like my parents who go out with their friends and write songs and book gigs. I'm not that ambitious or experienced. I do, however, practice guitar like a fiend and bring my mandolin on every overnight trip. The mandolin is coming to Japan. I hear classical Irish music is a thing in Japan, so perhaps I can make friends by troubador-ing around with the book of Gaelic fiddle tunes .

GEEK Before my mother reads this and gives me a lecture about "sending positive messages", I need to clarify. Geek and nerd are not interchangeable. If you don't believe me, I suggest you do some research. I hear there are a lot of cool geeks in Japan. In fact, the Japanese word for a slightly more obsessive degree of geek is オタク, or otaku. (if you're going to use this in conversation, it's pronounced o-tock). <-- #GeekStatus

So, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose a musical she-nerd (I know, I broke my rule) isn't the worst thing I could possibly identify as. There are others on that list (you know how much I love the race categories) but I think these will do just as well.

My Favorite Talking Point

Here is what I think of ethnicity :)
Here is what I think of race >:(

Why?
Because ethnicity ties a person to a certain culture, a history, a language group, a religion or a tradition that is similar across a common people but open to personal interpretation
and because race is associated with discrimination, generalization, apartheid, racism (obviously), bias and stereotypes. 

I've always avoided describing myself as Latina vs. White vs. Poptart vs. Shoelace vs. whatever. In America, there's this huge thing where you're always supposed to identify what "race" you are, (probably so they can adjust your income accordingly later). Race is a human construct. Do you think cavemen in the Himalayas thought they were better than cavemen in the horn of Africa? Of course not. They didn't care. Race stems from this desire we have as humans to belong, and the more categories you fit into, the safer you are, right?

Quiz time:
My mother is 100% Italian (4th generation US-citizen)
My father is 100% Puerto Rican (1st generation US-citizen). My father's family also has lots of Dominican, Corsican, some Lebanese and some Syrian. 
I only speak English. My father's first language is Spanish but he never taught it to me.
So:
what race am I?
Yeah, I gave up too.

When I go to Japan, people will obviously ask me what I am, since Japan is 99% Japanese (that's a hard fact, not a quip) and I am always asked if I'm "mixed". It shouldn't matter. If they say "It's cool that you're American!", that's ethnicity. If they say "it's cool that you're white" , that's race. I'd rather be known for an ethnicity I understand than a race I can't identify with. 

In a room full of "white" people, I feel Latina because my skin is dark, my hair is thick and wavy, my hips are wide and my last name ends in a Z.
In a room full of "Latin(o/a)s", I feel "white" because my skin is pale, I only speak English, and besides a pig roast we threw in May, there's never been anything more traditionally "Hispanic" in my life than chips and salsa. 

Hopefully, there will be kids in Japan that can relate. 
Just no "Are you Mexican" questions.
I really hope that's just an American lack-of-exposure phenomenon.