and finally made it back to my host family in Yokohama.
It's been a long few days...
13.3.11
東北地方太平洋沖地震
I survived the Touhoku Pacific Earthquake!
and finally made it back to my host family in Yokohama.
It's been a long few days...
and finally made it back to my host family in Yokohama.
It's been a long few days...
3.3.11
Shizuoka
My month here in Shizuoka is almost over! Here are some of the things I've been doing:
Tsumura--
"Tsumura & Co. / Shizuoka Plant"
This is my work uniform with the super short pants. Tsumura is a company that makes Japanese herbal medicines. I've worked in a bunch of different dept., including general affairs, quality control, and environment control. I've had all kinds of different tasks too, such as translation, filling catalog orders, working on an assembly line, even disposing of rejected products.
This is my full gear for working in the lab. This was for an HLPC test that checks to see if the active ingredients are present in the correct amount in the medicines.
The huge mess of cords in the HPLC lab. Each analyzing machine has its own computer connected to it.
Naomi and I take walks on nice days. This is the small river behind the plant lined with trees that are starting to bloom.
The view from the 3rd floor. The mountains are so close! I think they are so pretty :D
Our workstation for a day of translation.
We play hangman and sudoku on our breaks~
My host family. The two girls are college students in Osaka.
Beeta (Beater is English maybe...I'm not sure haha) the dog. He works as a police dog too.
Tomorrow is my last full day! 後一日がんばります！
Tsumura--
"Tsumura & Co. / Shizuoka Plant"
This is my work uniform with the super short pants. Tsumura is a company that makes Japanese herbal medicines. I've worked in a bunch of different dept., including general affairs, quality control, and environment control. I've had all kinds of different tasks too, such as translation, filling catalog orders, working on an assembly line, even disposing of rejected products.
This is my full gear for working in the lab. This was for an HLPC test that checks to see if the active ingredients are present in the correct amount in the medicines.
The huge mess of cords in the HPLC lab. Each analyzing machine has its own computer connected to it.
Naomi and I take walks on nice days. This is the small river behind the plant lined with trees that are starting to bloom.
The view from the 3rd floor. The mountains are so close! I think they are so pretty :D
Our workstation for a day of translation.
We play hangman and sudoku on our breaks~
My host family. The two girls are college students in Osaka.
Beeta (Beater is English maybe...I'm not sure haha) the dog. He works as a police dog too.
Tomorrow is my last full day! 後一日がんばります！
7.2.11
静岡への新幹線
Hello all!
Today I took the Shinkansen for the first time from Shin-Yokohama to Shizuoka. The ride is soooo nice! It's really smooth, quiet, and fast. I was only on the Shinkansen for about 40 minutes (less than it takes to get to Tokyo).
I tried to take some pictures, but all I had was my cellphone. Also, about 1/3 of the time we were going underneath mountains so I couldn't see much anyway. But here are some pictures--
Going through the mountains, away from the big city...
What I could see from my seat. It was like an airplane and I had my own reserved seat and everything.
Here are some really blurry videos, but at least you can see how fast we were going::
Today I took the Shinkansen for the first time from Shin-Yokohama to Shizuoka. The ride is soooo nice! It's really smooth, quiet, and fast. I was only on the Shinkansen for about 40 minutes (less than it takes to get to Tokyo).
I tried to take some pictures, but all I had was my cellphone. Also, about 1/3 of the time we were going underneath mountains so I couldn't see much anyway. But here are some pictures--
Going through the mountains, away from the big city...
What I could see from my seat. It was like an airplane and I had my own reserved seat and everything.
Here are some really blurry videos, but at least you can see how fast we were going::
17.1.11
Dance Club
So, I posted a bit earlier about the dance club I joined, so here's more::
Since Waseda-sai, I'd been going to practice every Wed. and Fri. night. Sometimes we had a lesson from one of the teachers, but mostly we just warmed up by ourselves and had rehearsals.
There were also two weekend workshops, one in November and one in December. These were both at a place in Shinjuku called the National Youth Olympic Center. We practiced all day Saturday, stayed the night, then got up early and practiced all day Sunday.
The first workshop, we all ate dinner together at this Indian curry place. It was quite delicious, especially the garlic naan I got. There wasn't much time though, so it was hard to go back to practicing with such a full stomach :P
That night I went to the public bath for the first time. I wasn't planning on it, but I guess showers weren't open in the morning. It was an interesting experience haha and the bath water is really hot!
After everyone was clean we went to the store for supplies (drinks and snacks and ice cream). We did rock, paper, scissors to see which room we would chill in, and i lost :( Two other guys that some people knew were also there at the same time, so they came to hang out that night. They were Waseda graduate students, and one of them used to be in the club. They were talking about some party they were going to the next day to one of my friends, and she was upset she couldn't go, but I thought he was only talking to her so I wasn't really paying attention.
As you can imagine, though, there wasn't much sleeping going on. I got maybe 3 hours...
The next morning we got up early, had breakfast together, and then did a ballet barre. Rehearsals started again.
Before dinner time, the schedule changed a bit and we started rehearsing a piece that we did in Waseda-sai. And the facing was changed to have the corner as front, and also our positions were switched around a bit. Then we all headed out to another part of the building. I was pretty confused as to what was going on, until we showed up at a party and the guys from last night were there. Then I finally realized that we were performing at this party! It was pretty cool though, because then we got free dinner :D The party was for graduate students and professors from abroad doing research at Waseda.
The whiteboard got hijacked.
The second one went much the same way. This time we had Chinese food for dinner and it was really good...
Also, on this Sunday, we got up about 6:30 and played this game kind of like tag. We got partners to run with, and the 3 boys were all "it." You had to run away with your partner and hide and you could go pretty much anywhere on the grounds. I'm not so much of a runner, especially so early, and neither is my partner Mighty, so we got caught pretty early haha. It was pretty fun though to get up with everyone and run to start the day.
Finally, what we had been rehearsing for was the annual show on December 24! We only had one showing, but I think it went really well~ My host family came, and also Mom and Jerry and Travis, and two of my friends from Waseda also.
Setting up the stage.
This sign stood outside the door. It has the name of the show and times and things like that.
-closed curtain
After the show.
I should be getting the DVD next week :D
Since Waseda-sai, I'd been going to practice every Wed. and Fri. night. Sometimes we had a lesson from one of the teachers, but mostly we just warmed up by ourselves and had rehearsals.
There were also two weekend workshops, one in November and one in December. These were both at a place in Shinjuku called the National Youth Olympic Center. We practiced all day Saturday, stayed the night, then got up early and practiced all day Sunday.
The first workshop, we all ate dinner together at this Indian curry place. It was quite delicious, especially the garlic naan I got. There wasn't much time though, so it was hard to go back to practicing with such a full stomach :P
That night I went to the public bath for the first time. I wasn't planning on it, but I guess showers weren't open in the morning. It was an interesting experience haha and the bath water is really hot!
After everyone was clean we went to the store for supplies (drinks and snacks and ice cream). We did rock, paper, scissors to see which room we would chill in, and i lost :( Two other guys that some people knew were also there at the same time, so they came to hang out that night. They were Waseda graduate students, and one of them used to be in the club. They were talking about some party they were going to the next day to one of my friends, and she was upset she couldn't go, but I thought he was only talking to her so I wasn't really paying attention.
As you can imagine, though, there wasn't much sleeping going on. I got maybe 3 hours...
The next morning we got up early, had breakfast together, and then did a ballet barre. Rehearsals started again.
Before dinner time, the schedule changed a bit and we started rehearsing a piece that we did in Waseda-sai. And the facing was changed to have the corner as front, and also our positions were switched around a bit. Then we all headed out to another part of the building. I was pretty confused as to what was going on, until we showed up at a party and the guys from last night were there. Then I finally realized that we were performing at this party! It was pretty cool though, because then we got free dinner :D The party was for graduate students and professors from abroad doing research at Waseda.
The whiteboard got hijacked.
The second one went much the same way. This time we had Chinese food for dinner and it was really good...
Also, on this Sunday, we got up about 6:30 and played this game kind of like tag. We got partners to run with, and the 3 boys were all "it." You had to run away with your partner and hide and you could go pretty much anywhere on the grounds. I'm not so much of a runner, especially so early, and neither is my partner Mighty, so we got caught pretty early haha. It was pretty fun though to get up with everyone and run to start the day.
Finally, what we had been rehearsing for was the annual show on December 24! We only had one showing, but I think it went really well~ My host family came, and also Mom and Jerry and Travis, and two of my friends from Waseda also.
Setting up the stage.
This sign stood outside the door. It has the name of the show and times and things like that.
-closed curtain
After the show.
I should be getting the DVD next week :D
8.12.10
早稲田祭 pt. 2
Waseda-sai is a huge, two-day school festival with performances, art displays, food, and games put on by students, clubs, and some guests. Many, many students come and even people not affiliated with the school come too. This is about how many people were there:
And that's only the main street. When I came in, I got an entire book filled with a schedule and descriptions of events. Saturday I spent mostly just going around to see the dance performances.
That's the girls' dance done by one of the hip-hop groups. There are 3 or 4 street dance clubs, and they all have at least 40 people in them.
This guy was an mc for one of them. He danced a bit too.
This is Shockers, the all-male cheerleading group. I thought they would be kind of lame, but they are really awesome actually. They did some crazy stunts and even made a four-story human pyramid! They have tons of fans.
I'm not sure who this group was, but everyone was cosplaying a random character.
This is the tap club. They had some really cute dances~
This group was doing taiko, Japanese drumming. I've loved taiko since I started going to Michelle's performances about 3 or 4 years ago, so I was happy to see some taiko here.
The next day I was in one of the performances! :D I got to be in one of the pieces done by the modern dance club. It is the only modern dance club here and there are less than 20 of us... but I thought it was a great performance. One guy who graduated last year did a hilarious solo. Most of the pieces we did there are going to be in the performance in a couple weeks also.
After that I had a little time to get some food. I went to the Niji booth and got some pon de queso (Brazilian food). I helped carry a sign around for a bit through the enormous crowds too.
After that we had rehearsal all afternoon, and then went out for a cast party. It was another really fun day, but I was exhausted...and I had 1st period in the morning.
And that's only the main street. When I came in, I got an entire book filled with a schedule and descriptions of events. Saturday I spent mostly just going around to see the dance performances.
That's the girls' dance done by one of the hip-hop groups. There are 3 or 4 street dance clubs, and they all have at least 40 people in them.
This guy was an mc for one of them. He danced a bit too.
This is Shockers, the all-male cheerleading group. I thought they would be kind of lame, but they are really awesome actually. They did some crazy stunts and even made a four-story human pyramid! They have tons of fans.
I'm not sure who this group was, but everyone was cosplaying a random character.
This is the tap club. They had some really cute dances~
This group was doing taiko, Japanese drumming. I've loved taiko since I started going to Michelle's performances about 3 or 4 years ago, so I was happy to see some taiko here.
The next day I was in one of the performances! :D I got to be in one of the pieces done by the modern dance club. It is the only modern dance club here and there are less than 20 of us... but I thought it was a great performance. One guy who graduated last year did a hilarious solo. Most of the pieces we did there are going to be in the performance in a couple weeks also.
After that I had a little time to get some food. I went to the Niji booth and got some pon de queso (Brazilian food). I helped carry a sign around for a bit through the enormous crowds too.
After that we had rehearsal all afternoon, and then went out for a cast party. It was another really fun day, but I was exhausted...and I had 1st period in the morning.
7.12.10
早稲田祭
November 5-6 was Waseda-sai! I got really lucky that week too with holidays, and ended up having a 5-day weekend :D
One of those days I went to Shibuya. A few days before that, I stopped there to wander around by myself. I found a Sbarro (which is the only place I know of that puts pizza sausage on pizza instead of the kind of sausage you eat on a bun...), a 5-story fabric store, and a bunch of other sweet stores. This time I went with my friend Liz.
This is in Shibuya 109, 9 floors filled to the brim with the most stylish fashion in Tokyo today. It's really awesome in there, but unfortunately it's pretty expensive and also most stores only carry one size of everything. This pillar was paper-mached like how we did Kelly's bookshelves this summer ^_^
This is a random, really long wall on one of the back streets that's filled with graffiti. It was really interesting art.
I went back to Waseda a bit early for dance that day a happened upon the pre-festival.
They were still setting up the main stage. Then I found some people practicing a sketch on another stage.
They were dressed up Ultraman style is sweet costumes. The play was really hilarious. The announcer girl got kidnapped by the yellow guy, and the Blue Ranger came to save her. But he got overpowered, so Kumaizo...
...came to the rescue. He gave the Ranger the Waseda sword and he defeated the yellow guy. It was like watching anime in real life hahah (note: Waseda's mascot is a bear, and kuma means bear, which is where Kumaizo comes from)
After that I went to dance to practice for our performance in Waseda-sai. More on that later----
One of those days I went to Shibuya. A few days before that, I stopped there to wander around by myself. I found a Sbarro (which is the only place I know of that puts pizza sausage on pizza instead of the kind of sausage you eat on a bun...), a 5-story fabric store, and a bunch of other sweet stores. This time I went with my friend Liz.
This is in Shibuya 109, 9 floors filled to the brim with the most stylish fashion in Tokyo today. It's really awesome in there, but unfortunately it's pretty expensive and also most stores only carry one size of everything. This pillar was paper-mached like how we did Kelly's bookshelves this summer ^_^
This is a random, really long wall on one of the back streets that's filled with graffiti. It was really interesting art.
I went back to Waseda a bit early for dance that day a happened upon the pre-festival.
They were still setting up the main stage. Then I found some people practicing a sketch on another stage.
They were dressed up Ultraman style is sweet costumes. The play was really hilarious. The announcer girl got kidnapped by the yellow guy, and the Blue Ranger came to save her. But he got overpowered, so Kumaizo...
...came to the rescue. He gave the Ranger the Waseda sword and he defeated the yellow guy. It was like watching anime in real life hahah (note: Waseda's mascot is a bear, and kuma means bear, which is where Kumaizo comes from)
After that I went to dance to practice for our performance in Waseda-sai. More on that later----
25.11.10
早慶戦
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This is my first Thanksgiving not with my family...I feel like I should have had this week off. But I'm looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with the Japan Study group~
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The day after Halloween was the first round of soukeisen, the baseball finals. Soukeisen is the name for a game between Waseda and Keio universities which have a quite intense rivalry. They were playing for 1st in baseball between the Tokyo Big 6 universities. The game I went to Waseda lost, but they ended up winning overall!
The actual game itself was just like any baseball game I've been to before. But the crowd is completely different. For one, there are cheerleaders. The whole school band was there too. Then there are a group of guys called ouen-dan who make people sing and lead chants. The cheering is super intense.
Things started long before the game actually did. This is the glee club--
cheerleaders with ouendan--
super intense...
Meiji Jingu Stadium.
It was really fun even if they lost, because by the end I had learned a bunch of the songs (including the school song), and the ouendan was super amusing.
Also, the Waseda pitcher, Saitou, is playing in the pros next year and I got to see him in action ;P
---------------------------------------
The day after Halloween was the first round of soukeisen, the baseball finals. Soukeisen is the name for a game between Waseda and Keio universities which have a quite intense rivalry. They were playing for 1st in baseball between the Tokyo Big 6 universities. The game I went to Waseda lost, but they ended up winning overall!
The actual game itself was just like any baseball game I've been to before. But the crowd is completely different. For one, there are cheerleaders. The whole school band was there too. Then there are a group of guys called ouen-dan who make people sing and lead chants. The cheering is super intense.
Things started long before the game actually did. This is the glee club--
cheerleaders with ouendan--
super intense...
Meiji Jingu Stadium.
It was really fun even if they lost, because by the end I had learned a bunch of the songs (including the school song), and the ouendan was super amusing.
Also, the Waseda pitcher, Saitou, is playing in the pros next year and I got to see him in action ;P
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