With time dwindling down, I'm actually starting to think about home more and it's made me a little homesick, honestly. Not to any major extent, it's just that it's more on my mind than usual, and while I don't want to necessarily leave, I can't wait to get back either. That said, I started to compile a list of what I miss about home and, to be fair, one of what I will miss when I leave Japan to remind myself why I shouldn't be in any rush to get back home. Here's what I came up with in a short amount of time:
"Things That I Miss About America"
Family. This is a no-brainer for me. Although I'm in contact with some of my family through Skype, I still feel that large land gap between us. Just being around home to know that my family is near is really comforting to me. Even at UVA my home is only two and a half hours away, so I could really go there whenever I felt like it if there was some emergency (not that I've ever felt the need to leave in the middle of the week for home).
Friends. Another duh. What I really wish is to be able to warp friends here and do fun things here with them here. I think I've said it before, but I think that Japan is a place that partners itself with things that I like to do with my friends at home, with a few exceptions that will be on my other list.
Hugs. Yes, this was the third thing I wrote down. I give SO MANY at home, whether they're to my family in Virginia Beach or to friends at UVA. Here I've given a few, but they're so few and far between, and I'll give a leeway of two when I say I've hugged probably five Japanese (a few HSD members, Shuuji from the baseball team when he was happy about winning the most recent game [which I'll get to later], and uhhh...)
Couches. I really look forward to returning to the couches in the den, relaxing, and naturally falling asleep on them.
Diverse Foods. This week especially I've been bummed with food choices here. I eat the same stuff all of the time, and since stuff that I've been eating all the time has hit a hard, unexpected roadblock as of last weekend, I refuse to eat things such as: Yoshinoya, fried rice balls, and bread sweets with cream inside.
Mexican and Chinese. I went to a Mexican place on Saturday with Jonas and Juun (Sugiyama) and got fajitas, but... this was no Plaza Azteca. There also are no American Chinese food places anywhere [but America].
Home cooking. This would naturally go higher on the list, but I was just throwing food nostalgia everywhere at this point. Also, I miss home cooking at UVA, so this is nothing new. What I DON'T miss at UVA is the above food because it's still around. Anyway, my mom cooks great food, as does my dad, and let's not forget about my grandparents! Man... I would consider making lumpia like my grandma taught me this winter here, but the peripherals here are just too gross.
Cookouts. The smell, the gathering, and not to mention the actual foods. Summer is all about cookouts at home, and I'm missing them. You know, I think I'll try to put together a Japanese barbecue now that I think about it... not that that will by any means make up for a burger off the grill and a pool to dive in.
Jazz. I can't practice here because I just don't have time, so that's one thing, but another thing is, I don't play with people like the people I play with at UVA. Hands down. Attitude about jazz and playing-wise. You know who I'm talking about. Maybe it's just that talking about music with people here is IMPOSSIBLE for me the way I talk about it with my jazz friends at UVA, and even sometimes at home.
Driving. Driving a car is the first thing that comes to mind, not driving a bus. The freedom of hoping in my car and going someone I want is awesome. So is SINGING in the car (that originally was just another point on the list). I can't belt out here. Sometimes I sing at night when I'm coming home late and there's no one around and sometimes in my room, but usually never outside of karaoke. I miss the bus, too, but it doesn't compare to the car when you don't have a car around.
Tub. Maybe I should just say "non-communal showers". But I like sitting in the shower at home, too.
LOST and other good TV. I missed so much...!!! Supposedly there's a website I can go to, but I don't remember what it is... I'm going to have to find whoever told me about it...
Rock Band. You know it had to come sooner or later. When I get home there're so many new songs to play aaaahhhhhhhh!!!
Home Games. Really it's the idea of having friends to play games with, as that is my main goal of owning games in the first place in this modern era of my life. Smash Bros., anyone?
Candy Bars. I love Kit-Kats, but COME ON, Japan. What I really want is a Milky Way.
Open Spaces. They don't exist here. When I wrote this, all I had to do was think about walking outside my front door and walking along the street. Open. Lovely.
Nature. Part of open spaces, I presume, but not totally. I miss nature a lot anywhere, but there's just SO MUCH city here. Even going to Yoyogi park is less nature-y than, say, the Lawn due to the sheer number of people there. Not that there aren't a lot on the Lawn... maybe they're even...
Clean Laundry. It doesn't get clean at UVA either, but at least the dryer does its job.
"Things I Will Miss About Japan"
Friends. Goodness I'll miss the friends I've made here, Japanese and not. As I said before, it's only recently that I started to make actual good relationships with a lot of people, so no matter what it's going to be like a rug pulled out from under me. It's happened before with HSD, but that was ten days versus months, which is a little different. Maybe it's bad to even compare it this to HSD at all because that's like an inexplicable phenomenon.
Baseball. I'm not going to be playing baseball when I get back. Softball, yeah, but not baseball, and I'll miss that. I'll also miss growing up with the other first years of the team, which is sad to think about. But, hopefully I'll return in the next four years and I can come back to see a game of theirs when they're awesome.
Different Ethnicities. What? Different ethnicities aren't in America!? Not like this. My Japanese class alone has Germans, Brits, a Russian, a Swede, Thais, and people from all around America. Not that the Americans are recognizably different from me, but the others are non-diluted citizens of their respective countries and it's very cool.
Gundam. Haha, you know it.
Speaking Japanese. I guess I'll be speaking Japanese in class, but the Japanese I want to speak is not the Japanese that I'll be speaking in class. I love the casual conversations and dialect that I use with my friends, and though sure, I can't speak a little Japanese to fellow classmates back home, I'd rather speak English to them. Furthermore, I'll want to use a lot of Japanese slang when talking in Japanese, but who the hell's going to understand me???
HSD Friends. Not to beat a horse any more than it should be, but seeing these guys again have really made a part of my life.
Tabe/Nomihoudais. Cici's is one thing, but there won't be anything like paying $25 for either as many plates of beef as I can eat in two hours or as much as I can drink in the same amount of time. Er, man... $20 is a lot... but not here!!! It's like paying $10 at home, maybe... 'cause that's how much Cici's is (less, even!).
Japanese Girls. They don't exist in Virginia Beach. THAT'S going to be reverse culture shock. I e-mailed Mike at one point and told him that there are just loads of beautiful women here, and it's true. Hey all of you guys that say I like Japanese girls more than white girls! Listen up! I think there are more good looking Japanese girls walking around Japan than there are good looking white girls walking around America, and that's all you're getting from me. I still won't admit there being a preference!!!
おつかれさま！ This phrase never gets old.
Crepes. What a great treat.
Udon. Yes, I will eventually miss the noodles. Udon IS awesome, no matter how much I have to eat it.
Weight Loss. I project I won't be this skinny for much longer after I get home.
Helping with English. Teaching is great. Subbing is fun and all, but when there are guys like Juun, Asato, Hiroki, and Shou constantly trying to speak English and asking me how to say things and whatnot and they're actually LEARNING (unlike those pesky high school kids), it feels great to be helping them.
Amazement at Crowds. I won't be seeing crowded streets like there are in Shibuya much, if ever, in the States. It always is fun to watch how many people are moving around there.
Karaoke! DUH. This is low on the list, but probably because I figured I didn't even need to mention it! Going crazy in a karaoke booth with friends is awesome.
Jazz Club. Unless you're talking about Enrico's, I still won't have one in Virginia Beach.
Good Rice. No matter how much the Asian market tries to fool you, you just can't make rice like how it's made here. Maybe I should buy a Japanese rice cooker and bring it home.
That's it for now. I'm going to sleep early tonight, woohoo!!!
Until next time...!!!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Eyyyy I didn't get buried!
Hey! The earthquake didn't hit near enough to me to have any effect. I felt some aftershocks, but at first I thought it was just me because last time I thought there was an earthquake it was when I was sick in class and my friend told me nothing was happening. : P
But, I HAVE been in earthquakes here! They're pretty cool. Well, I mean, they've been just little shakes, but it's almost like you're in a dream... the ones I've been in have been like waves and not rumbles, so very smooth and disorienting.
Later!
But, I HAVE been in earthquakes here! They're pretty cool. Well, I mean, they've been just little shakes, but it's almost like you're in a dream... the ones I've been in have been like waves and not rumbles, so very smooth and disorienting.
Later!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Yakyuu, Jazz Circles, and Klass Karaoke
The team's first baseball game was at a place called Tokyo Metropolitan University, which I had never heard of and took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to from home. Knowing how popular high school baseball is in Japan, I had high expectations for the game, thinking that both teams would have fans there, each player would have a little song like in the pros, the field would be nice, etc. Well, none of that is true, actually. Maybe it's just the division we're in (Sophia's in division four, which I think may be the lowest), but we had few fans (a couple players who didn't bring their uniforms, an alum, and a dad), a rather crappy field, and no singing. Doesn't mean it wasn't fun, though!
Much like high school sports in the states (and maybe college, too? I'm not sure), all of the team members had to dress up in suits and come to the game. Unlike other college sports, though, we just changed into our uniforms outside. This was our first game, so we hadn't yet gotten our uniforms, but we wore our practice ones instead. We warmed up a bit, and after the game that was being played finished, we all ran out to the field and cleaned it up with rakes. Once everything was in top shape, we started throwing the ball around until it was time to start. In the beginning, all of the members of both teams run out to home plate, stand in a line, take off their caps, and bow to the opposing side. Once that's done, the game begins.
This first shot is of one of the funniest guys on the team, Kosuke, who is the starting pitcher for the team. He tells me to call him Kosukebe (Kosuke + do[u?]sukebe), does hitomane (imitations) of people (including one of me, which is just him looking around confused saying "anooo"), and has this really deep voice that is especially threatening and commanding on the field. As one of the best batters on the team, he hit a grand slam that day. You'll recognize Akira in this one, but the other two are Shuuji and Kurokawa. Shuuji's my best senpai friend on the team because he actually is willing to hang out outside of baseball, while Kurokawa speaks really fast, unrecognizable Japanese all of the time. Supposedly he was nicknamed Kuro-san in school to cut down his last name, but at first people thought he was called that because of how dark his skin is. Here's a batter!
Next is a picture of Yasuda-san warming up on the sideline. Hailed as one of the best on the team and a batter with an average this semester of about .800, he is one of the oldest members of the team, being 23. He's very comical and has a loud presence about him, but he is very serious about baseball. Dugout shot. Kosuke again. The next shot is terrible, but I guess it's good for checking out our uniforms, which I think are very snazzy, especially because of the blue and white color scheme (which just happens to be my favorite). Another team shot (sorry Justin, haha). Here are some managers, who don't actually wear team uniforms (that's to be expected, yeah?). During the game they're filling out score sheets, which is really important because after the game we have these long meetings in which we discuss what happened and what could be improved (this includes a 'point-to-people-and-ask-questions' session). The missing two managers (the one on the right is a senpai)... someone from the opposite team batting... From the opposite team there was a really short, scruffy guy who had a sort of mohawk-looking haircut that looked like he could really kick ass. The field. The stands which, as I said, harbored very few. Akira and the fabled Narita. Oh, update on Narita, seems that another member of the teach got to his girl first. Oops! Post-grand slam running, and post-grand slam manager Nohse. Nohse's really goofy and gives everybody the ol' slap on the butt during the game and practices. Team members, including Nemoto Hiroki, the third baseman/relief pitcher, who has odd ways of doing everything. In terms of actions, Nemoto is probably the most ridiculous person on the team. I would describe him as "squirrelly". For example, last game he had pick-off attempts thrown at him while he was on base and when he'd run back he'd do a little duck and hold his helmet with both hands. When he DID get picked off, he ran back in an indescribably goofy manner (think about the ducking thing). Not to mention, he has a strange way of both batting and pitching. You can watch a video that I'll post later of him pitching, which is of submarine style, but his batting is such that he throws a ton of weight on the back foot and bobs up and down so that his other foot leaves the ground, sometimes going really high into the air. Maybe I can get that on tape next time, too... But, saying all this, he's an awesome player. Last game he hit every time at bat and made some great third-to-first plays.
More pictures, lesse... shot of the first years (in front is a first-year named Takahashi who I don't know very well but is very friendly) and of the scoreboard (our score is on the bottom). We ended up winning that game, and hey! We've won every game so far this season! More on that later, but first, an interesting fact about Japanese baseball that is very Japanese: there is a LOT of bunting, and it is an important strategic aspect of the game. If someone's on first and there are no outs (sometimes one out, too), the next batter usually bunts to sacrifice himself so that the guy on base can get to second. I can't help but wonder how this would affect things is we integrated that approach into American baseball.
The next few pictures come from my Jazz gasshuku, which was in early May, I think. I'm going to try and be brief on this one, but basically, I paid a lot of money to go up to the mountains for a weekend with the jazz circle, thinking that the weekend would be everyone playing for hours on end with the new kids learning stuff elsewhere. This was unfortunately not the case at all. Instead, Friday night we got to the place, slept, woke up early, and the senpai taught the freshman about jazz. Most of the first years had never touched jazz before. Some had never touched their instruments before (this is no exaggeration--one saxophone player had to study a fingering chart). This obviously served as a bore to me, and lasted all morning. After lunch, people broke up into their respective instruments and had classes taught by the senpai. Lucky for me, I switched into a drum class instead, borrowing my Australian friend Brenden's sticks, as he went to the vocal class. That was pretty fun for the most part, but overall it was turning out to be a total drag. Thankfully, the night changed that.
The place that we stayed was this lodge up in the mountains that had another building across from it that harbored nothing but studio rooms. The basement floor, though, had a HUGE room that had a stage, tons of mics and amps, and was very, very cool. It was here the actual great part of the evening happened. The senpai got all of the food and drink set up on the floor and did a sound check with the mics, and then the 10-hour concert began, starting at 6pm. A white board was brought out to the floor with every freshman's name on it, randomly placing people in groups with one or two senpai included. The players included absolutely EVERYONE, including the people who had just started playing their axes, which was the amazing thing about the night (I was on their twice... once for sax, once for drums... haha). Some of the kids were really shy to play and didn't even while placed on stage (everyone played "Billie's Bounce", by the way), but the ones that did played with an astounding amount of energy and passion that I think a lot could be learned from, even by those who can already play. There were some that didn't hold back at all and really played their soul out, and even though it was ear-wrenching at times, it turned out to be awesome. As for my drumming, there's a website with MP3s of every performance out there, but to save myself extreme embarrassment I will NOT post that link. It was pretty bad. I didn't think that at the time because I was buzzed, but now I know WHOAAAA kindabad. Here's a photo of some of the members, including the highest-ranked saxophone senpai, Ryuuichi, vocalist Linda, crazy guy bass player, and others.
Some impressions that I got from this trip and being with with the members of the jazz circle are that jazz is definitely bigger amongst the youth of Japan, ESPECIALLY amongst females (Haruka and Linda... I have no idea what they're doing). Just the idea of people transferring from rock and metal backgrounds to play jazz at their age is crazy to me, especially the idea of those that were heavily influenced by another instrument's player deciding to not only switch genres, but also instruments. Also, I've never seen this many girls interested in jazz. Ever. I won't even fault the Japanese for some of the jazz that they like because of how great I think that these youth are praising John Coltrane over Avril Lavigne.
... Okay, maybe some of them still like Avril more.
Whatever, there were a lot of people and a lot of alright players. Here's the stage. Anyway, the night was awesome. After the freshman groups played it was an open session until 4am. Everyone just drank, talked, and played all night, and THAT'S what I expected from the weekend. Not some silly training camp. But, oh wait, look at the word "gasshuku" closer and what does it mean? Awwww man...
Before I get off this topic, the two senpai vocalists are just no good, to be honest. I like them as friends, too, which is a problem. Both are girls, and both try to have a gruff timbre in their voice and it sounds REALLLY bad. Unfortunately, they weren't recorded so I can't give you an example now, but maybe I can June 21st when we have another concert.
Last for this post is an outing that I did with my class a long time ago! We went to an Indo-curry restaurant near the school for dinner that rocks (I've been there a few other times for lunch, actually). I took a picture of this drink called a "mango lasse" which, rather than being a mango dog, is a rather delightful smoothie-ish treat. At lunch time, sometimes these are given free as service, yoink!
Aside from the class just coming, our awesome teacher Kobayashi-sensei came and brought his girlfriend, who, I found out later, he actually hadn't seen for quite a long time until that night, haha. We're really glad he likes us that much. Check out that big piece of nan bread, too!!! Man, that stuff is great. In that picture, you'll see to the right of me my German friend Jonas and my Utah-based friend Nate. About Jonas, he is a German, so his favorite activity is to ask me to join him for a beer at 10:30 at night, right before he goes to sleep. He's really strange and hilarious, and has an experimental music band with his friend (he really, really likes Tom Waitts). I got the first copy of his CD EVER. Not only is he doing that kind of music, but he's really into gritty blues music and is a drummer for a blues band back home. When I got sick recently he told me that when Germans feel a fever coming on, they heat up a liter of beer, chug it, throw on a ton of clothes, and pass out, sweating the fever out before it comes. Crazy, no?
Here's one of Nate and Felice and another of Christina, Alexis, and my Swedish pal Julia (pronounced Yulia). Some one-sentence summaries of these people: Nate - quite funny classical composer; Felice - along with our British classmate Kirsty, misses about 35% of class and also really enjoys fried rice balls; Christina - Californian who knows a lot of kanji but says her Japanese "r"s like they're actually "r"s; Alexis - a fellow handheld gamer that is interested in karaoke and my progress in Monster Hunter 2nd G, of which I have none right now; Julia - aside from Jonas, my best class friend who is really fun and loves Star Wars... not to mention all of my Japanese friends thinks she's cute and want to betroth her.
After dinner we went to a karaoke place... one with the epic name of "My Pleasure", which is suitable if you love singing and ice cream tabehoudais. Our teacher's first song, to my pleasure (baaaahhaaha), was "Wild, Wild Life" by the Talking Heads, which I joined him for. Mine was, of course, my signature song "Dream Weaver". Oooooh yeah!
Okay, I've been at this long enough and am really hungry. Here are some videos and then that'll be it until next time (... I'm going to have to say that again later, aren't I... pshh... what has my English become since being here!?!?):
Nemoto's Submarine Pitch
Submarine Pitch II
Every time after we field, there's a small talk given by the team leader.
Hit!
Kobayashi-sensei and me singing Beck's "Sexx Laws"!
Well, there you have it! I have tons more to talk about and whatnot about the month and a half between then and now, so uhhh... look forward to it!!!
Until next time...!!!
Much like high school sports in the states (and maybe college, too? I'm not sure), all of the team members had to dress up in suits and come to the game. Unlike other college sports, though, we just changed into our uniforms outside. This was our first game, so we hadn't yet gotten our uniforms, but we wore our practice ones instead. We warmed up a bit, and after the game that was being played finished, we all ran out to the field and cleaned it up with rakes. Once everything was in top shape, we started throwing the ball around until it was time to start. In the beginning, all of the members of both teams run out to home plate, stand in a line, take off their caps, and bow to the opposing side. Once that's done, the game begins.
This first shot is of one of the funniest guys on the team, Kosuke, who is the starting pitcher for the team. He tells me to call him Kosukebe (Kosuke + do[u?]sukebe), does hitomane (imitations) of people (including one of me, which is just him looking around confused saying "anooo"), and has this really deep voice that is especially threatening and commanding on the field. As one of the best batters on the team, he hit a grand slam that day. You'll recognize Akira in this one, but the other two are Shuuji and Kurokawa. Shuuji's my best senpai friend on the team because he actually is willing to hang out outside of baseball, while Kurokawa speaks really fast, unrecognizable Japanese all of the time. Supposedly he was nicknamed Kuro-san in school to cut down his last name, but at first people thought he was called that because of how dark his skin is. Here's a batter!
Next is a picture of Yasuda-san warming up on the sideline. Hailed as one of the best on the team and a batter with an average this semester of about .800, he is one of the oldest members of the team, being 23. He's very comical and has a loud presence about him, but he is very serious about baseball. Dugout shot. Kosuke again. The next shot is terrible, but I guess it's good for checking out our uniforms, which I think are very snazzy, especially because of the blue and white color scheme (which just happens to be my favorite). Another team shot (sorry Justin, haha). Here are some managers, who don't actually wear team uniforms (that's to be expected, yeah?). During the game they're filling out score sheets, which is really important because after the game we have these long meetings in which we discuss what happened and what could be improved (this includes a 'point-to-people-and-ask-questions' session). The missing two managers (the one on the right is a senpai)... someone from the opposite team batting... From the opposite team there was a really short, scruffy guy who had a sort of mohawk-looking haircut that looked like he could really kick ass. The field. The stands which, as I said, harbored very few. Akira and the fabled Narita. Oh, update on Narita, seems that another member of the teach got to his girl first. Oops! Post-grand slam running, and post-grand slam manager Nohse. Nohse's really goofy and gives everybody the ol' slap on the butt during the game and practices. Team members, including Nemoto Hiroki, the third baseman/relief pitcher, who has odd ways of doing everything. In terms of actions, Nemoto is probably the most ridiculous person on the team. I would describe him as "squirrelly". For example, last game he had pick-off attempts thrown at him while he was on base and when he'd run back he'd do a little duck and hold his helmet with both hands. When he DID get picked off, he ran back in an indescribably goofy manner (think about the ducking thing). Not to mention, he has a strange way of both batting and pitching. You can watch a video that I'll post later of him pitching, which is of submarine style, but his batting is such that he throws a ton of weight on the back foot and bobs up and down so that his other foot leaves the ground, sometimes going really high into the air. Maybe I can get that on tape next time, too... But, saying all this, he's an awesome player. Last game he hit every time at bat and made some great third-to-first plays.
More pictures, lesse... shot of the first years (in front is a first-year named Takahashi who I don't know very well but is very friendly) and of the scoreboard (our score is on the bottom). We ended up winning that game, and hey! We've won every game so far this season! More on that later, but first, an interesting fact about Japanese baseball that is very Japanese: there is a LOT of bunting, and it is an important strategic aspect of the game. If someone's on first and there are no outs (sometimes one out, too), the next batter usually bunts to sacrifice himself so that the guy on base can get to second. I can't help but wonder how this would affect things is we integrated that approach into American baseball.
The next few pictures come from my Jazz gasshuku, which was in early May, I think. I'm going to try and be brief on this one, but basically, I paid a lot of money to go up to the mountains for a weekend with the jazz circle, thinking that the weekend would be everyone playing for hours on end with the new kids learning stuff elsewhere. This was unfortunately not the case at all. Instead, Friday night we got to the place, slept, woke up early, and the senpai taught the freshman about jazz. Most of the first years had never touched jazz before. Some had never touched their instruments before (this is no exaggeration--one saxophone player had to study a fingering chart). This obviously served as a bore to me, and lasted all morning. After lunch, people broke up into their respective instruments and had classes taught by the senpai. Lucky for me, I switched into a drum class instead, borrowing my Australian friend Brenden's sticks, as he went to the vocal class. That was pretty fun for the most part, but overall it was turning out to be a total drag. Thankfully, the night changed that.
The place that we stayed was this lodge up in the mountains that had another building across from it that harbored nothing but studio rooms. The basement floor, though, had a HUGE room that had a stage, tons of mics and amps, and was very, very cool. It was here the actual great part of the evening happened. The senpai got all of the food and drink set up on the floor and did a sound check with the mics, and then the 10-hour concert began, starting at 6pm. A white board was brought out to the floor with every freshman's name on it, randomly placing people in groups with one or two senpai included. The players included absolutely EVERYONE, including the people who had just started playing their axes, which was the amazing thing about the night (I was on their twice... once for sax, once for drums... haha). Some of the kids were really shy to play and didn't even while placed on stage (everyone played "Billie's Bounce", by the way), but the ones that did played with an astounding amount of energy and passion that I think a lot could be learned from, even by those who can already play. There were some that didn't hold back at all and really played their soul out, and even though it was ear-wrenching at times, it turned out to be awesome. As for my drumming, there's a website with MP3s of every performance out there, but to save myself extreme embarrassment I will NOT post that link. It was pretty bad. I didn't think that at the time because I was buzzed, but now I know WHOAAAA kindabad. Here's a photo of some of the members, including the highest-ranked saxophone senpai, Ryuuichi, vocalist Linda, crazy guy bass player, and others.
Some impressions that I got from this trip and being with with the members of the jazz circle are that jazz is definitely bigger amongst the youth of Japan, ESPECIALLY amongst females (Haruka and Linda... I have no idea what they're doing). Just the idea of people transferring from rock and metal backgrounds to play jazz at their age is crazy to me, especially the idea of those that were heavily influenced by another instrument's player deciding to not only switch genres, but also instruments. Also, I've never seen this many girls interested in jazz. Ever. I won't even fault the Japanese for some of the jazz that they like because of how great I think that these youth are praising John Coltrane over Avril Lavigne.
... Okay, maybe some of them still like Avril more.
Whatever, there were a lot of people and a lot of alright players. Here's the stage. Anyway, the night was awesome. After the freshman groups played it was an open session until 4am. Everyone just drank, talked, and played all night, and THAT'S what I expected from the weekend. Not some silly training camp. But, oh wait, look at the word "gasshuku" closer and what does it mean? Awwww man...
Before I get off this topic, the two senpai vocalists are just no good, to be honest. I like them as friends, too, which is a problem. Both are girls, and both try to have a gruff timbre in their voice and it sounds REALLLY bad. Unfortunately, they weren't recorded so I can't give you an example now, but maybe I can June 21st when we have another concert.
Last for this post is an outing that I did with my class a long time ago! We went to an Indo-curry restaurant near the school for dinner that rocks (I've been there a few other times for lunch, actually). I took a picture of this drink called a "mango lasse" which, rather than being a mango dog, is a rather delightful smoothie-ish treat. At lunch time, sometimes these are given free as service, yoink!
Aside from the class just coming, our awesome teacher Kobayashi-sensei came and brought his girlfriend, who, I found out later, he actually hadn't seen for quite a long time until that night, haha. We're really glad he likes us that much. Check out that big piece of nan bread, too!!! Man, that stuff is great. In that picture, you'll see to the right of me my German friend Jonas and my Utah-based friend Nate. About Jonas, he is a German, so his favorite activity is to ask me to join him for a beer at 10:30 at night, right before he goes to sleep. He's really strange and hilarious, and has an experimental music band with his friend (he really, really likes Tom Waitts). I got the first copy of his CD EVER. Not only is he doing that kind of music, but he's really into gritty blues music and is a drummer for a blues band back home. When I got sick recently he told me that when Germans feel a fever coming on, they heat up a liter of beer, chug it, throw on a ton of clothes, and pass out, sweating the fever out before it comes. Crazy, no?
Here's one of Nate and Felice and another of Christina, Alexis, and my Swedish pal Julia (pronounced Yulia). Some one-sentence summaries of these people: Nate - quite funny classical composer; Felice - along with our British classmate Kirsty, misses about 35% of class and also really enjoys fried rice balls; Christina - Californian who knows a lot of kanji but says her Japanese "r"s like they're actually "r"s; Alexis - a fellow handheld gamer that is interested in karaoke and my progress in Monster Hunter 2nd G, of which I have none right now; Julia - aside from Jonas, my best class friend who is really fun and loves Star Wars... not to mention all of my Japanese friends thinks she's cute and want to betroth her.
After dinner we went to a karaoke place... one with the epic name of "My Pleasure", which is suitable if you love singing and ice cream tabehoudais. Our teacher's first song, to my pleasure (baaaahhaaha), was "Wild, Wild Life" by the Talking Heads, which I joined him for. Mine was, of course, my signature song "Dream Weaver". Oooooh yeah!
Okay, I've been at this long enough and am really hungry. Here are some videos and then that'll be it until next time (... I'm going to have to say that again later, aren't I... pshh... what has my English become since being here!?!?):
Nemoto's Submarine Pitch
Submarine Pitch II
Every time after we field, there's a small talk given by the team leader.
Hit!
Kobayashi-sensei and me singing Beck's "Sexx Laws"!
Well, there you have it! I have tons more to talk about and whatnot about the month and a half between then and now, so uhhh... look forward to it!!!
Until next time...!!!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
お礼
Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to those who are still reading my blog after these past couple of months. I really appreciate the time that you take to read and listen to what I have to say even through all of the filler and all of the huge delays in posts do to me being narcoleptic, and it always makes me happy to see any comments that anyone chooses to make on the posts. As I'm sure you all know, knowing me, I do miss home a lot. It's not that I THINK about missing home, but I do think about home, family, and friends, and the fact that you all are reading this makes me feel more close to home.
In terms of an actual post, I'm going to have to save that for the weekend since I have three mid-terms this week. But, I just wanted to tell you that I've decided to eventually take a trip to Osaka for a weekend before I leave. From now I have eight weekends left, a few that have been already taken up: one weekend will be used to climb Mt. Fuji, July 5th and 6th I will be meeting with my HSD 2003 roommate Tomohiro Ishikawa, one will probably be me going to Kyoto to hang out with my friend Hiromi from HSD 2003, and then one will be a trip to Osaka.
My curiosity in Osaka started when I hung out with Kohei who told me some facts about Osakans, and spiked last night when I hung out with friends from HSD 2004, tw of which who are from Osaka. Basically, they described the Osakans as having great senses of humor and being overall more good-natured people than the Tokyoans. For example, if you make a sword swiping motion at an Osakan on the street, they with pretend like they just got slashed, and if you give them a banana they will do something like a dance or start singing. How awesome is that!?!?!? THAT sounds like where I should have studied abroad, haha. Anyway, I really want to check that out, not to mention I want to go see a Hanshin Tigers game again!!!!!!
And I leave you now with two utterly hilarious videos of my Osakan friend Jiro from last night.
In case you're confused, keep in mind that "juu" in Japanese means "gun".
Until next time...!
PS: Not to nag, but the post below is about three times larger now than when it was first posted, so check it out!!!!
In terms of an actual post, I'm going to have to save that for the weekend since I have three mid-terms this week. But, I just wanted to tell you that I've decided to eventually take a trip to Osaka for a weekend before I leave. From now I have eight weekends left, a few that have been already taken up: one weekend will be used to climb Mt. Fuji, July 5th and 6th I will be meeting with my HSD 2003 roommate Tomohiro Ishikawa, one will probably be me going to Kyoto to hang out with my friend Hiromi from HSD 2003, and then one will be a trip to Osaka.
My curiosity in Osaka started when I hung out with Kohei who told me some facts about Osakans, and spiked last night when I hung out with friends from HSD 2004, tw of which who are from Osaka. Basically, they described the Osakans as having great senses of humor and being overall more good-natured people than the Tokyoans. For example, if you make a sword swiping motion at an Osakan on the street, they with pretend like they just got slashed, and if you give them a banana they will do something like a dance or start singing. How awesome is that!?!?!? THAT sounds like where I should have studied abroad, haha. Anyway, I really want to check that out, not to mention I want to go see a Hanshin Tigers game again!!!!!!
And I leave you now with two utterly hilarious videos of my Osakan friend Jiro from last night.
In case you're confused, keep in mind that "juu" in Japanese means "gun".
Until next time...!
PS: Not to nag, but the post below is about three times larger now than when it was first posted, so check it out!!!!
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