Bathing in the great outdoors

(For 20 April)

Well, staff you, too!

We all met at the Language School this morning for our day trip to Natadera (temple), Yamanaka Onsen and Yunokuni no Mori.

At Natadera

The temple was fabulous, and set in a glorious location.  A Shinto Shrine and a Buddhist Temple are both located there.  As always in these places, I took so many photos.  We all enjoyed exploring and admiring the wonderful scenery.

In the grounds of Natadera

The next stop was Yamanaka Onsen for lunch and a soak in the onsen.  Lunch was truly amazing!  Every item was an exquisite work of art, and all cooked in front of us as we watched.  The entrée even had gold leaf on top!  We were also given a glass of French wine with the meal.  After lunch, we were all given a sheet of paper with advice about how to use the onsen.  One item said ‘don’t drink alcohol before using the onsen’.  Well I guess that some advice is best ignored.  The guys went off to their bath and we six ladies went to ours.  We had the huge bath to ourselves – and a bonus of a rotenburo (outdoor bath) just outside the door.  [Japanese lesson break:  The ‘roten’ part of ‘rotenburo’ means ‘exposed to the sky’ and the ‘buro’ bit is the bath.  It’s not even vaguely related to the English ‘rotten’ – it’s quite the oppposite]

Lunch in progress

 

 

Lunch

Dessert

We took advantage of both.  The rotenburo was great.  Everytime we got too hot, we just sat up and let the cool breeze blow over us, and then sank back into the water.  Sadly, it was soon time to leave our lovely bath and move on to our next stop.  Before we left a couple of the ladies tried on some nice yukatas (light kimonos) and had photos taken.  As I’m going to the Children’s Day Festival when I get home, where I can do the same thing, I gave it a miss.

Our final stop was Yunokuni no Mori, which is a ‘theme park’ of Japanese Handicrafts.  As our time was limited, we went straight to the washi (Japanese paper) making building to create some works of art to take home.  We all made six postcard-sized pieces of paper, impregnated with leaves and flowers.  It was fun and resulted in a nice souvenir to take home.  We had a little time left to do some browsing and shopping and, despite it being about 12 degrees, some of us had an ice cream.

My hand-made creations

 

 

We travelled back to Kanazawa on the lovely comfortable (and warm) bus and then went our separate ways.  Ulla and I had a look around the shops near the station and I invested the grand total of $3.15 for an umbrella as it had started to rain and I had not taken an umbrella from home this morning.  We were really fortunate that no rain fell during our day’s outing.

We then went to Starbucks for our chai latte which seems to be becoming a habit and I phoned John using Skype on my iPhone.  A good cheap way to make a convenient overseas call.  He’s having a visit from his parents tomorrow as the cruise that they are currently taking is stopping in to Adelaide for the day.

We had another lovely dinner and decided to go to a sushi place next Tuesday night as Mr Hyakuman has a previous engagement for Friday night, when we are having our farewell gathering..  Sounds like a good alternative to me – and I get to do both!

Singing poo and happy up!

(For April 19)

Multi-purpose seats at the station

And so ends the first week of classes.  It’s been so tiring and my feet are a mess, but I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this course.  I’m sure by the time I get home, my Japanese will have moved to a new level.

After class, I went with two classmates, Ulla and Ka Sim, for a Japanese curry.  I love Japanese curry and this is the first time I’ve eaten it on this trip.  As usual, it didn’t let me down.  Ka Sim has enrolled in some extra classes, so she left us after lunch and we hit the shops.

I would have to rate our visit to the IshikawaSan Café & Shop as the most hilarious.  This appears to be the Japanese equivalent of the ABC shop and has many knick knacks and souvenirs that relate to various TV shows.  There was a group of young students in the shop while we were there and they discovered a plastic poo that sings a song when it’s switched on.  I burst out laughing, which the kids seem to find as amusing as the singing poo, so we had a good inter-cultural exchange.  Just for the record, no, I didn’t buy a singing poo.  I did buy a couple of unnecessary things and received a free bottle of peach water called “Happy Up”.

Curry for lunch!

We also visited Daiso which is a 100yen shop.  It’s so hard to resist buying everything in the shop, but I noted a few items of interest and will visit Daiso in Osaka at the end of the trip.

We visited Kinokuniya, where we browsed around looking for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test text books for Ulla – without success until I toughened up and asked a staff member in my best Japanese.  She then took me to a shelf and pointed them out.  I was very relieved (and proud) to discover that she had understood my request!  That didn’t change the fact that they didn’t have the book that Ulla wanted, but that’s quite beside the point.  I was also pleased to note that the books that I got for 105 yen at Book Off the other day are 760 yen when new.

For stopping earthquake wobbles

We also went to UniQlo which has some fabulous clothing items for very reasonable prices.  Ulla found some things, but I’ll keep this for Osaka too.

For storing begetables

We found it very difficult to leave our shopping as there is so much cute ‘stuff’ that we wanted.  I’m much better at resisting tempation than Ulla, but it’s not easy.

We wandered our way back to Starbucks at the station where we had a chai latte and did a bit of emailing etc. until it was time for my bus.

We had a lovely dinner (as usual) and a chat about Adelaide (with the assistance of a souvenir photo book and Google Maps).  I finished off the night with some laundry and a soak in the bath.

Tomorrow we’ve got a day trip to Kaga for a visit to an onsen and some sightseeing.  I have to get my bus into town from a different stop tomorrow, so that might be interesting!

Hopefully you’ll hear from me again.  If not, send the search party to the vicinity of the Takeda bus stop near Goshomachi.

Gold leaf and smelly fish

Had another good class today.  I love the text book we’re using – it has no English, except a couple of headings.  Gives the brain quite a workout.

With Sakurai Sensei in class

I learnt a new verb today, but I’m not game to use it.  It is ‘majiwaru’, which means ‘to cross, to intersect, to join, to meet’ – and it also means ‘to have a sexual relationship, to copulate’.  I think that this might be a word best avoided by the inexperienced foreigner!  I was trying to learn how to say ‘to cross the bridge’, but I’ll find another expression to use.  Just in case it comes out as ‘Do you fancy a quickie under the bridge?’.

After class we had a gathering to talk about our day trip to Kaga Onsen on Saturday, then, with one of the staff from the school, we mad our way on foot to the Gold Leaf Museum.  We all chose a black plate to decorate and then stuck stencils on the plate, put glue where the gold leaf was to go and gently pressed the thin gold leaf onto it.  The staff then took our masterpieces away and (I think) put some kind of coating over the designs, then dried them with a heater.  We then all did the excited tourist thing and took lots of photos of each other.  It’s actually a very nice souvenir of Kanazawa.  One of the stencils I chose was “Kanazawa” written in kanji.

My artistic creation

Our friendly guide then took us to the Omicho Markets.  This is a big fish market which, besides fish, sells all manner of wriggly thingies from the sea and packets of dried thingies from the sea, as well as fruit and veg, bags, clothes etc.  I roamed with Ulla and Jasmine until we were all marketed out.

Omicho Market

We went back to the school to send emails and put our feet up for a while, then Ulla and I went to the shopping centre near the station.  She had heard that it is possible to get glasses (of the spectacles type) very cheaply in Japan – and she wasn’t wrong!!  She’s ordered a pair of glasses which will be ready before we leave next weekend, for a total price of about $85.00!  I’ll be looking at doing the same when we return here in November.  I had to go and catch my bus while she was still dealing with the glasses folk, so I’ll hear tomorrow if she successfully accomplished her mission.

Unique statue!

After another spectacular dinner, I had the interesting experience of doing my ironing while kneeling on a tatami mat tonight.  Well, ‘when in Japan…’.

I have to make my speech in class tomorrow, and after that I can relax and just listen to my fellow students make their speeches next week.  I was going to discuss the complexities of the current state of world politics -but I changed my mind.

 

 

Sightseeing around the castle

For April 17



At Kanazawa Castle with some of my classmates

We did lots of hard work in class today, learning several new concepts that I’ll need to get my head around..  The most challenging exercise was explaining to someone in Japanese how to use a photocopier and a vending machine.

With frazzled brains, we went after our morning’s class to the Kanazawa Castle.  The ‘host mother’ of one of my fellow students had some spare time today, so she offered to give us a guided tour of the castle neighbourhood.  This included shrines and gardens and some wonderful scenery.  It was lovely to have a local resident to be our guide and we had a very interesting afternoon.

On the bridge near the castle

Ulla and I went to the station to buy our train tickets for the day we leave Kanazawa – getting in early as it’s a popular time for travelling in Japan.  We then limped into Starbucks for a sit down and a chai latte.  How very civilized after a tiring day.

At the International Lounge - a quiet place to sit and rest

 

My ankles have swollen like balloons, so I’m really struggling with sore feet and legs, but I don’t want to miss anything so I’m soldiering on.  Tomorrow we’re off to the Gold Leaf Museum which should be very interesting.

Cute kids going home from school

I’ve just finished writing the draft of the speech that I have to hand up tomorrow (and deliver the speech on Friday).  It’s a bit basic, but it will have to do.  I’m reading a short children’s book each night to keep up my reading skills.  Tonight’s book is called “John-san goes to Japan”, so I’m off to bed with John-san.

Shrine

Goodnight all.

Oh yes - we're here to study!

(For April 16)

 



My bus stop

Today was the first ‘proper’ day of lessons.  Our group of nine was divided into two – four in the easier level and five in the advanced level.  I’m in the advanced class, which is going to stretch my ability somewhat!!  But I guess that’s what I paid for, so I can’t complain.



View from the bus on the
way to school

Our teachers are Sakurai Sensei and Murakami Sensei.  Today we received our text books (which we get to keep!) and started with Sakurai Sensei.  I enjoyed her class very much as she is very approachable and has a teaching style that suits me down to the ground.  The 3 hour class went so quickly, but I think 3 hours was quite enough for one day.  We learnt a few new concepts that will be very useful in conversation – if I can remember them.  We will be taking it in turns to do a one minute talk during the course.  Mine will be on this Friday so I have a few days to prepare something coherent.

Another view from the bus

After class, we separated into a few pairs to go in different directions for lunch.  Ulla and I are happy to have a simple, inexpensive kombini lunch as we are eating a wonderful range of Japanese food at our ‘homes’.  After lunch, five of us took a bus out to some unknown place where Jasmine, one of my fellow students, had seen a Book Off shop.  Book Off sells second hand books at an amazingly low price.  I bought 5 books and 2 CDs, all in as-new condition for a total of 735 yen (currently about $7.35).  I choose to ignore the fact that I will have to lug them around in my bag once I leave here!  Jasmine and Ulla were in Heaven at Book Off.  They both teach Japanese to young children, so were delighted to add some very nice children’s books to their collections.

After Book Off, we hit the 100 yen store, where I bought tabi socks (split toes) and various other goodies for 105 yen each (that’s 100 yen plus tax).  I do love the 100 yen stores in Japan!

Our group split up after this shopping spree, and Ulla and I went back to the Language School to rest and use the Internet for a while.  My ankles look as if they are about to explode – they are really swollen so I’m glad I brought an extra pair of shoes.  I wouldn’t be able to do up my boots which I had intended to wear each day. 

How to add greenery when there's not much space

We were then overcome by the need for coffee so, I’m a little ashamed to say, we went to Starbucks near the station.  My excuse is that I could see my bus stop from Starbucks and I was determined not to embarrass myself again by missing the bus.  I was quite proud of my bus experience today after yesterday’s debacle.  I looked on the timetable to see the name of the last stop on the route (written in kanji), and then when the bus arrived, there they were – the same characters written on the front of the bus.  I casually hopped aboard as if I felt confident and then followed on the timetable as we went by each stop.  Once I got off (at the correct stop!), I even walked in the right direction.  There’s a first time for everything.  When I got nearer to home, Mrs Hyakuman had come out to meet me and we had a laugh about how easy it was.

My $4.81 lunch

We had a lovely dinner (without the booze), during which we looked at my word list from today and did a bit of practice with them.  I finished my evening with washing and a bath and then spent the rest of the evening revising today’s lesson.

Tomorrow Ulla and I plan to go to visit the Kanazawa Castle – if I can keep Ms Shopaholic away from the shops!

An 85 photograph day!

(For 15th April)



My classmate Glenn

I managed to successfully catch the bus to the Language School today (but getting home was another story – more to follow!).

We started the day with written and oral tests to check our levels, then had library orientation followed by a short class.  We’ll start classes in earnest tomorrow.  My eight classmates are a great bunch, ranging in age from about 20ish to 50ish.  We all seem to be getting on very well together.

 

 

 

 



The whole group at Kenrokuen Garden

After class, we had lunch (mine was onigiri (rice ball) and a hard boiled egg, followed by fruit jelly). Nothing like a mixed cuisine.  We then went by bus to Kenrokuen Garden to see the beautiful gardens and what is left of the blossoms.  Unfortunately they are past their prime, but there were a few trees (a different variety, I think, from the ‘standard’ cherry blossom trees).  They really were beautiful.  While we were there, we visited a tea house for a Japanese sweet and green tea, served by ladies in kimonos.

Blossoms!

We went our separate ways for the rest of the afternoon.  A few of us went to use the Wi-fi or computers in the school and then Ulla and I explored a few of the shops in the station building.  As usual, there are gorgeous fashions in the shops – I know that Erin is going to love coming to Japan!

Pretty!

Then things fell apart a bit.  I had in my head that my bus home left at 6.39.  However, that was the time it ARRIVED at the bus stop near home.  I was supposed to get ON the bus at 6.20.  What an idiot!  I managed to avoid getting lost, and then went and missed the bus.  Although there were other buses that would have done, that was the last bus that went to the stop that is closest to home.  The wonderful guy at the bus station lent me the phone to call home and when he heard me struggling with my Japanese, he took over the phone and sorted it all out with my host family.  He then showed me to the correct bus stop and explained to the driver where I needed to get off.  Did I happen to mention that I love Japanese customer service??

Mrs Hyakuman met me at the bus stop and took me home, showing me along the way where I could walk if I needed to take the later bus in future.

Mr Hyakuman - with booze!

We had a wonderful dinner, including beer and shouchuu (stronger than sake!), and a long chat (yes – a long chat; bless Keith for giving me his iPhone, and ‘imiwa’ for providing a great dictionary app which filled in most of the gaps).  I was able to connect to the Wi-fi and show them photos of John and the kids and grandkids.  They were highly amused by the picture of me, John and Erin at John’s niece's wedding, when we dressed up for a crazy photo booth picture.  Then it was off to the bath, a quick Skype to John and that was Monday done.

I’m not expecting so much fun tomorrow night as I expect the mean teachers will give us homework.  Sake and homework – I don’t think so!



Meeting my host family

This is what happens to libraries in earthquakes!
From the Japan Times

(For 14th April)

Today was the start of the REAL reason for being here (eating and shopping and bathing were not really the reasons).

We had an early start as Ulla and I were travelling together and we were both concerned about getting to the right place in the crazy station at the right time.  We did it with plenty of time to spare, so had a relaxing start to the journey.  Ulla’s had a good time shopping, so we couldn’t fit her case on the overhead racks.  We quietly slid it into a spare seat and hoped for the best.



Bound for Kanazawa

We saw some amazing scenery along the way.  We travelled for some time alongside Lake Biwa, which John and I had seen on our first scooter trip in 2010.  Once we got closer to Kanazawa, we saw the mountains on the right – and they had snow on top!!  Wow – I hadn’t realised we’d be seeing snow-capped mountains.  We managed to see a few cherry trees that still had blossoms, but in the main, the season is over.  It was a very pleasant trip which, despite taking about three hours, was a good experience that we both enjoyed.

Once we reached Kanazawa, we found a few nice things at the nearest kombini and had our lunch in the plaza in front of the station.



Lake Biwa

And then the nerves set in – it was time to go for our introduction session at the language school.  We were not so nervous about the classes, but about meeting and staying with our families.

We were first met by a staff member from the Language School who was doing the duty for the first time – so she was nervous too!  She talked us through what to expect for the next two weeks and then --- eeek --- it was time to meet our families.



Kanazawa Station gateway

My hosts are Mr and Mrs Hyakuman and they are really nice people.  They took me to the station to show me where to get on the bus and then we went to their house.  What a lovely house it is too!  It’s up a hillside at the edge of Kanazawa in a beautiful quite little street.  I have a lovely room with a lovely view and a bed that is calling me right now.

Mrs Hyakuman then took me for a walk to show me the way to the bus stop, and which sides of the road to get on and off the bus.  It should be really easy, but I’m sure I’ll end up in Kyoto and miss the first class tomorrow.  We were accompanied on our walk by the Hyakuman's cute little dog - but he's quite old and a bit arthritic, so his 'walk' was in Mrs Hyakuman's arms

Mr Hyakuman went out, so dinner was just for me and Mrs Hyakuman.  She went to a huge amount of trouble to prepare a lovely meal with fish, rice, vegetables and tasty little accompaniments.  I completed my meal with a Japanese beer.  Oishii!!



Happy little girl
at the Kanazawa Station
 

It was only 8 o’clock by the time we’d finished, but the nerves of earlier in the day and the strain of trying to form coherent sentences was so tiring.  Mrs Hyakuman offered to fill the bath for me, so I took her up on the offer.  She pressed a button in the kitchen and the ‘bath machine’ spoke to her and started doing its thing.  When the bath was ready, it told her that, too.  I did the right thing (washed first, then bathed) and struggled up the stairs to my bed.  My bed is actually a bed, not a futon, which should help me to get a good night’s sleep in readiness for my ‘placement test’ at the school tomorrow prior to getting into it.

The wind is currently blowing a gale and Mrs Hakuman tells me it is forecast to be rainy and windy tomorrow.  Wouldn’t be a problem, except our visit to Kenrokuen (Japanese garden) is scheduled for 2.00pm tomorrow.  Fingers crossed for a good day.

And so to bed!