Since my stay in Japan, I have begun to feel like quite the mountaineering expert! I'll have you know, I have now hiked up and down mountains on three whole occasions throughout my life, all within the last three months! If you don't claim expertise from this experience, than I can't imagine what I could possibly do to deserve the honored title. From my deep and meaningful expeditions, I've come to realize that hiking is like the ocean. Yes. You heard me correctly. Rocks = ocean. It's as easy as chocolate = love. Basically, I find that my perspective changed often, almost coming and going in waves. On my first hike I must admit I was arrogant. I proudly walked with minimal muscle ache for an extended period of time at an impressive incline. It was tiring but nothing I couldn't handle and I was keeping up with the experienced people in front of me much better than the people behind me were, so I was feeling quite pleased with myself. For about an hour. That was the first wave of hubris. Then I reached the enlightenment phase. Do you know what it feels like to be physically exhausted but to have to continue on anyway? It really messes with your head. For me, it creates a lightheaded sensation, and then it separates my consciousness from my physical motion thus enabling my body to continue it's laborious and painful trek without tying my mind down. In these moments, when the mind is completely separated from the physical world, it's what I would imagine Buddhist Enlightenment to feel like. You feel at peace. At one with the world. And above all you do not feel the pain that is obviously there. In these moments I have the thought that if anyone is feeling depressed, then they should try hiking. It brings everything to life and just makes you happy to be alive. But, like the tide, this wave must also recede, and in it's place comes pain and desperation. I then realize that hiking truly cannot be for everyone. Especially not everyone like me who has poor stamina and is not a workout nut. I would wonder why I was doing this to myself, when we would finally get to the top, and if I could actually make it. These are the three waves of the mountains. I assure you, they come and go, all three playing a game of tag inside me as I hike. Some moments, when it feels too easy to be true after eras of exhaustion, I start to think that I had a physical breakthrough in the span of a few hours and all of the sudden I have become an invincible hiker! But of course that isn't the case, so eventually the pain and pessimism returns, followed by the forced enlightenment. And so on and so forth. So, this begs the question, is it worth it? ... I think so! Pain is just weakness leaving the body, so think of how many calories you are burning, how much muscle you are building, and suck it up! Enlightenment is a truly glorious feeling, so it's probably worth enduring a bit of pain to experience it every once in a while. And then, there's the main reason that you would want to be hiking in the first place: it's beautiful! Just look at these and feast your eyes! All of this was possible because I joined the Wandervogel Club at ICU. You get to explore the numerous mountains around the Tokyo area and spend time with fun people while immersed in nature. It's been a truly wonderful experience that I've had while staying in Japan.
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In Japan, middle schools, high schools, and colleges all typically have what's called a school festival. Basically it's a day, or possibly two, where all of the classes (MS, HS only) and clubs put together fun games, cafes, haunted houses, food to sell, etc. to make money for the year. It's also a great way to have fun and advertise your school at the same time. ICU is no different! This weekend just happens to be the ICU festival. For the students of ICU, this means lots of big responsibilities, time commitments, effort, and is in general a royal pain, but in the end I think it's probably fun and worth the stress. At least, for someone like me who is getting the chance to experience her first school festival, I think it is well worth the effort. I absolutely love it. The school has been decorated with fun gates and signs everywhere and there are tons of booths full of clubs hawking their wares. The performance clubs are all holding concerts and collecting funds through ticket sales and there are still plenty of others that have taken over a classroom and set up displays or themed cafes. It's quite the fun experience! For me specifically, I am super busy as per usual. In between my various performances and duties I've had the chance to walk around for a few minutes and enjoy, but honestly, I almost enjoy working the festival more than walking it. I also must apologize in advance. I cannot show you many pictures of what the ICU festival looked like because there is, in fact, a typhoon approaching Japan at this very minute. While enjoying myself in the downpour, dodging puddles and playing bumper umbrellas with the throngs of people, I didn't have the desire to take out my phone and take pictures. You'll just have to make do with the videos from my performances and my descriptions. I dare you to find me in this performance. It's pretty hard right?!?
My first act as an ICU festival participant was to perform a piece on the Shamisen. It was apparently not required that you memorize it, but I didn't figure that out until I was actually "on stage" and someone had brought their music with them... It wasn't for lack of trying though! It's just that, as you may have noticed, I am the only foreigner in this club. Between other club members not knowing if bringing music is allowed, and the language barrier that is bound to happen with detailed explanations with musical jargon, I was unable to ascertain the truth until it was directly in front of me. Had I brought the music, I may not have messed up as much, but even with the slight forgetfulness I experienced at times, I'm actually pretty happy with my performance. I'm really looking forward to the next one in December because I will actually get to wear the traditional Japanese clothing called the Kimono! To get an idea of what that is if you don't already, the singers and the upperclassman on the left were wearing them! After the performance I had a short break where I ate some food and then I went to work at the Wandervogel (hiking/rock climbing) Club's game. I unfortunately don't have a video of this, but basically we played rock climbing air hockey. By projecting a puck onto a rock wall and using an XBOX Kinect to sense where two peoples' hands and feet were, you got to play air hockey while climbing. It's super fun, even though the technology was somewhat glitchy. I didn't actually help much, because again language barriers and there were already quite a few club members taking over the jobs, but I like to think that I gave them good old American moral support. And I made use of the fact that I was in the club to be able to play for free. But I was definitely not there with ulterior motives... Once I finished my "harrowing" hour long shift, I wandered the festival in the rain and hodge-podged some festival food into a lunch of sorts. I also visited my friend at his Ballroom Dancing cafe which was very enjoyable. Basically, you pay 300 yen (a little under $3) and you get a drink, snacks, a fifteen minute-ish dance performace, and a chance to learn some of the moves with the dancers afterward. Here's what some of the performances looked like:
The Disney theme was amazing, the dancing was fun, and I had a great time dancing with my friend afterward. It was a 300 yen well spent! Next up on day one of the ICU fest was my koto performance. We performed Sakura at the koto cafe and I did much better than when I was playing the Shamisen. This is namely because this song is the equivalent of an intense "Hot Cross Buns" for possibly all traditional Japanese instruments. It was the first thing we learned how to play on the koto, and it was the first for the Shamisen as well.
And there you have it! My first day at the festival. The second day would have started off with making and selling chocolate bananas with the softball club, but due to the typhoon not only was the tent area starting to flood a bit, but for fear of the tents caving in under the torrential rain, the outdoor portion of the festival was cancelled. Instead, I chatted with some of the softball team members, gave some more moral support to the Wandervogel Club, had another koto performance, ate some Otonomiyaki since the outdoor festival was cancelled and my roommate had a ridiculous amount leftover, and helped close up the gym with the Wandervogel Club after the festival was finished. If you can imagine, I'm beat! I also did no homework over the past weekend so I'm feeling quite overwhelmed. And, to deal with that, I am writing this blog post. Thankfully, the staff of ICU must understand that we students truly have our priorities straight, and to congratulate us on our good choices, have deigned to give us the morning off on the Monday after the festival. Thank you ICU staff! You are extremely kind and magnanimous!
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. And it was such a Japan weekend. It's really one of those things that you need to experience once when here! Dear Schedule, Well, I've had a full week! Monday: had class for almost four hours, starting from 8:50, with a break for lunch and then another nearly 4 hours of class yet again at 3:10. If that wasn't enough, I went to a meeting for the idol club at 7:10. Homework was accomplished at cost of some sleep time. Tuesday: again, class from 8:50 - 12: 40, then went to the Wondervogel club during lunch time, to find out that they actually meet on Wednesdays. Had more time to do homework, so I watched a movie. Homework accomplished at cost of some sleep. Wednesday: can you guess when I had class? I'll give you a hint. It started at 8:50 and ended at 12:40. I actually went to the Wondervogel club today during lunch, as well as the Koto club. Afterwards, I went to the softball field for the first time to try to join the club, but apparently practice was cancelled. Very sad, but I got some homework done instead before then going to the Aikido club from 6:00 - 8:00. Unfortunately, the rest of the homework was accomplished at the cost of some sleep. Thursday: I won't repeat it again. I had class in the morning. If you don't remember what time, please refer back to a previous weekday. I also had class from 3:10 until 7:00 again today. Mondays and Thursdays are looking to be tough! Today I had some free time, but I can't enjoy it. I have initiation practice to go to! And, practice for my initiation practice to go to. Homework was... yada yada... sleep.... yada yada... Friday: morning class, Shamisen club meeting and mini lesson, softball club second try, Aikido Club practice (didn't make it), Momi House Pizza Party (also missed it), softball game (added at last minute). Softball team bonding and relaxing trip to the ofuro at cost of some sleep. Haha "orange" you glad I didn't say homework? (For those of you unlearned in the art of knock knock jokes, I think you had "banana" go google it.) (And for those of you ignorant in the ways of the pun, please refer to my partner in Copley High School's Tech Department, Sam. I'm sure he would be happy to help set you straight. He guarantees one pun for every three sentences, or your money back.) Saturday: I didn't get to sleep in because the tail end of a typhoon is coming and I needed to go shopping. My roommate Ayano and I went to a drugstore at 10:00, and continued onto grocery shopping (I had run out of food 3 days prior... but that's what the dining hall is for, right?). I then worked on my Literature presentation with Brandon (also an exchange student from OSU) who lives in my dorm. We grabbed dinner and bought some more food from Don Quixote. Although it had been raining at that point, it wasn't too bad yet. And the dining hall closes at 4:00 on Saturdays so we didn't really have a choice.... Finally, I worked on my translation homework, and wrote this blog post at the cost of some sleep. (Noticed how the days' descriptions get longer? Living proof that my memory isn't great...) Sunday: my homework day! Nothing to do but study, study, study! Who knows if that will actually happen though. I've been finishing up this blog post all morning after all, and I'm sure I can find a movie to watch if I try hard enough... I might as well tell you that I finished studying at the cost of some sleep. It's some really obvious foreshadowing to my own future. Glossary: Every day 8:50 - 12:40 class: Intensive Japanese B, so far it is indeed intense, but the amount you can learn from studying a language for 3 hours every day is well worth the effort. Monday 3:10 - 7:00 class: Modern Literature in English Translation, seems like it will be alright. I only have to read three short stories every week. Definitely doable. Thursday 3:10 - 7:00 class: Translation at Work, interesting class that involves learning about machine translation and other helpful translating technologies and how they work together to make a translator's job much easier. Not too hard yet, but they might just be easing us into the technology first. Supposedly, the projects we will be doing, if all goes well, will go into helping translate information about the Olympics into English and will actually be used in a real world application!
Wondervogel Club: I don't know what it means either... I think it's probably German! I do know it is the rock climbing but not rock climbing club. Activities include learning rope work for scaling mountains, and then proceeding to hike up the easier routes instead. A bit of a spoiler, but next week Sunday I will be hiking up a mountain with the rest of the perspective new Wandervogelers. Meetings to discuss activities and dates are held Wednesdays at lunch time, and excursions occur over weekends and breaks. Aikido Club: A Japanese martial art that can be used for self defense. It is great for women and children because it is not based on strength. The basic idea is that if you relax and move as if a big scary guy isn't holding onto you, you can actually manipulate your opponent's movements with little effort. I have yet to figure out how to truly relax while a nice, smiling guy is holding onto me though, let alone a big scary one.... Practices are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 6:00 - 8:00. Softball Club: More of a circle than a club, because it is actually very laid back, unlike most of the other clubs I have mentioned. There are 20 some members in total, but probably less than 10 are active in their participation. Of the few members that I have met so far, they have all been friendly and fun people to be around. I'm looking forward to playing my favorite sport together with them this year! Practices are Wednesdays, Fridays 3:30 - 6:00 and Saturdays 4:00 - 6:00. Games are... I don't know when, but about once or twice a week.
Don Quixote: Both a book, and an amazing store. It's huge, random, cheap, and has all your shopping needs (including, but not limited to, school supplies, snacks, workout equipment, a washing machine, fun masks, clothes, costumes, games, beauty supplies, etc.).
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AuthorThe name's Sarah. From September, 2017 to June, 2018 I will be your guide through life as an exchange student in Tokyo. (Some guide I am. It's like I just left you in the middle of nowhere so that I could go off on my own adventures!) Archives
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