I got lost on the way home yesterday! It was the first time walking home by myself, and I took a wrong turn and 10 minutes later realized I didn't know where I was. It was awful. The streets here don't have signs and don't go in straight lines. They don't actually make much sense. Finally after wandering around in the scorching heat I stumbled upon the correct street. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't found the right street, I might have been permanently lost in Japan.

Kaiten Sushi last night was lots of fun. We were the only people in the restaurant for most of the time and there were 4 chefs, we were were all joking around setting up pictures and talking about fish. The conversations were actually very simple so I understood what everyone was saying, which is unusual anymore. After Kaiten Sushi we went home and had a party, I of course had no idea this was happening until people starting walking in the door. There were several children and we did Hanabi (Fireworks) in the driveway and then ate watermelon in the Tatami room. the kids all wanted me to teach them English, so I spent a lot of time naming body parts and furniture, but they were so cute.

Today after class we grabbed lunch at the fish market. I got a karoki. They are fried and mine was stuffed with pumpkin and was delicious. Then we went to a gold leafing place and learned how to gold leaf things. We all got to make chopsticks which was difficult but a lot of fun. We get the chopsticks back on Friday! Tonight we are going to my Oba-chan's (Grandmother's) house for dinner. I'm not sure why, bu tI don't understand a lot of what happens here.

"Friends don't allow friends to [flout] international law." --William Schultz, executive director of Amnesty International USA

Well my second day of classes was great. We are doing stuff that is review for me, but seeing as I forgot a lot of it it is very useful. We went to a tea ceremony today at Kenrokuen. It was in the middle of a beautiful garden. From the brochure: "According to ancient Chinese tradition, there are six different sublime qualities to which a garden can aspire. Grouped in their traditional complementary pairs, these are spaciousness and seclusion, artifice and antiquity, running water and broad views. As might be imagined, it is difficult enough to find a garden that is blessed with any three or four of these desirable attributes, let alone five, or even more rarely, all six. Yet that is the case here, where, as the name "Kenrokuen" indicates, we can find these qualities perfectly combined(ken-), all six (-roku-) of them, in one garden (-en). . . Kenrokuen is naturally one of the three most famous landscape gardenin Japan."

I think that we are going to Kaiten Sushi tonight for dinner. That is where they put the sushi on a conveyor belt and you pick off the sushi that looks good as it goes past. They have a kaiten sushi place in Maryland but I don't know if there are any other places in the US that have them. I ate at a Kaiten Sushi place in Osaka and it was a lot of fun.

Last night as I was getting ready for bed (I was already in my pajamas and had taken a bath) I heard the sounds of drums and flutes coming through the window. It was a beautiful haunting melody. Then my host mother started calling my name. I went downstairs and she rushed me into the car and we went to watch the taiko drum practice. There is a festival in our town, Tsubata, on September 15 and the high school students were practicing the drums and flute. I was wearing my pajamas and was a little embarrassed. My host mother convinced me to play the Taiko drums though. I'm sure you can imagine what a sight that was, playing drums in my pajamas in the middle of the night.

So my first update in Japan. It has been a crazy few days. One minute will be wonderful and the next minute frustrating beyond belief. To say I am experiencing culture shock would be putting it mildly. Mostly the language barriers are causing problems. I'm in Kanazawa and staying with the Demise family. It is just a husband and wife (their children are grown and live in Toyko and Nagoya). They are wonderful people, but they don't speak any English, so we have a very difficult time communicating.

Friday I arrived in Nagoya, was met at the airport, stayed at the Nagoya Grand Hotel. Very very small rooms by Western standards.

Saturday we took a bus to Kanazawa (4 hours). Then we had orientation and met our host families. Saturday night I was so exhausted by the time we went to the gracery store and made dinner and ate, that I almost fell asleep at the dinner table. The Demise's have a large 2 story home. They gave me my choice of 4 rooms. I'm staying upstairs because it is cooler, and I have the whole 2nd floor to myself.

Sunday we went to a waterfall in the mountains and ate Nagashi Soumen. There are bamboo pipes that are cut in half that have cold water running through them and benches next to them. I was given a bowl with sauce in it and chopsticks. Then noodles started to shoot down the pipes and we had to catch them and eat them. It was really funny, but once I got the hang of it I was able to eat. The soumen noodles are very skinny and hard enought to eat when they are not moving. We sat by the waterfall to eat the rest of our lunch. Then we went to get water out of a natural spring. It looked like a bamboo pipe stuck into the side of the mountain. We had to wait behind 3 people to get the water though, and I will admit it was better than most bottled water. After that we went to Kanazawa Castle, which is one of the more famous castles in Japan. Then we went to Ninja-Dera, which is a wonderful old hosue that is 4 stories with 7 different levels. It has staircases that go all over the place, hidden passages and rooms. It even had trap doors. I didn't understand the tour guide, but the architecture was amazing.

One quick comment on the food: I love it! My host mother keeps trying to tell me that she is not a good cook, but I would beg to differ. One strange thing is that she always serves salad for breakfast. Of course some of my classmates have stranger stories. Teryn had to eat chicken knees and cow rectum. I'm glad my family is slightly more westernized. And they haven't served Nato (fermented bean burd) yet which is probably the one thing I won't eat (other than random cow and chicken parts).

Compliments of Liz Holmes (slightly edited, of course):

When Seasa just arived in japan,
She asked herself, "Whom shall miss me,
Will it be kate? Will it be Jpo?"
And a little voice said to her:

Que sera, sera,
You shall be missed, I'm sure.
but Liz shall miss you the most,
Que sera, sera,
See you in South africa.

When Carissa went to school,
she asked her teacher, "Who shall I write?
Should I write Aaron? Should I write Eric?"
This was her wise reply:

Que sera, sera,
You shall be missed, I'm sure.
but Liz shall miss you the most,
Que sera, sera,
Write to her, my dear.

Now Carissa speaks Japaniese,
her friends ask her "who misses you the most?
Will it be Jessie? Will it be Frank?"
She tells them tenderly:

Que sera, sera,
I was missed, I'm sure.
but Liz missed me the most,
Que sera, sera,
I shall see her in South africa.

Japan here I come!

Well I finanlly made it to Reno. This was probably one of the better trips across the country (despite the lack of sleep from a late night Risk game). I even got moved into First Class. Thank you to Erin and Liz who drove me to the airport at a ridiculously early time in the morning.

I love getting mail! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! So here is my address in Japan if anyone feels the sudden urge to send me letters, postcards, or packages.

Carissa Monfalcone
4-116 Heiwagaoka
Meito-ku, Nagoya 465-0097
JAPAN

I'm very frustrated with the IES program. They sent all of the forms I need to obtain a student visa to Reno. That doesn't help me a lot. Especially when I have told them a dozen times that I am not in Reno. Fortunately, there is a Japanese Consolute in San Francisco. I did find out who I will be living with while in Japan though. My host father is 60, my host mother is 41 and they have a 14 year-old daughter. Hopefully I will learn more about them before I leave for Japan.

Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco
(Area served: Nevada, Northern California - with zip codes
beginning 932 and above, except 935)
Consulate-General of Japan
50 Fremont Street, Suite 2300
San Francisco CA 94105-2236
Tel: 415-777-3533
Fax: 415-777-0518
Email: japaninfo@cgjsf.org
http://www.cgjsf.org

The last few days have been wonderful and crazy all at the same time. Friday was like my birthday at work, everyone was so great. It makes me want to quit work every all the time. It was hard saying good-bye to everyone though. As much as I don't like working, I'm going to miss it.

Friday night we had a going away party for Denise and I. Saturday Liz, Denise and I went to the pool up at Mount Vernon. We ate fried chicken, played in the water... it felt like summer is supposed to feel: carefree. Then we had a party at Las Placitos with lots of margaritas! Today I laid out by the pool with Megan, then came back to chaos. After Sex in the City, Denise went on a packing rampage... there are clothes flying all over the room. She leaves tomorrow for Chicago and then off to Ghana. Liz Holmes is currently trying to lock her in the room. She says that if she locks Denise in the bedroom and me in the bathroom then we can't leave her. I'm being locked in the bathroom 'cause I told her I would just climb out the window. I'm going to miss Liz a lot. My emotions are very mixed right now. I'm excited to be leaving on an adventure. I'm happy that I'm going to see my family. But I'm also sad to be leaving my friends, afraid that things will not be the same when I return. And a little anxious about going to Japan. I haven't been studying Japanese very much this summer. Hopefully I will pick it up quickly once I get there.

That's all for now, I have to get back to shoving things into boxes and suitcases. Ugh, everytime I think I'm close to done I find 20 more things.

Education of The Masses:

Real Estate Opportunities in Japan

Strangely appropriate.

Land Area: 145,868 sq. miles (380,000 sq. kilometers). Japan is slightly smaller than the state of California. Japan is made up of more than 6,800 islands. There are four major islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.

Population: 127 million (2000), the 9th largest in the world. Population density ranks 4th.

Government: Constitutional Monarchy. Japan has a royal family with both an emperor and empress. The current emperor is His Majesty Emperor Akihito. The royal family holds no executive power. The head of government is Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Japan has a parliamentary democratic system of government. The Diet (legislature), which consists of two houses (House of Representatives and the House of Councilors), is the highest organ of state power and the only law-making body. The Prime Minister is elected by the members of the Diet.

Currency:Yen. As of October 22, 2001, the exchange rate was 122 Yen per US Dollar. Trade: Japan’s largest export (2000) is automobiles; its largest import is crude oil. Japan’s largest trading partner (as a single country) is the United States. Japan’s exports are as follows: 41% Asia, 30% USA, 16% Europe. Imports: 42% from Asia, 19% from USA, 12% from Europe.

Thank you Denise for making me this blog. I have finally given in to the world of blogs. My little protest didn't go so well. If you can't beat 'em.......

I'm leaving for Japan in 20 days. I'm so excited, but there is a lot of stuff I still need to take care of. Like a student visa. I still don't have one. I guess I will be exiting the country every 60 days to re-enter and get a tourist visa.