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).
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).
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