What a Weekend!

Wow, what a great time I had these past two days.

Settling into Japan has gotten much easier, and I would like to let you know that this blog will be even longer than the last ones, so get ready for a miniature novel!

Saturday morning I woke up early once again, just around 5:00 and started studying. My goal was to become very comfortable with the vocabulary and kanji by the end of the day as my memory of the next couple review chapters is not so great. My roommate, Jackie, however had a little tougher time, as she had to explain the difference between a housing complex and an industrial housing complex. To be honest, I didn't even know the answer in English. (We eventually discovered that an industrial housing complex is owned by a company.)

Around 9:30, our friends Heather and Tish came over to have breakfast. We planned to make hot cakes, and Tish gave us the bacon that he had bought at the store to make as well. If you look at the pictures, you can tell that our first batch didn't come out too well. (It's the black stuff on a cutting board.) In the end, however, we managed to work the stove and make a pretty decent breakfast. Like all foreign countries halfway across the world, the food tasted a little different but it still tasted delicious. Like usual, links will be posted at the end.

For everyone who looks at the pictures. Jackie has shoulder-length brown hair. Heather has blond hair with bangs. Tish is the Asian guy with dark hair and Niki has long brown hair with bangs.

After breakfast, I studied a little bit more and mostly hung out in our apartment. Jackie and I spoke mostly Japanese (She is a level 4) to increase our immersion of the language. For my part, it involved a lot of pointing and broken Japanese, but I am starting to get into the idea of responding with "Hai" instead of "yes" as well as "so so so" which can be used to agree with someone. I guess you could think of it as nodding your head and going "yeah yeah".

Around 2:00 or so, Heather and I decided to explore Hikone. We decided to walk and walked around the town until we eventually came to the mall (about 15 minutes by bike). We also went down a couple streets with traditional Japanese houses. I really cannot get over these houses. They are absolutely beautiful. It's part of the of the culture of Japan that I love so much. There are brand new cars, cell phones and fancy electronics everywhere, but the traditional values of the home and family life and still evident, from the small bows of the heads that you see younger folk give to elderly people to the fancy styled roofs behind tall, ornate fences.

We came back around 4:30, at which time I came back to my room and watched a movie. While watching the movie I was starting to fall asleep, so I decided to take a small nap or so, wake up for dinner, stay up a little longer then go back to bed and wake up the next day.

So I wake up at seven, the next morning! I figured my jet lag finally caught up with me and I officially regained all my sleep and was officially on Japanese schedule. I got up, made myself ramen and eggs for breakfast (courtesy of Katie's idea) and studied a little more vocabulary as well as the dialogue for class the next day. Around 10 am or so, other people started coming around and saying "Ohayo" (Good Morning) and hanging out in our room. We finally decided to visit Hikone Castle today around 3 pm. (That way Jackie had some time to study since they gave her a lot of homework this weekend.) Three o'clock came, and the four of us left on our bikes. It was a little hotter than usual so I wore shorts. At first I felt uneasy (Japan is a fairly conservative country) but there were several other Japanese women in shorts so I didn't feel as bad.

The four of us included me, Jackie, Heather and Pat, another one of our friends here at JCMU. At first we didn't know exactly where we were going, but we saw in a general direction where the castle was (It is on a hill in the middle of the city) so we just headed in the general direction of the castle until we saw the kanji for castle entrance.

Once there, we had to ask the parking attendants where we were allowed to park our bikes. After we parked our bikes a little down the road, we walked across the street and then across the bridge to make our way onto the land within the moat (that was filled with koi fish) where the castle was.

Note: Hikone Castle is one of the very few (three or four) original castles in Japan. Constructed during the first decade of the 17th century, it survived the Meiji Restoration as well as World War II. Renovations to the castle have been for tourist safety, but most of the castle is still it's original 400 year old self.

We had to pay 600 yen to get into the castle. (Equivalent to about $6) We asked in Japanese ”ひこねじょとげんきゅーえんのきっぷ一枚お下さい” (One ticket for Hikone Castle and garden please). The lady was kind enough to ask us if we wanted an english map, which we gladly accepted.

The walk up the castle was a long path created with rocks that was semi-difficult to move up. Heather and I both agreed that we were a little out of shape. I took a bunch of pictures so that you can see for yourselves. I'll post the links at the bottom. The castle itself was amazing, the archways and bridges were very practical but it still gave the place a royal feeling. The roofs, however, were extremely ornate with many shapes carved intricately into the clay. (I also have a picture of this).

When we got to the part of the castle where we actually were allowed inside, we each received a bag to put our shoes in. (I don't know if I mentioned this but the Japanese are very particular about leaving the dirt outside of the house. This means taking off ones shoes before entering the main part of the house. Each Japanese house has an entryway where one can do this. Special slippers are generally used, but in the castle we were just allowed to walk around in socks or our bare feet.) The castle has really steep stairs which I got plenty of pictures of. In addition, we practiced reading some kanji, some of which I could understand which really made my day.

From Hikone Castle, one can see most of Hikone and small cities that surround it. We were able to see JCMU, the restaurant that I visited on my first day here, the supermarket that we buy our food at, and what was beyond the mountains that rest just beyond JCMU outside my window. It was really a fabulous site and I have plenty of pictures to share with you.

One of the particular signs that I saw, (I also have a picture of this) was 入口 and 出口. (Enter and Exit, respectively.) I actually knew these signs, the kanji and the meaning, so it was a rather exciting part of my day.

After we visited the castle, we went to one of the smaller buildings near the castle itself. Here, we also took off our shoes, as well as speaking Japanese. Throughout our trip, we tried to utilize as much Japanese as possible, talking to each other in the language as well as talking to various workers at the castle. The smaller building had similar signs to the main castle, but at the same time it was a different place. It didn't take long to tour the entire inside, and eventually we left to visit the last spot of our tour which was the garden. (Before anyone gets confused, we were not part of a professional tour. We just walked around the castle grounds ourselves)

The garden was even more beautiful than the castle, which is really hard to describe. There were catfish, koi fish and turtles resting in the pond. Once again, there were lots of bridges, as well at trees that seemed strategically placed and bushes of flowers resting along the edge of the lake. Just beyond the main house, one can see the top of Hikone Castle peeking out from the woods behind the garden.

To be completely honest, describing the garden and the Castle in this blog wouldn't do the 400 year old landmark justice. I really recommend checking out the pictures.

After we finished touring the most famous part of Hikone City, we headed over to the bike racks and then went to the supermarket to get some more food for a decent dinner tonight. (Walking up and down dirt paths and steep stairways can make you really hungry). At the supermarket we really put our Japanese to the test. In order to get the right meat, we had to find the right kanji for cow 牛 and pig 豚. In addition, I got to actually used the language itself. While looking at the tofu, there were two types, one was a single block while the other was in a type of juice. There was no hiragana on the box, at least none that would let me know which one was tofu or the different between them. So, I politely asked the lady next to me, "すみません、これわとふですか。” (Excuse me, is this tofu?"). She said yes, and then I asked if the other one was as well. She said, yes, it is the same, but the first was was softer. I politely thanked her then grabbed both kinds of tofu (It's Japan, I'm going to experiment) and then left. Once I found Heather, who I was shopping with, I told her and we gave each other a high five. I mean, I was really really happy with myself.

We finally finished shopping and came back to the apartment. We pulled out the meat, frozen vegetables, oil (to make sure nothing sticks to the pan) and きょうざ (kyouza), which is like ravioli only no sauce and vegetables inside. We made stir fry with Heather's leftover rice and steamed the きょうざ. It was all very delicious and the four of us (Jackie, myself, Heather and Niki) were very proud of our accomplishment. It's been 2 hours and I'm still full.

And so, now I completely caught up, for as soon as I finished dinner and cleaned up I pulled out my laptop to write my blog.

Pictures of Hikone Castle can be found here:　http://picasaweb.google.com/109784999825117962941/HikoneCastle?feat=directlink

I also added some more pictures to 日本の友達 (Japan friends): http://picasaweb.google.com/109784999825117962941/oBkJdH?feat=directlink

Thank you for reading this ridiculously long blog. Once again, if you ever want to drop a line, please don't hesitate to email me kailey.shelton@gmail.com

でわあしたまた！