I think that I am definitely making friends and finding my
place at Nagano High School. Of the seven other boys in my class, all them are
willing to talk to me and step forward if I don’t understand something or need
help. I think that all of them have helped me at some point or another and all
of them have checked on me all on their own to make sure I was fine. They even
make sure that I eat lunch with them! The age difference between us is not
getting in the way at all. In fact, it could be helping because they are not
working on college tests and quitting clubs in order to study more.
This week has been really short. There was no school on either
Monday or Tuesday because of Respect for the Aged Day and then there just wasn’t
school on Tuesday. On Monday, Papa Kazuhiro, Mama Akane, Nanako, Mitsuki, and I
went into downtown Osaka to visit Namba, the main area of the city. Mama Akane
also had an art piece on display in the Swissotêl, a large hotel in Namba who’s
home is Switzerland. They held a competition to create a picture that fit
inside their logo, which is the “^” that fits over the “e” in Swissotêl. Mama
Akane made it into the top 50 contestants and the winner was left up to passersby
in to lobby that had the time to look and read about the display. It was
awesome to see the logo ideas and of course I voted for Mama Akane!
We walked around in an underground (no windows so it was
hard to say) shopping mall and stopped by a skating/snowboarding/surfing shop.
Papa Kazuhiro wanted to check out traction pads for surfboards. We then went
outside to an area called Namba Parks. It’s this multi-story shopping center
that has a tiered garden on top of it.
We climbed around on it for a while and
then went inside. There was a shop for absolutely everything! Pets, wine,
candy, socks, incense, you name it! It was really cool but tiring. We ended the
day with a meal of pizza and pasta at a restaurant. Pizzas in Japan are about
half the size of the ones you can get in the US, but they make up for the size
with an incredible taste!
On the way home, we passed Tsutenkaku, a 103 meter tall
tower in downtown Osaka. During the day, it looks like a tall tower. But at
night it is lit up with neon lights! It’s really cool! I tried to get a picture
but we were driving so it didn’t turn out very well.
On Tuesday, Mama Akane and I took the train into the
business district of Osaka where city hall is located. It’s a beautiful area
and there is a river that runs through the center of it with walkways along
both sides.
A comfy rock-pillow
Mama Akane had gotten tickets to the Japanese version of Les
Miserables, the famous musical about the French civil war! It was being
produced in Festival Hall in Osaka. Festival Hall is a new building as of this
summer. It is a very tall building with offices in it, but the first ten(?)
stories are taken up by a large performance hall. It is also home to the Osaka
Symphony Orchestra.
When we first walked into the building, we were greeted
with a long flight of stairs that were covered in a red carpet. I certainly did
feel like a celebrity!
We handed in our tickets at the top and entered a long hall
with many chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
At the end of that, we went up
three stories on one long escalator. When we finally entered the hall, it was
incredible. There were sound blocks all over the walls to help distribute the
sound. In that way it reminded me of Orchestra Hall in Minnesota. It was not a
super deep hall, which meant that where ever you sat you would have a pretty
good view of stage and didn’t have to bring binoculars to make out what was a
person and what was a chair. We were seated on the floor in the second of two
tiers. There were three stories of seats, with the floor having the most. The
pit orchestra was about ten feet below the level of the stage and consisted of
a trumpet, a tuba/trombone, two French horns, a flute, a clarinet/saxophone,
two keyboards, a violin, a viola, a cello, an upright bass, and a percussionist
in a cage of instruments. They were incredible and could produce just the right
volume. It was a good thing that I have seen the English movie of Les
Miserables, because otherwise I would not have understood a single thing going
on! All the lyrics had been rewritten into Japanese. All of them except for
some particular lines like “lovely ladies” and the chorus to “Red and Black”.
The show was spectacular and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such an applause
before. Japanese people are very shy, so they don’t stand up right away. After the
fourth or fifth curtain call, everyone finally stood up. The clapping also rose
and fell when an actor came forward to bow. When we left the hall, we hurried
to the subway station to try and miss all of the commuters. Unfortunately, we
had quite a few and were a little squished, but when we got on the train to
Kawachinagano, there were very few and we were able to sit down.
These last three days of school have been pretty low-key. We
haven’t really done a lot, but I’ve been learning more Japanese in both my
self-studying and private teacher sessions. I’ve also been preparing a speech
that I have to give at a Rotary Inbound Student Orientation tomorrow. It’s been
slow going, but I think I have all of what I need. I’ve been asking for help
from my host mother and friends at school. They are all very willing to help me
improve and clarify what I want to say in Japanese. One of my friends wants to
learn better English, so we’ve worked out a system where I speak Japanese to
him and he speaks English to me and then we correct each other. It works very
well and I’ve already learned a couple new patterns in Japanese.
Today I was planning to meet another RYE student and go to
Namba, but she was unable to go, so now I get a free day. Yay! They are hard to
come by because there is so much going on. This week I went to band and aikidou
on Wednesday and Friday as well as tennis on Thursday. Band goes from 3:30 to
5:30 and it’s fantastic getting two hours of straight playing in. I love
playing with other tuba players. We mostly just sit in a practice room and go
over the music over and over again. I’m not sure how often the entire band
plays together yet. It doesn’t seem like it is super often, but they work
really hard to make that time worthwhile! Aikidou starts at 6:30, so I have to
hurry from school to the family business where Papa Kazuhiro drives me to my
doujou. There is so much going it’s insane! When I return home, I have to work
on my speech, eat dinner, shower, and sleep. By then it’s already ten or eleven
at night! I love having a schedule and things to do. It makes life easier when
you have stuff to do and can interact with people. Today I am going to go to my
first adult aikidou class. The ones that I go during the week are for younger
kids. I’ve been going to those because that’s when my host brother and sister
go and it’s fun to spend time with them. There is an adult class after it, but
Mama Akane is my ride back to Takihata so I can’t stay for it.
With the last typhoon that came through, we received enough
rain to fill up the dam. For the entire time I’ve been here, there have been
about 8 feet of lake bottom showing. Now there is none and it makes the lake
all that more beautiful, although there is a lot of debris floating in it now.
Before
After
The weather has also been a lot cooler. Although it still gets into the upper
20s and low 30s, it is much more bearable. I’ve started wearing the long sleeve
shirts that go with my uniform. They are much more classy and look better than
the short sleeve shirts. You can’t tuck the short sleeve shirts in because they
don’t have any coattails. I’ve also been sweating less. This could be from less
heat but I may also be acclimating. I could also just not be noticing the
stickiness as much!
I am very much looking forward to meeting other RYE students
at the orientation tomorrow. It will be a great chance to make friends and make
connections. I may also find more opportunities for me to try stuff. There will
be many Rotarians there. My second host father, Michimoto-san, will be taking
me there and Papa Kazuhiro and Mitsuki will be going as my host family. It will
be a blast!
I’m so happy that I am able to participate in so many
activities. It is not normally acceptable for a student to regularly be in more
than one club, so it is fantastic that the teachers are willing to let me have
both experiences. I am also really happy that my aikidou sensei has let me join
his doujou. I love practicing it and have learned a lot already. It will also be
a great way for me to see Mitsuki and Nanako after I move on to my next host
family.
I think that’s all that I have to write about right now. Thanks
for reading!
またね！
Wes
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