Please Get Off A Motorcycle

Okay. Let me go find one so I can get on it to get off of it.

Sorry for my lack of blogs. I've been too busy not blogging. To be honest I haven't really been doing a lot. So I haven't gone off on a lot of adventures that I really felt it necessary to share. I suppose that I can run you through a typical day of mine. Just in case you have any questions on what I do most of my days.

But first I'm going to show you some pictures of a place called Kamakura that I went to a little while ago. So here we go.

The pictures above are from Kamakura. So I met up with my friend from class and then together we met up with two Japanese girls in Kamakura to do some hiking and site seeing. We went hiking through the woods and was able to see the ocean from the top of the hill. We eventually arrived in a place that is the main exhibit, if you will. The statue you see there is known as a Daibutsu, or a Buddhist statue This particular one is very interesting because you can walk inside of it and see how it was made. It was pretty cool to see.

Anyways, about my everyday life...

I am currently staying in a city called Kashiwa which is about 30 miles north of Tokyo. Kashiwa is located in the Chiba prefecture which is known for the Disney Land they have there. Unfortunately it's on the opposite side of the prefecture so it's not particularly easy to get to.

Everyday my alarm goes off at about 6:30 and I immediately press the snooze button and go back to sleep. This process goes on til about 6:50 where I finally get out of bed. I take shower, get dressed and check the weather and my email via my iphone. When that is all said and done, I head out at about 7:30.

From my house to the station it takes me about 20 minutes by bike. Sometimes it take me a little bit longer if its raining and I'm trying to do a balanced act between holding an umbrella and trying to keep my bicycle straight on the road. Which is no easy task, by the way.

I arrive at the station and take the 7:51 local train about an hour to Otemachi where I transfer trains and go to Jimbocho. The Jimbocho station exits out into Kudanshita, which is were my school is.

School is fun, for the most part. It is all taught in Japanese so at times I have a hard time following, but some of the methods they use for teaching helps quite a bit. I have three different teachers. On Monday and Wednesday we have Okuyama Sensei. Okuyama is great because is animated and has the class do routines that help us practice our Japanese. He is quite a skilled artist, so when he is trying to explain something he draws pictures on the board to help illustrate his point.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Arai Sensei. She is also very animated. In class we'll often talk about Maid Cafe's, Host Clubs, and other things you wouldn't traditionally talk about in a classroom setting. But I believe that what's kept me interested. It's always lots of fun and we're always laughing and joking around.

On Fridays we have Motegi Sensei. She certainly isn't the most fun of teachers. She's probably what I'd consider just the most traditional of teachers. She's a bit harder for me to follow in that she talks way to fast and I have trouble keeping up with her Japanese. Unfortunately I'm about the only who is that way in our class so I'm just playing catch up.

School is from 9 in the morning to about 1 in afternoon. Almost 4 hours. I have made a lot of friends in class from all parts of the world. After class we usually go and get lunch together. It's fun for me to hear the different customs of different cultures. We usually all go together and find different places in Tokyo and find different types of restaurants or food to eat.

After we get food to eat we usually break up into different groups. Then we go to different places and maybe walk around or find a coffee shop that we can go to and sit and talk or play cards for a few hours.

Soon enough 5:30 comes rolling around and I figure I have to start heading back. Once again I have to go through rush hour and swim throw a crowd of people on the trains. A little over an hour later I get back home just in time to help with setting up dinner. I set the table and get the rice.

During dinner my host family will ask me what I had for lunch that day and where I've gone. So I explain what I've done for the day in Japanese to the best of my ability. It's good practice. Then after dinner I wash the dishes and at about 9 o'clock I call it a night.

But that's mostly my day. So til next time.

-Blake
ブレイク