日光

Sarah’s Blog Post 7: October 27, 2015

 

Last weekend I went hiking in Nikko. It took me about three hours to get there by train. I live near San Francisco in California so I am used to living in the city, but I still spent a lot of time in the town where I grew up. Pleasanton, my hometown, is a suburb so it is close to places with a lot of nice nature scenery. Sometimes when I am in Tokyo, I miss being able to go on hikes.

 

Nikko is in Tochigi, so it isn’t as crowded as Tokyo. When I got there, it looked like some people were having a wedding ceremony on the Shinkyo Bridge. I really enjoyed being able to see some of the small shrines in the mountains. Japan has many more lakes and rivers than California as well, so it was nice to see such beautiful things that I don’t get the chance to see in California. Nikko is famous for the 三猿, but I didn’t get to see them. I saw a bonsai show instead and ate hashiyaki and black sesame ice cream. There are still many lakes, waterfalls, shrines, and shops that I didn’t get to see this time. Nikko is a world heritage site, so I would definitely like to go to Nikko again.

Favorite Seasons

   This week in classes, we are having some of the students prepare speeches about their favorite seasons. While I am familiar with some characteristics of the seasons in Japan, like the red leaves of autumn or making snowmen in the winter, it is interesting to learn about how the culture differs from the United States with the changing months. I got to ask the students questions about different festivals they like and what kinds of activities they enjoy during their favorite season. I also learned about what foods they eat at different times of the year, like nabe, kakigori, and many more. I enjoyed learning more about each students’ interests and helping them with their speeches.

 

- Yaya Campbell

 

漢字の勉強：魚

Sarah’s Blog Post 6: October 23, 2015

One of the most difficult and most important skills to learn when traveling abroad is how to understand food labels. Whether you are eating in restaurants or cooking for yourself at home, knowing food words is important. Kanji makes this difficult for a non-native Japanese speaker. I know that 鳥肉 means “chicken”, but I didn’t know that 鶏 was also the same as “chicken”. I think it is probably the same in English, because we have two words for chicken meat as well. You can call it “chicken” or “poultry”.

 

Japan has many more different kinds of fish than the United States. For example, mackerel, or 鯖, is a very common type of fish to eat and buy in Japan. In the United States, you mostly only find mackerel in Japanese restaurants. The most common types of fish to eat in the United States are tuna/鮪, salmon/鮭, tilapia/ティラピア, catfish/鯰, and cod/鱈. Since the kanji for many types of fish start with the radical 魚, it is difficult to remember which fish is which. If I had to give Japanese travelers any advice about visiting a foreign country, the most useful types of words to learn are food words and direction words (方向の言葉).

The Fujimura Field Performance

 After weeks of hearing about the students practicing for the Engihappyoukai, the big day had finally arrived. This was my first exposure to an engihappyoukai and to me, it seemed most similar to a well-orchestrated field show performance. It was amazing to see how skilled the students were and the precision it took to complete their routines. My favorite part of the performance was when students did the wave with their arms linked together. It was very mesmerizing as they moved in unison, creating a sea of fans and pink cloth material. It was clear that all their hard work had paid off.

 

- Yaya Campbell

夢未来プロジェクト

      School assemblies were always exciting for me when I was a student. We didn’t have many when I was in high school because our school had more than 2,400 students and it was difficult to organize all of them. However, when I was in middle school we had a professional football player come speak to us because one of the students at our school was the son of a football coach. You can’t avoid becoming excited when someone famous comes to your school. I hope that the students were as excited to have the opportunity to meet Kanako Domori. She has had the chance to compete in the Paralympics in London and Beijing. From the little Japanese that I can understand, her experiences sounded incredible. It was very inspiring to hear her speak and to watch her play. It was even more inspiring to see Tomimoto-sensei, Mii-sensei, and the students play against her.

 

By Sarah

演技発表会

     I have heard from other teachers that the “engi happyoukai” is special to Fujimura High School. That made it very interesting to watch. The rain delayed it by almost a full month, but the weather on the thirteenth was beautiful. It was exciting to see Ooi Stadium as well. I have never been to that part of the city. The view from the monorail was very nice. I have been on the monorail toward Odaiba as well, and I think that the views from the monorail are the best. When we were walking across the bridge, I saw many fish jumping from the water. The “mass games” were amazing. I liked being able to watch the whole school working together to present something to their families and loved ones. It was also good to see all of the students since I work mostly with the second year senior high school students. I’m sure that the students were exhausted afterwards, but they seemed to enjoy the time that they spent with each other.

 

by Sarah