藤村女子とニュージーランドのスポーツ大会

On Wednesday, Fujimura had its sports day! After visiting the other school and seeing theirs, I was really excited and looking forward to Fujimura’s own sports day. I think the different types of activities and games were so interesting and fun, especially with the energy and spirit of Fujimura’s students. They were a lot different to the activities and games I was used to from my own high school but I think it was a lot more exciting! Kibasen, especially, was very different to any game played in New Zealand so I enjoyed watching it a lot. In New Zealand we had four different houses (teams) that every student is assigned when they start school, kind of like Hogwarts in Harry Potter! They were named after New Zealand trees: Kowhai (yellow), Matai (blue), Rimu (red), and Totara (green), and I was in Rimu. When we had our sports day, called Tabloids, we would compete to earn points for our house; so there would be a winner for sports day but at the end of the year all points would be counted to see who the overall winner would be. I wish our school was more like Hogwarts though! This year, at Fujimura, I was part of the blue team and I was very happy and proud of the students because… blue team won! I think it was really amazing to see, once again, how talented the students are! Although it started raining, everyone kept their spirits up and had a great time so it was nice to see both the students and teachers relaxed and having a lot of fun.

他校のスポーツ大会

Last Saturday, I was invited, by another JET Programme teacher, to visit her school for their sports day. I had never been to a sports day at a Japanese school before so I was excited to see what it would be like. It was also interesting because I have gotten used to being at an all-girls school but the other school was mixed. The boys reminded me a lot of the students at Fujimura because there was so much energy! It was really cool to see all the different activities, relays, and games the students did, but it was especially amazing to see their dance performances. I had two favourite performances. One was when some girls and their homeroom teachers all wore yukatas and danced with these wide flat hats they had made and decorated themselves. The second was the boys’ (very loud!) performance with taiko. Apparently the students had practiced a lot for sports day for a week or two before so it was nice to see it go well. At my school in New Zealand, we had two different sports days; one was called Athletics Day and the other was called Tabloids Day. Athletics Day was a little more “serious sports” but on Tabloids Day, everyone dressed up as anything they wanted, in their house colours (red, blue, green, or yellow), and we played fun games and relays to try get points for our houses! I’m looking forward to seeing how Fujimura’s sports day will be!

韓国系アメリカ人の友人来日

So far, I’ve been lucky enough to have my friends visit me and experience bits of Japan with them. On Sunday, I got to meet with my friend from LA and her sister. They are Korean but they were born in the U.S., so they took a trip to Korea for the first time and then they came to Japan, which they enjoyed a lot! It was really nice seeing her because she lives so far away from me that we can usually only talk online. We went to Meiji Shrine because they had not yet visited any temples or shrines. After that, we went to the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi. I have been there once before but this time there was a different exhibition. It was about Japanese architecture and woodwork, and it was really cool to see the model buildings; they were so detailed! There was one model of a building that was short, but it was really long, kind of like a rectangular tunnel. My friend told me to bend down so my eye was level with it and look through it, so I did! However, this other guy was doing the same thing on the other side so we ended up just staring at each other through the model of the building and then we both started laughing because it was so strange! After the museum, it became quite cold and it was raining a lot by then, so we chose to eat tonkotsu ramen which made us warm and happy, and made us forget the feeling of our wet socks and shoes!

名実ともにGW

The past week was Golden Week and I had one of my friends come to visit me from a different city in New Zealand. It was really nice because we hadn’t seen each other in quite a while so it was ironic that we managed to meet and be together on the other side of the world! She really wanted to stay in and around the Tokyo area and she’s originally from Sri Lanka so she thought it was cool to see the similarities and differences between two Asian countries. It was really fun to show her around some places I’d already been to, as well as do some new things I hadn’t done before. For example, I visited Odaiba for the first time even though it’s not so far away! It’s so interesting that Odaiba is man-made and we couldn’t believe all the things it had, especially the indoor theme parks; how does it all fit?! We also went to DisneySea which was really amazing, and we found out it’s the only one in the world! It was cool because my friend had never been to any Disneyland before so she was pretty excited (but not about waiting in the really long lines). One of the last days, we went to Enoshima and I was so happy to see the beach and the sea again! It was a really nice ending to a really nice week because as we walked back to the station alongside the sea, the sun set next to the silhouette of Fujisan, turning the sky gold; Golden Week truly lived up to its name!

江戸東京たてもの園

Last weekend I went to Koganei Park. It’s actually not far from me but I hadn’t visited before so I finally got the chance! I also went to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum which is in the park. At the museum, I read about the big earthquake and fires in the Kanto region that destroyed so many buildings and homes in Tokyo and how people rebuild it again. Looking at how Tokyo is now, it’s very difficult to imagine it all being destroyed! I was really interested in the museum because it was outside in the open and I don’t think I’ve been to a museum like that before; it was a new experience! It was really cool to walk around and see the old historical buildings and architectural styles, especially because you could walk inside some of the buildings and see the insides too. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to see everything before closing time and the park is so big that I couldn’t see all of it too, so I must go back sometime! Until then, I’m looking forward to having some adventures with my friend from New Zealand during Golden Week and learning more about Japan!

日本語の学習

When I get time, I have been trying to study Japanese but I still have a long way to go! I wish I could learn faster because I really enjoy learning new languages and being able to speak to more people. There are a few Indian languages I know, but I never learned how to properly write them because I left India when I was quite young. It’s really interesting studying these different languages and teaching English too because there are many similarities and differences! For example, the pronunciation for 9 in Japanese is kyuu, which is also how you say ‘why’ in Hindi. The pronunciation of New Zealand also seems similar because both Japanese and Hindi use a ‘ji’ sound instead of the ‘z’ sound when pronouncing Zealand. Actually, I like Japanese pronunciation because the ‘r/l’ sound is much easier for me than a hard ‘r’ sound. I am reading a book that has both the original Italian version and the English translation and I find it so difficult to pronounce some of the words with the ‘r’ sounds!
Since I really love reading, I’ve also been trying to read a Japanese book and translating it but it takes SO much longer than reading a book in a language I know! Luckily, it really helps with kanji because that’s always the hardest part. However, as difficult as it can be sometimes, Japanese is a beautiful language and I will definitely keep studying and learning more even after I leave!

春休み

Recently, we had spring vacation. It was nice because of how busy last year was and my friend came to visit me from New Zealand. We didn’t get much sleep during the vacation time because we travelled so much, but it was very exciting so it’s okay! We went to Nagano to see the snow monkeys which was really cool! It was interesting to learn about them and how they live too. We also travelled around Kamakura, Yamanashi prefecture, went to Ueno Park for hanami and visited Disneyland! I’ve only been to Disneyland once before in Paris because there is no Disneyland that is close to New Zealand, so it was really fun. We also visited South Korea for a few days. We went to Seoul and Busan and I was so happy because the food was great and I was able to see the sea for the first time in a long time! Korea also had many sakura trees and they were in full bloom in Busan so we felt so lucky! We saw a lot of beautiful temples too. I’m very grateful I was able to travel like this because I think experiencing different countries and cultures is very important and educational! I hope I can take these memories with me as I go into the future!