Jiyuugaoka, Hot Baths, and School!

Yesterday (Sunday) morning I got to explore my town in Sendai named Jiyuugaoka (自由ヶ丘) with my host mother. It's small, but very beautiful. :) I got to meet some of the neighbors as well. Before returning home, we visited a swampy pond named 大堤沼 (oodutsumi-numa, numa meaning swamp, marsh, or pond)... there we saw a father who was fishing with his two sons. We learned that he lived in the same neighborhood as us and talked for a while. The dad was wearing a shirt on which there was a man dressed as a cat with a disco ball between his legs... and the son was wearing a shirt which said "STRIKE WHILE IRON IS HOT!" hehe. Very strange. :P

Anyways, after that we went to a 百円 (hyaku-en shop, "100 yen shop") which is basically Japan's version of a Dollar Store. There I bought some Japanese candy (Hi-Chew), some cute stationary and three cups with a different animal on each-- panda-san, lion-san and giraffe-san. :3



That night, we visited an お風呂 (ofuro)-- a hot bath... and it was AMAZING. First, you sit on a stool and use a shower handle to wash yourself (yes, in room with other people, naked). Then you wash your hair and all that and clean off-- just like an old style Japanese bath. Next, you go into a room with about 10 different "stations"-- there was a massage bath where there were super hard water jets massaging you from all sides, a SUPER HOT sauna where you could hardly breathe (it got up to around 90° which is about 190°F)!!! There was also a rotenburo (open air bath), daiyokujo (large public bath), mizuburo (regular cold water), iwaburo (bath made of rocks) and a denkiburo. The denkiburo, literally meaning "electric bath" was SO FREAKY. Electric currents came out from each side of the bath and made my sides feel... just strange. I can't describe it-- but the Japanese can! In Japanese, that feeling of electric shock is called びりびり (biribiri) and is one of many onomatopoeic words in the Japanese language. I could stand the 弱い (yowai, weak) denkiburo, but the 強い (tsuyoi, strong) one I couldn't sit in for more than a second.. Finally, there was just a normal shower. A freezing cold shower had never felt so good, as I just got out of the 190°F sauna before that!! In all, it was a great experience. :) Also, in the lobby of the bath place (named 極楽湯, gokurakuyu) there was a tank of fish which you could put your feet in for a small price... I kind of secretly wanted to do it, to see what it would feel like .___.



In the lobby, we met a very nice old woman who overheard me talking with my host brother about the drinks in the vending machine there, and which ones existed in America. It turned out that the woman actually lived in Wisconsin (where I live, if for some reason you didn't know) and taught English there over 40 years ago! She was really nice, and helped me translate some Japanese words too. :) haha


AND FINALLY. ON TO TODAY. ("today" being Monday, of course)...

My first day of school. The school looked HUGE... and it was-- it was both a university and high school, in two separate buildings (well probably more like three or four... idno). Anyways, everyone was really nice and welcoming. :) Below is a picture of two students I didn't know and me... they insisted on having my host mom take it. I look super worn out already... >__>



For the first time in my life, seeing high school girls made me happy. They were all so... just... 元気 (genki, roughly translated as happy, bubbly or having energy and vigor). In Japanese high schools, nobody wears makeup or earings, and they're not... fake. You can really see who they are. :) and yeah, the boys were nice too. EVERYONE'S SO FAST AT TYPING ON THEIR JAPANESE CELL PHONES (携帯電話, keitaidenwa, usually called 'keitai'). Japanese cell phone are MUCH different from American ones-- though none have slide out keyboards, they generally have amazing and cool interfaces... and emoticons! But not text emoticons... like, pictures. And they can send mail too-- everyone uses their cell phones for mail. And most have dictionaries on them too...

Anyways, back to the high school girls (if that doesn't sound too creepy). 99% of them are EXTREMELY shy, and huddle around in groups pointing at me and whispering かっこいい (kakkoii, cool) and かわいい (kawaii, cute). :3 Well, I must admit, they were much prettier than American high school girls filled with their makeup and such, looking like ravens and peacocks with their blue eyeliner and mascara and all that crap. (okay, I'll save that rant for later...) but yeah. They're all shy and such. They oftentimes waved to me from afar and broke out laughing when I waved back. Also, these "groups" of girls would oftentimes shove one girl towards me and dare her to talk to me... etc. Lots of the boys also wanted pictures with me and had their friends take lots on their cell phones.

During lunch break, a group of older boys came up to me and asked me if I liked "esu ii ekusu"... S, E, X. yeah. I told them I wasn't going to answer that. About 2 minutes later, the same group came back and showed me a VIDEO OF IT ON THEIR PHONE. I walked away and facepalmed, but also laughed at the same time...... Oh God. I have so many stories already...


Anyways, the day went very well, though I was kind of bored and confused during some of the classes. For example, 家庭科 (kateika, home economics) was extremely confusing and I understood literally NONE of the kanji on the board. The teacher was basically giving a monologe about drycleaning symbols.

In Japanese schools, much more respect is given to the teachers. For example, after school I was waiting for my host mother to pick me up and next to me was a group of about 20 girls. Whenever a teacher walked by, every single one would bow and say 「じゃ」 (jya) or 「さようなら」 (sayounara), both meaning goodbye (the latter more formal). Even a girl running through the hall who was late to her club came to a complete stop and bowed for the passing teacher. And one more large difference in Japanese schools vs. American schools: we sit in one room all day and teachers come to our class, which for me is 1-5... >_> fun, huh. :P


Tomorrow is supposed to be humid and hot, unlike today during which it rained. My "uniform" is long sleeves and long pants, a belt and sometimes a tie, so it will be very hot... but I'm sure I will eventually get used to it. :) ...Just like most everything. Adaptability is necessary when being introduced to an entirely different (and wonderful) culture.


Oh, and one more thing (hmm, that last sentence would have been a good ending). In Japan, the hospital/doctors is MUCH different. I had to go because my host brother's leg got hurt during his Track & Field Club. When you walk in, you take off your shoes and put on their slippers, as you do at school too. You then write your name on a list, and in a few minutes you are called in to a room. After handing them your medical insurance card (or at least that's what I think it was), you visit a variety of different rooms in which you are examined, get X-Rays, etc. Finally, you lay down on a bed and a few doctors give you a massage... and then you magically feel all better or something. pretty cool. I'm sure if one got a more serious injury the process would have been different, but it was still interesting. :)


So yeah. Today was a good day. YAY!

はい、おわり。　じゃ！ (Okay, done. Bye!)