This weekend feels as though it has lasted for far more than just 48 hours. Luckily I don’t mean that in the sense that is has dragged on and one, instead I feel as if I have crammed a week’s worth of activities into the past two days.
When I last wrote to you on Friday night I was not expecting to (only an hour after posting those pictures) be invited across the street to a dinner with our neighbors. This weekend was the Nakagawa International Rice Harvesting Festival and international students from around Tochigi are hosted by families in Nakagawa in order to take part in the festivities. The event has been organized by Kevin Blackburn for the past several years and our neighbors across the street had offered to host both Simon Sigier (the Rotary boy from France who lives about 20 mins North of me) and a girl named Min from Seoul, South Korea. I spent nearly four hours sitting and chatting with the Japanese Inazawa Family, a boy from France, and a girl from Korea. I love feeling international! I was only able to use Japanese and that was definitely a good thing. I have been somewhat lacking on the whole “young and lively host family” aspect that all of my friends are experiencing so to meet the Inazawa’s was a real treat.
Min tuned out to be a very outgoing, happy-go-lucky 21-year-old Korean who is studying at the University of Utsunomiya. She is fluent in spoken Japanese, having learned nearly all of it from watching Japanese TV programs back in Korea. So she can carry on full and elaborate conversations but knows hardly any of the written language. She’s the first person I’ve ever met who knows a language like that.
The next day I also took part in the rice harvesting and let me tell you, it’s much more work than you might think. After we’d each introduce ourselves to the group they handed us little hand-sickles and we got to work clearing one small rice paddy. I am thankful that I didn’t have to clear it by myself because it there hadn’t been 30 plus hands helping out I think it could have taken me all day! Nonetheless it was my first time harvesting rice (that’s my very first cut on the right), and I now have a much greater respect for all of the work that goes into growing and collecting even a tiny patch.
The rest of the afternoon included:
Pounding rice into a sticky paste used to make Japanese Mochi Rice Cakes (that mallet weighed a ton!)
THE LONGEST SUSHI ROLL I’VE EVER SEEN!!!!!
Min and I helping to create the NINE-METER long sushi roll. Cucumber, flavored gourd, and fish row…a little odd, I’ll admit
My fellow Rotary Exchange student, Max, and I
And several performances, including this girl from China playing us a Pipa piece she wrote (I think that’s what they said) about the emotions of being an international student in a new country. It made me think of you Gao, I have no idea how good this girl is compared to others, but sitting in a crowded tent after harvesting rice we were all pretty darn impressed! This is my first video via Blogger, I hope it works okay = \
After the rice harvesting we each drove home with our host families and I joined Min and Simon for the afternoon. We visited Bato’s famous Japanese art museum. Sad to say nearly two months here and yesterday was my first time. After the museum we went bowling. Lots of laughs as none of us were very good. In fact it was only Min’s second time, but we had fun. We also visited the public Onsen, which is only 3 minutes down the street from my house. I had no idea there was one that close, I will definitely be headed back soon! Dinner was the interesting おでん Oden soup made of such things as whole boiled eggs, slices of daikon, fish paste cakes, potatoes, and octopus tubes…It was actually okay once I learned to stay away from the octopus tubes. We ended the night watching a Japanese anime movie called “Laputa: Castle In The Sky.” It had English subtitles so I could fallow along…again, very interesting…
No comments:
Post a Comment