It's not a real festival 'til there's a drag queen

I think I will start off this blog post by saying that if there's anything that makes an exchanger feel  proud, it's acknowledgement that they have assimilated into their host country's environment. Let me explain:

The day after the end of my last blog post, marked the beginning of American week in my school: when a group of Americans from our sister school in the US come to Tokyo, and are hosted by Bunkyo students, while participating in school activities (only the girls come to Tokyo, the boys go to another part of Japan). I'd been aware of this for awhile, as my school adviser had asked me if I wanted to participate in some of the extra Japanese activities that the girls were doing, and because I would not be left alone until I had taught every one of my classmates how to correctly pronounce each girl's (there were nine) name. That task was never fully accomplished.
Anyway, I thought that it wouldn't be such a big deal for me, I mean, once you've been around Americans for fifteen years, they kind of lose that foreign appeal. My class would be hosting one girl, Cynthia (or Shinshia, according to my classmates). But as soon as she came into the room on her first day, I was at a loss. Do I speak to her in English or Japanese? Should I act like a Japanese or an American? I went over to introduce myself, and ended up just standing there. This happened twice. Twice. I have no idea why my brain can't handle to make the switch (although that visit has made it easier), and even now, I will bow and speak in Japanese to any foreign stranger, even if they talk to me in English. So yeah, just keep that in mind, people back home.
 But other than that, my ego was absolutely spoiled by these girls. They thought I was fluent, that I lived in Japan, that I was amazing at kendo, that I'm learning Japanese so quickly (after I told them that I'd only been seriously learning since I got here). It was pretty hard not to get kind of a swelled head (that got cured right after they left though...) It was nice, though, to realize that I have made at least some progress this exchange year, and it definitely gave me motivation to work harder at improving my Japanese. がんばります！

But you all just want to hear about what we did and see some pictures right? Well, fear no more, your patience has been rewarded!

Wearing kimono for the first time!

This picture brings me to the first of my extracurricular activities with the Americans (I unfortunately couldn't go to all of them, since I couldn't miss too many classes or practices): kimono wearing! My school brought in these two elderly kimono master ladies with these absolutely beautiful kimono (this kind was especially for young, unmarried girls- you can tell because of the long, wide sleeves). It's actually a fairly lengthy process to put the whole thing on, and seemingly difficult to do by one's self. I'm astounded by the Japanese women that do it every day of their lives!

There's so much intricacy that goes into this work, too. This is probably the third or fourth "draft", if you will, of my obijime

As you may be able to tell, every last detail must be perfect, or the whole flow of the look will be off. And in the final result, you should not be able to tell that any effort went into it at all. I think I'm starting to detect a pattern in the traditional Japanese arts...

Then on Friday, I got to take the morning off to go with everyone to Asakusa for something I never really considered to be a typical Japanese activity...

Making fake food!

 It's surprisingly easy! Granted, we were given the easiest food to make, but still! There were plenty of much more amazingly realistic foods in the shop below, which would usually be quite a sight, but not right before lunchtime...
Anyway, the food we were tasked with to make: tempura and cabbage.

My final product

Why did they have to look so realistic?

The fake-sushi clock was pretty cool though.

There was also a giant (probably 4 foot) wax fish hanging from the ceiling. I really don't know why I didn't take a picture of that...

That day (a Friday, by the way) after school was their goodbye party. Of course, there were games, and speeches, and plenty of tears, but my emotions were pretty stable until Cynthia (who I'd actually gotten pretty close after I sorted myself out enough to finally talk to her) reminded me of my own goodbye party. I don't even want to think about it, but I'm almost at my five month mark! Where did the time go!?

I'm going to miss all of them, but the goodbye was not so hard, seeing as they live in the neighboring state. If any of you are reading this, I hope we will see each other soon! I'm going to need someone to practice my Japanese with once I get back home!

Which brings me to the next part of this post...

That following weekend, two men from Bianka's Rotary invited us to come with on a boat ride around Hayama harbor (not sure if it's famous or not, but apparently it's got some great tuna).
Now, the fact that I can get horribly motion sick is nothing new to me. I've been like that as long as I can remember, and depending on the vehicle, I know how to deal with it. And usually with boats, if they're big, and I don't stay inside for too long, I don't normally get too sick. So my host mom told me that we would be "cruising" around the harbor. When one thinks of cruising, they think of a big boat right? Well, as I thought that would be the case, I didn't take any precautions against motion sickness, and here is what awaited me when I got to the harbor...

It was a pretty cool boat though

So I ended up spending most of the boat ride wrapped in a blanket, huddled up next to Bianka with my eyes firmly shut (if I can't see the choppy waves, I can pretend they're not there). Did I mention it was also freezing cold?
But there were some good points. For example, our guide/guy-who-drove(not sure if that's the right word)-the-boat was one of the most amazing people I had ever met. From a small, average town, he used to be a deliver goods by carrier to different ports of the world. He is now one of the most cultured people I have ever met. He has some basic knowledge on pretty much every single country in the world (as well as advanced knowledge in both the US and Hungary), he's an avid classical music fan and reader, and he speaks great English, which he claims just to have "picked up" from Australian ports. On the outside he just looks like your average elderly, Japanese fisherman! So, if you're ever in Japan, visiting Hayama harbor, I suggest you look this guy up (he runs a yacht service there). I also suggest you try the popcorn tuna. First time I've ever liked tuna!

You'll know you're in the right restaurant if you see this fishtank.

And to finish off November, I went to--can you guess?--another school festival! This time, I went with Maxim and Bianka to Keio University, where my friend Kiki goes to school. Kiki is the daughter of a family friend's friend who went to high school in the States, and has also been kind and helpful guide during my time here so far. But anyway, her school's festival was like most of the others I've been to: plenty of stalls with great food, a few interesting attractions (we went to go see a very amusing fortune teller), and, of course, plenty of ridiculous dress-ups.

Just one of many

Besides cross-dressers, there are always an abundance of cosplayers (people who dress up like anime characters), and other crazy costumes of unknown origin.

I honestly have no idea what they were supposed to be...

Bianka and I also discovered a little shop/stand that sold old Japanese snacks, and now we are both absolutely addicted. We went on two shopping sprees there. Seriously, corn potage is the best flavor any snack could have.

Everything there was also in mini

After that, Bianka and I met up with some of my friends from school for karaoke to finish the day and my November!

I'm not sure when I'll be able to get my first December post up, as my internet here is quite...well, it's absolutely terrible (from 10-20 minutes to upload one photo). But thank you everyone for your patience! I really appreciate it!

And a late Happy Hannukah/Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (which I hear is going to be quite an occasion over here)!

じゃあね！


P.S. While writing this post for a second time (because I'm pretty sure blogger hates me), I went with Bianka and Antonia to see both Breaking Dawn Pt. 2, and Les Miserables (loved both of them!), and we happened to see a most curious ad before both movies, that I think people will enjoy. Believe me, this is SO Japanese.