Six Impossible Things

Sometimes I have believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. ~Lewis Carroll

Here are my six impossible (highly unlikely) things before breakfast:

1. I wrote a blog entry.

Can you believe it?

2. I woke up at 6AM... and went running.

I don't want to believe it.

3. I saw an old Japanese man walking a polar bear.

Slight exaggeration, but not by much. This white, fluffy bear (a.k.a. one big dawg) almost came up to the shoulder of the tiny elderly gentleman who was walking her. It wasn't hard to imagine him jumping onto her back, yelling a battle cry, and riding off into the sunset...er sunrise.

4. I did homework.

Did you know in the Japanese Shinto religion people can become kamis (gods) after they die? These people have to be special, like monks, national heroes, martyrs, military officers, etc. My favorite kami of them all is *drum roll* Thomas Edison! No joke. In Kyoto there is a Shinto shrine called the Denden-gu, which roughly translated means "Shrine of Electricity and Wavelength." The deities of this shrine are the Patriarch of Electricity and the Patriarch of Wavelength (a.k.a. Thomas Edison and Heinrich Hertz). At Denden-gu you can find bronze portraits of both these scientists. Actually, Edison did visit Japan, and even decided to use Japanese bamboo in constructing the filament of his incandescent light bulbs. There are so many interesting and quirky facets of Shinto. I hope to have at least one blog entry dedicated to this fascinating religion.

5. I practiced Japanese.

This morning marked my complete transformation to the dork side. Do you know the "Ring Verse" from the Lord of the Rings? Most everybody is familiar with the last couple lines:
One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
Many Tolkien fans have memorized the entire verse. But how many people have those last couple lines memorized in Japanese? Mwhahaha!
Hitotsu no yubiwa wa subete o sube,
Hitotsu no yubiwa wa subete o mitsuke,
Hitotsu no yubiwa wa subete o toraete,
Kurayami no naka ni tsunagitomeru.
It was for homework... seriously! I had to write and present a biography in Japanese about an artist/writer/singer of my choice. I chose J.R.R. Tolkien. So there.

6. I'm going to eat an apple for breakfast. Just one apple, and it will be enough to last me until lunch.

This isn't about what a small eater I am. It seems almost everything in Japan is smaller than in America: the cars, the drinking cups, the meal portions, the people, etc. There are, however, a few notable exceptions. One exception is that polar bear and the other is the apples. They are huge! Bigger than grapefruits, these mutant apples (called ringo in Japanese) are slightly larger than magic eight-balls. I get full after eating just one! And they taste good too! Okay, I lied. I won't be eating just an apple. I'll also have a piece of toast. I love Japanese bread; it's white, fluffy, and substantial. When I leave Japan it will the food I miss the most. At almost every meal for desert, I have toast smothered with strawberry jam.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

It's come to this. I knew (and you might have assumed) that it would happen eventually. But I didn't think it would happen so soon. I've broken my resolution to blog at a weekly interval. Each day I put off blogging the harder it became to actually imagine sitting down to type. Don't get your hopes up. This isn't going to be much of an entry. I'm writing just so it won't feel as daunting to write a real entry tomorrow... or maybe the day after... or this weekend... or sometime in the future.

I don't want this to be a complete waste of your time, so I'm including links to photo albums of my fun-tastic weekend. *embarrassed* That would be the weekend before last. Just click on the photos to be transported to a land of magic and mystery... okay, it's only Japan, BUT there is a magician and some other mysterious men. I apologize to Facebook users who have already looked at these albums, but for those who haven't, believe me, photos are more interesting and accurate than any long-winded blathering I could contrive. Please enjoy!

Saturday February 9th in Kyoto

Part One:


Part Two:


Sunday February 10th in Kobe

Part One:


Part Two:

Mailing Address

Since many, many people *cough*only one*cough* have been asking, here's my mailing address:

Kate Saling
c/o Center for International Education
Kansai Gaidai Univeristy
16-1 Nakamiyahigashino-cho, Hirakata, Osaksa
573-1001 Japan

No, you don't need to write it out in Japanese; English will do quite nicely. So please feel free to send a letter. Ginormous care packages stuffed with candy, chocolate, movies, and Dr. Pepper will also be accepted. ;)

By the way, I still LOVE being in Japan. Why do I love Japan so much? Well, a couple day ago something very exciting happened. For the first time in my entire life someone said to me, "It's a good thing you're so tall." Tall?! When you're 5'3" someone calling you tall is a once in a life time event. Thus, I love Japan because of all the unique experiences I've had here. :)

Ba Da Ba Ba Baa! I'm Lovin' It!

Can you believe it? Two posts in one day! I was feeling rather guilty because I cheated on my last one.

Anyway, I don't think anybody is appreciating my clever (a.k.a. dork-tastic) Lewis Carroll allusions. You know, Alice in Wonderland (Fushigi no Kuni), Through the Looking Glass, and the previous post's title from the poem, "The Jabberwocky." *sigh* I just couldn't help myself from drawing parallels between my exploration of Japan and Alice's dazzling -- often daunting -- adventures in a surreal landscape.

However, I've changed my mind. Japan doesn't feel surreal. It doesn't feel like I'm wandering through a dreamscape or some madman's fantasy. On the contrary, I have never felt more awake! Furthermore, in Japan I don't feel that out of place. Yes, I realize there are differences between cultures. But on some level we are the same. In any culture around the world -- even in Japan -- you can find the important things in life, the things that make us human, things like smiles, laughter, friendships, and most importantly...

MCDONALDS!!!

Okay, I was serious about the other stuff, but I have a confession to make. During my first week in Japan, I ate at a McDonalds, and it was delicious! I couldn't help myself! There's one right next to the cafeteria on campus. Escape is impossible! Anyway, to describe my transgression: The fries tasted EXACTLY the same as in America. Yet, the cheeseburger and soda tasted slightly different. The soda being more syrupy and the burger....well just different. Also ordering is a bit more complicated. Then again, maybe it's easier, and it just took a while for me to understand this new system.

First, I tried some fries. What a cute lil' Pikachu!


Then a bite of the cheeseburger. Look how it shines!



And here's my friend Ashley eating both at the same time. She's really lovin' it!



Okay, enough with this silliness, and back to what I was talking about before. You see, what really matters in life is....hold up...what am I saying? The silly stuff is what really matters. ;-)

Stay classy, my friends!

p.s. Classes start on Monday, so don't expect another post until Friday. I'm thinking I'll make this a weekly thing (or a whenever-I-feel-like-it thing).

O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!

So I went with a group to Kyoto and it was basically amazing! Highlights include: following around five very cute Japanese students (our tour guides), seeing the Kamo River, visiting Kiyomizu Temple, and best of all, eating. I could write for quite a while about the whole grand adventure, but why do that when my pictures tell just as good (if not better) a story. Check it out:

http://gac.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033160&id=52902606&l=25ad2

What Alice Found There

I have so much to write about! There have been lots of red tape and paper work going on with school, which I don't think I'll ever write about, but there was also a trip to Hirakata with some friends, which I don't have time to write about, even though it was tanoshii (fun)! Instead, I'm going to show you pictures of my walk between the school and the seminar house.

Here are some cute little tanuki (raccoon dogs) lining a wall. In Japanese folklore tanuki spirits are "mischievous and jolly, masters of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absent-minded." (Thank you Wikipedia!)


Here's the front of a house that I thought was pretty.

And here's a park. I've seen kids playing in it before, but today it was vacant because of the rain. Although a children's park, the area is solemn and quiet. The air reminiscent of a shrine or some other holy place.

Look! A friendly gate guardian. What do you think her name is? No, I don't know what the kanji beneath her says. I'll do some investigating.

Well, that concludes my tour. I wanted to include some pictures of the narrow and winding streets, but there were always people walking on them, so I was somewhat reluctant.

Curiouser and Curiouser!

Wow, I love Japan! The people, the food, the transportation, everything! So much has happened I don't know where to start. And it's only been a couple days. I would like to start by describing my lodgings, but I want to use pictures for that. Right now the room is a little messy. I have a temporary roommate, Min, whose suitcase and clothes are lying about. Min will be moving to live with a home-stay family in a week or so. I will really miss her. Min is Korean and speaks Japanese almost fluently, but only a little English. We manage. She is very sweet. I have met soo many people while I've been here. People from Virginia, New York, Texas, Oregon, and Ohio. Meeting Dean from Ohio was confusing. He was talking to Min in Japanese and then he turned to me and said, "Ohio!" But I thought he was saying "Ohayoo!" which means "Good morning!" in Japanese, so I said, "Ohayoo!" right back to him, even though it was evening. He gave me a weird look. Anyway, I've also met people from Australia, Thailand, and Germany. I met a Mario from Mexico and a Mario from Austria. I had fun introducing them to each other.

Yesterday, I went with a group of students to downtown Hirakata. We had lunch and toured some of the shops. There was a 99 yen shop, which is the equivalent to the American dollar store. I got some onigiri (rice balls) for breakfast the next day. For lunch we went to a soba restaurant, where I had udon (hot noodle soup).

Today, we walked to campus (20-30 minutes). We were given a tour. Even though it's winter and nothing is green, the campus is gorgeous. I can't wait to see it in the spring. I'll take pictures then, so you can all see Kansai Gaidai looking its best. The only thing marring the beautiful Kansai campus was the Makudo (or MacDonalds). Yes, that's right, a MacDonalds, on campus. We had lunch on campus, but decided that the cafeteria would be best. And the food was dirt cheap. 210 yen (~ 2 dollars) for a good sized bowl of donbiri (mine had scrambled eggs and pork over rice). Yum! After lunch we had a banking session. Which was really complicated. We're required to set up an account at a Japanese bank, so that Kansai can directly deposit our food stipend and eventually our security deposit refunds. Unfortunately, this bank account won't be opened for another three weeks, so we have to pay for our own food until then. Three weeks makes up almost a quarter of my time here. *rolls eyes* Furthermore to open this account, we had to fill out FIVE different forms...And they were ALL in Japanese. Luckily, we had some help filling them out. After that it was time for Language Lab orientation and turning in my laptop registration form. Okay, enough of the boring stuff and back to talking about my blatantly favorite subject: FOOD.

This evening I went with some friends to Top World, the local grocery store, in order to buy dinner. Here is Min, Noto, and Dave picking out their dinner:

And here is what I got to eat. Itadakimas!

Haha! Just kidding! I'm not that brave. But they are rather pretty. Don't you think? Anyway, here was my real meal:

It's sashimi, sushi, and something else I don't know. On the top we have egg (yellow), eel (brown), and shrimp. I couldn't find anyone who could identify the grayish one, but it tasted like pickled herring to me. On the bottom is the sushi. On the bottom right is rice in fried dough pockets. Totemo oishii! (Very delicious!)

p.s. For those wondering why I haven't been on Skype, my laptop doesn't have Internet, yet. I'm using the dorm's computer lab because my laptop needs to go through registration procedures, and I still need to purchase an Ethernet cord. There isn't any wireless. :(