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March 27,
2010
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It was
the beginning of February and I found myself once again in the Rotary
Moving Van this time travelling to my FIFTH Host Family." I feel so
lucky with my Host Family assignments. I have had the chance to stay
with more families than most Exchange Students. This has given me the
chance to live not only with more Host Mothers and Fathers, but even
better, so many varied sisters and brothers! I have been able to help
tutor my younger sister in her English courses, and I have been able
to join brothers that are closer to my age doing "guy" activities like
exercise training in the park. So as the Rotary van rumbled through
the narrow streets of Urawa once again, I leaned my head against the
car door wondering what my new family would be like. Their house sat
in a crowded cul-de-sac, and seemed typical of other homes in
Urawa,the northern suburb of Tokyo in which I reside. I had to grapple
with my gigantic duffle bags as approached my new family, but I"m used
to it by now.
During the past month, I stayed with the Tsubaroka host family,
consisting of an older sister and brother as well as mom and dad.
Luckily, they lived about 10 minutes by bike from Urawa Jitsugo High
School. Therefore, I could then sleep in just a little longer. The
thought of resting my head on the comfortable pillow for just a little
longer made me perk up with joy. When I moved to my new home, my new
host father greeted and invited me along with the Rotary member who
was assisting me with the move into his wide one story home. The
balding, gray haired, middle aged man directs us to sit down on the
wide brown leather couch and gives a benevolent smile. We are offered
hot Japanese tea (green tea) which naturally, to respect his
hospitality, we accepted. After the customary size conversation, I got
to meet my new host sister and she showed me up to my new room on the
second floor. After I laid down my massive pile of luggage on the hard
wood floors gently shimmering from the eastern window's sunlight I
turned to my average height short haired sister and said “Arigatou.”
Two hours passed and steaming yakiniku was sitting on the table. What
a warm welcome!
The next day my host mother went with me by bike to my school to show
me the way. It was surprisingly straight forward, only about three
turns total. “There is no way I can get lost”, I thought. Ironically,
on my way back home, I took a wrong turn and my host mother just
laughed at my false overconfidence and lack of directional abilities.
After returning home, I finished unpacking and organizing my room.
three hours passed and it was time for dinner. I ate quickly and
thanked them for the meal with the customary “Gochiso sama deshita.”
The next day was a school day so I made sure to get to bed as soon as
I could.
Everyday life hardly changed. I still went to school the usual five to
six days a week. I still got to talk to my friends every morning at
school and everyday still had Tamada-kun's daily antics and
monologues. I still had the irksome alarm clock that I had to hit the
snooze button on about three to four times. I still rushed out the
door in the morning, hopped on the bicycle, and pedaled like burning
rubber to make it five minutes before the seemingly omnipresent bell
sounded off. I still dusted up my shoes everyday during lunch-break
while I played soccer with my friends. However, some new things spiced
up everyday life. Because I then lived closer to the school, and in a
new direction, those friends that I played soccer with live in the
same direction. Luckily, I could then enjoy the experience of having
someone to wait for and talk to on the road home until we parted our
separate ways. I found a convenient store on the route that had a
special treat waiting: Takoyaki! (Note: Takoyaki is a traditional
snack type finger food that is comprised of octopus encased in dough
that is fried into a ball shape) This was the only convenient store I
had found that sells it for cheap or even at all. Lucky!
On the weekends I either called up my friends to meet, had some sort
of event planned by rotary or my host family, or just relaxed at home.
A friend that I never had much a chance to spend time with because of
exams and living too far away took his exam around the time of my
move. Fortunately, he passed and was accepted into into the college
that he wanted to go to. And even more fortunate, my new home was very
close to where he lived. We often went to each other's house to play
video games or sports. Two months ago, I played soccer (badly) with
him and his friends, but unfortunately, they had to stop one day for
reasons I still do not understand...
As for the planned events, various enjoyable activities took place.
While I anxiously anticipated the the eventful ski trip, my host
mother took me along to give me a look at the enjoyable places within
range. Like Rotary, a organization called “Hippo” focused on extending
cultures across the globe. They also sponsored exchange students to
travel abroad as cultural ambassadors. It was fantastic to discover
that Rotary is not alone in its style of exchanging.
Additionally, my host mother allowed me to accompany her to the gym in
which the family has membership in. By pulling some strings, I was
allowed participate for one day. My first experience in a Japanese gym
was that of confusion from the complicated system and series of
corridors in the building. However, after a little exercise around the
place, my cloudy vision became much clearer to the point where I can
explain how it worked in a basic terms. From the front desk on, the
men and women split up into adjacent halls that lead into locker
rooms. These locker rooms were extremely clean, had a wall of mirrors
above sinks for hygienic purposes, and used a card to lock the door in
place so that the actual lock can close. Near the next hall, a pair of
vending machines that could provide sports drinks, water, and other
random supplies that were needed in case someone forgot them. As
expected of Japanese vendors, they are overpriced compared to American
standards. From there, the hall takes a T shape where continuing leads
to the onsen public paths and a left corner lead to the actual gym
facility. I participated in both a aerobics class and an abs
strengthening class. I completed both with relative ease and sometimes
even went beyond the pace everyone was sweating at. From there I
retorted to my host mother in a jokingly arrogant fashion that it was
“baby training” and that I was only sweating from the hotness of the
room. She just laughed at what she thought was simply bluffing with
ridiculous statements . She had sharp eyes. From there, the “warm up”
was over and I moved onto the machines doing treadmills, bench
pressing, step machines, and other various workout machines. When we
left the gym, I thanked her for her effort and for the opportunity
with a “Arigatou Gozaimasu!”
My personal favorite excursion was a trip to the Edo (Old Tokyo)
Museum. There I learned about old technologies, cultures and customs,
historic events such as The Great Edo Fire, Architectural layouts and
strategies and such a wealth of information. My only regret was that I
wished my guide spoke better English so that I could have asked the
harder questions because my Japanese was enough for the simple
explanations he gave. Nonetheless, I thanked him for his efforts and
his time.
From the earlier mentioned “Hippo” organization, we met up with two
previous exchange students after the museum. Both around twenty,
Hitomi, a cute short girl with long brown hair wore layers of a dress,
pants underneath and a jacket (interesting Japanese current style) and
the other, Akira, a boy around my height who had dyed his hair as
well, but to an orange-like color, wore red pants and a simple black
T-shirt with English transcribed, illegible to the owner. (Japanese
styles are very heavy on English T-shirts even though no one knows
what it means. A cultural equivalence in America would be someone
having a tattoo or shirt that has Asian characters transcribed upon
its face.) We stopped by a Sumo themed restaurant that actually had a
Sumo ring at its core! I ordered traditional cold Soba noodles and
sushi while everyone else got hot pots. My host mother takes a picture
of me and Akira about to face off in the ring with our fists pounded
into the hard sand. “Itai!” We exclaimed in pain and blew on our
knuckles simultaneously. That sand left a mark! After the restaurant,
we said to the “tenin” (person working at the establishment at the
front) “Gochisosama Deshita” (thank you for the meal!). After heading
back into the train station, my host mother gave us some money to go
to the Tokyo game center and explained that she was home early. She
told us to have a good time and we thank her for her kindness.
After having an interesting conversation with Akira about what
animated shows we like, the train screeched to a halt one last time
and the doors slung into the sides following the loud ding. (Cartoons
are very serious in Japan. There are some for children; however, many
are for mature audiences as they contain themes of corruption,
violence, and malicious intent. They are very enjoyable!) Upon exiting
the the station, a large colorful building came into view. The Tokyo
Game Center! After walking into the bright yellow elevator, we took
our time on an assortment of floors with the various activities
including: bowling, batting cages, soccer goal scoring contests, ping
pong, boxing arcade games, darts, and tennis. What a full day!
Finally the long awaited day arrived, the Rotary planned Ski Trip!
After I got up earlier than usual, I finished my breakfast quickly,
made sure my bags were packed, headed over to the location where we
were to meet and get on the bus. All my friends were waiting on the
bus and after a quick head count, we wer off to Nagano ken and on
towards snow. After a four hour bus ride, the sky begun to become gray
and the ground white. While grinding up the winding ice covered road,
the bus made its way up the hill and to our lodge. My roommate named
Djordy, the only other guy currently an inbound, and I hi fived before
exiting the bus. I slung my single messenger bag over my shoulder
while he grappled onto his huge suitcase and we headed over the lodge.
Meanwhile, I could not calm down or stop exclaiming that there is
actually this much snow. Everyone was surprised at first but then
remembered the fact that I am from Florida, which I explained is
ensnared in an eternal summer. The man at the front desk handed us
clear plastic bags that contained our ski jacket, pants, gloves and
other necessary items that we requested. We headed up to our room and
got ready to start skiing and after setting down our belongings. After
we rushed downstairs to where our equipment was waiting, the
instructor showed the beginners how to put on the gear while the
advanced people raced each other to be the first one out. One of the
Rotarians took a snapshot of our group on the mountain and off we
went!
After I slid down the white mountain with the Canadian exchange
students and a couple of Rotarians and Rot-ex, I felt the wind blowing
in my face, its howl calmed me as the white landscape rushed by until
suddenly, SLAM! I realized that I forgot how to stop and crashed into
the snow. Djordy shouted, “Mike, go to school!” However, my pride
forced me to refuse that suggestion and we jumped on the ski lift.
After we jumped off the floating bench and crossed the bold black
line, I struggled to keep control over my movements. That is when a
Rot-ex beckoned me over to the starter hill to get some “warm up”
practice. This being just the break I was looking for and a chance to
remember the movements while still being able to bluff about my
skills, I eagerly agreed and headed down the mountain with him.
Carefully watching his movements on his snowboard, I begin to recall
the skills required to maneuver around the mountain. At the bottom, he
said he was going ahead to the bigger mountain. Reluctantly, I
followed him and try to force myself to get back to the skills I once
had about a year and a half ago from a Park City, Utah vacation. We
met up with the two Canadian exchange students: Gabrielle, a girl with
long red-orange hair and the aforementioned Djordy whom has blond hair
and blue eyes like mine. After we proceeded to the back of the
mountain, we all leaned to the edge of the medium level mountain,
pushed off the brink of the mountain and start to fly down. However, I
could not handle the steepness at first and inched my way down as
flashes of various colors from skilled skiers rushed in and out of my
peripheral vision. After a shameful decent, I surprisingly find some
of the members still waiting for me. After once again being told to
attend school and refusing, I promised to stay on the simple mountain.
From there, I trained myself all day to be able to handle the
steepness little by little. At the end of the day, my feet hurt and I
was tired, but made great progress. The Rot-ex that I made the promise
to says that I can head over to the next mountain.
The next day I bumped my practice up to another level by heading to
other sides of the mountain to the more advanced hills. I finally got
weaving down and was mastering the medium level hills. In the middle
of the day I met some interesting people on the peculiar slopes that
intertwined with each other while growing greater in steepness and
speed. By random chance, I was seated on the lift next to these two
Japanese girls with an approximate age gap of four years. After
practicing my Japanese conversational skills a little bit, I almost
fell off the lift when I heard one girl say in English, “Are you OK?”
In contrast to most Japanese people who learn English in school and
forget it after their test, this girl spoke without a terribly thick
accent or bad pronunciation. Talking a little more, I found out that
she was an exchange student to Australia. (Wow, yet another exchange
program is sponsoring students to travel around the world in search of
geographical knowledge and cultural understanding. As my memory is
being fuzzy, I believe that the name was “tiger” or some other
predatory cat.) We skied the same slope a couple more times until I
meet her parents. To my even stronger surprise, her parents spoke even
better English. They revealed that they have traveled to America many
times and asked me where I am from. Using a hybrid of Japanese and
English, I told them everything about Florida such as being able to
see the rocket launch from my house, beautiful beaches, my three hour
proximity to Disney World, what other theme parks exist besides the
former, and general American/Floridian life. They were very impressed;
in fact, they decided to go to Florida for their next vacation, and
not just for Disney World! When we I got back to the lodge, I met up
with some other outbounds, ran into a random guy who asks us about
Rotary, and I took the lead and told him what a priceless experience
this is and how much we have gained. (All in Japanese!) Cultural
Ambassador Mission: Success!
That night, while Djordy and I watched the winter Olympics and laughed
about how much hype shuffle-boarding on ice was getting, Go, a Rot-ex,
knocked on our door and told us that there was going to be a party
within two hours downstairs. Waiting for us, was a colorful array of
treats and snacks and every Rotarian wrapped in a blanket with legs
under a table across the room. After I lost at a silly guessing game,
I was first to guzzle a soda down in one gulp (“iki”). Ouch, that
burned! Everyone claps, laughs and we play more random Japanese party
games. Go then tells us there is a special festival to welcome the new
season. Two Rot-ex girls dressed up in pure red and pure green
jumpsuits with tiger skin underwear on the outside. We were handed
sheets with a song wrote in Hiragana to commemorate the occasion. It
went something like this:
Onii no pantsu wa ii pantsu, tsuyoii zo, Onii no pantsu wa ii pantsu,
tsuyoii zo
Tora no....
Go nen.... (translated from characters for legible purposes)
Ju nen....
Onii-san mo, Obaa-san mo, Anata mo, Watashi mo, Mina ga hako wo hako
wo Onii no pantsu
(Basically, it was a silly children's song rooted in old culture about
Demons being very strong and that their strength came from Tiger skin
underwear. However, it was very amusing to all of us and we even sang
variations to pass the time later.) We did not realize that they left
as we were having fun chatting and singing. Suddenly the lights went
out and the girls came running in with old demon masks and same color
batons and start chasing us. Earlier we were given beans to throw in
defense the same amount as our age. Launching the beans and getting
chased around provided a very good source of cultural education and
amusement.
The last day I was able to keep up with everyone else. Ironically,
then Gabrielle and Djordy wanted to try snowboarding. “Fantastic, my
determination goes to waste as my goal vanishes into thin air,” I
thought. “However, they are my friends and I will support them,” I
decided. Blowing past my expectations, the duo gained the ability to
snowboard medium level mountains in less than an hour. While they
practiced, a Rotarian dragged me and a Rot-ex girl to a rather
challenging mountain for some fun. I was filled with great pride as I
wasn't eating their dust completely, but more having a nice breeze
from the weaving motion in front of me. The wind roared in my ears,
the skis hissed as they sailed through the white tundra, my heart
raced with excitement as I gained more and more speed, weaving shorter
and shorter patterns until the mountain levels out and a harmony of
kicked snow bursts into the sky and forms a small crystalline rainbow
in front of the white shining sun. This is what I practiced so hard
for!
After tearing through the slopes one last time, we head back into the
lodge to pack up our belongings, bring down our rental gear back to
the front desk and assemble together for one large and loud, “Arigatou
Gozaimasu!” We spend the next four hours on the bus singing songs from
karaoke, the previous night's “Onii no pantsu”, and just enjoying a
jolly good time.
These thirty sunrises and sunsets gave me great memories to share in
the future as well as great opportunities to talk about my culture and
widen my view of the world. I am very grateful to Rotary and my host
family who gave me these chances. After saying good bye to the
Tsubaroka house hold, a man from the Minami Urawa Rotary Club takes me
to my his home for my next home-stay. The future will hold even more
opportunities and experiences. I cannot wait!
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