What's Coming Up @___@

Greetings! I'm just going to stop apologizing for my procrastination of updates and try to update whenever I can. Really. I mean it.
Anyway, I wanted to give you a preview of what is to come:
First, this post is going to contain some tidbits from my October 17th field trip to Kasama Crafthills and the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum. Kira and I were lucky enough to get into the class. We both really enjoyed that trip. Great fun!


Secondly, I'm going to attempt to be posting more pictures from my everyday life here. There are a lot of little interesting things that I've become accustomed to that other people would find strange and/or just new. For instance, Japanese toilets. I haven't discussed this yet, but I'll get into that later.

Thirdly, Kira and I just got back from our second field trip today. We went to the Ibaraki Historical Museum in Mito City, Izumo Taisha Shrine, and Tsumugi-no-Sato (紬の里). At Tsumugi-no-Sato we dyed handkerchiefs in indigo dye and did some weaving on the loom. I'll have a lot to say about that in another post (hopefully tomorrow or Sunday my time), but for today I'm just going to cover our trip from the 17th.


We set off around 9:30 am from Tsukuba to the ceramic art museum. Beforehand, we were, of course, asked to read through some material on ceramic arts in the Ibaraki area, and we viewed a video in our orientation lecture that had demonstrations on the use of the pottery wheel (rokuro in Japanese). I have A TON of pictures of the countryside because these places were in an even more rural area that Tsukuba. I thought Tsukuba was rural until we went on this field trip. Now, I realize that Tsukuba is not nearly as village-like as the places we visited. Anyway, I think I might put a bunch of these pictures up on my photobucket (if I can remember how to get to it ><) and I'll post the link to that here so you can access more photos.

At the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum we got to see a wide range of pottery, from historical and useful to current and more artistic. I wouldn't be able to do justice to the craftsmen if I tried to describe just how amazingly talented they had to have been to complete works that were so detailed and creative. The artisans weren't just good at making pottery, they were also extremely talented at painting the pottery. I think something worth mentioning is the different kinds of kilns they used to make their pottery (and still use). There's one kiln that is only used once a year. It burns for days on end. It's built like a long, upward tunnel, but I can't remember what it's called right now. I'll have to look it up for you.
We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I grabbed as many little postcards as I could. I also picked up some gifts. ^_~ Speaking of gifts, if you read my blog and you would like anything at all from Japan, please let me know. I'd be glad to find you something and send it to you. It might take a while on the sending part, but once I know what it is I can go out and buy it pretty quickly.
I think that's all I'm going to cover about the museum for now. If you'd like to know more, don't hesitate to ask. I didn't do much describing about the things I saw there, sorry. I had to write a paper about the trip, and I did a lot of description in that. I might as well just describe a little of what I saw. (ramble,ramble,ramble)
There were A TON of tea sets. Tea sets decorated with brushed landscapes, animals, simple geometrical designs, tea sets that came out of the 30's, tea sets with ships on them, gold rimmed, handmade, handpainted tea sets. I WISH I COULD'VE TAKEN PICTURES!
After we were finished at the museum, we went to Hisatou-Koubou where we got to make our own pottery using the rokuro. It was fun, frustrating, relaxing, and messy. I made four ceramics. Most of mine turned out big and bulky. I made a pot, a large cup, a bowl, and another cup. Kira made a some tiny cups and a bowl. They were really cute! So, I'm going to try to post the videos here. They're pretty self-explanitory. :D {One last thing: I'll have footage and updates on Tokyo Game Show 2008 soon, too. Please bear with me as I try to catch up!} I have more videos but my browser is being stupid and it's making me really angry, so more later.

A Little Something

So, I wanted to post something about Tsukuba that I have good feelings about. I would first like to mention that some of my, uh, fellow travelers here don't like this aspect of Tsukuba, but I LOVE IT. I think it's awesome that I could come to Japan in the first place, and this was not what I was expecting to find when I got here.
What's the first thing you think of when you think of Japan? Is it Tokyo? Is it technology? Maybe it's something more cultural, but the first thing I always thought of when I thought of Japan was technology. Videogames, organic televisions, robots...etc. Well, Tsukuba doesn't have all that. They have internet (which is not wireless and took me several days to acquire), and they have the TX. The TX is the Tsukuba Express, the 45 minute train service to Tokyo. So, you can get to all that if you want it, but Tsukuba is very woodsy. I really enjoy the natural beauty of Tsukuba, even though that means enjoying lots of bugs. :D
Here is a video I took when Perkins and I were biking back from getting our Alien Registration Cards. (Yes, I'm an alien, now) The video can be pretty loud so you might want to turn your volume down. And I'm sorry about the poor quality, I was riding my bike at the same time. I promise I'll get better at it.

Keeping Up With You

GREETINGS!

I just really needed to update this and let you know that this thing can be difficult to keep up with. As usual, my apologies. :D

I suppose I'll just start with today and then look backward in my next post. This week has been rather exhausting. I've had two tests so far, and I have another test tomorrow. My room...definitely needs cleaning. MESSY! At least I managed to get my laundry done today. I've already mentioned how fantastic doing laundry is, right? (sarcasm, YAY!)

The plans for this weekend are as follows (expect pictures):

Go to Tsukuba Center with Kira for clothes

Picaso Exhibition in Tokyo on Sunday--SO EXCITING!

That's what I'm most excited about right now. As far as school is going, many of us agree (many of us being my American classmates) that Kanji class is the most difficult class that we have. Indeed! I am inclined to agree. Memorizing Kanji is hard and can be VERY frustrating because sometimes Kanji combinations and pronunciations aren't what you would think they should be. Do I use the ONYOMI or the KUNYOMI for this one!? WHAT!? NEITHER!? How the heck am I supposed to know how to pronounce that. Really.

Something interesting that I noticed today about the improvement of my Japanese language (lack of) skillz. I went to the Ichinoya Convenience Store and got a bento box for lunch. I could understand what the clerk asked me when she asked me if I wanted my bento warmed up or not. May not sound like much of a revelation, but before I just heard, "SOMETHINGSOMETHINGSOMETHINGSOMETHINGKA?" I knew what she was asking then, but I didn't hear it. THIS TIME, I could pick out words! YAY!

Sorry for the short post, but, as I said before, I'm exhausted. Much more catching up to do later. MOMENT OF BUGZEN!?