家族がきっと心配しているから、新しいポーストはどうぞ。ホストファミリーから引越ししたのがよっかたよ。今王子公園という所に住んでいる。寮はいい所にあると思う。寮から学校まで１時間ぐらいかかる。ホストファミリーと住んでいた時は同じだよ。今自炊しているのが幸せだ。毎朝お握りを作っているよ。この寮に引越しした前、宝塚寮のばあちゃんが正しいお握りの作り方を教えてもらった。もっと書きたいけど、眠いよ。
What I've been up to lately.
Because my family must be worried, I'll post something new. Moving out of my host family went smoothly. Now I'm in a place called Oji-Koen. Its a nice place. From the dorm to school, its about an hour, about the same as when I lived with my host family. Now, I'm doing my own cooking, and I'm very happy about that. Every morning I make Onigiri. Before moving into this dorm, the old lady who owned the Takarazuka dorm taught me how to make Onigiri correctly. I would like to write more, but I'm tired.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
New Year
Okay I’m sick of writing in Japanese. It’s the break, and ever since I got to the dorm its been all Japanese. Which brings me to my next point. What?! Jared’s in a dorm again? Did his host family go on another vacation? Nope, Jared moved out permanently. On top of all the rules, and the fact that I just didn’t spend enough time with them to make it worthwhile, during our own Christmas party the two sons got into a fight, and I don’t mean an argument. The worst part about the fight is that the older brother was holding his 4 year old daughter at the time the younger assaulted him, and then when we pulled him off, and the older brothers wife yelled at him, he pushed her and yelled “Urusai” which can be in this situation can be equated to “shut the fuck up”. Oh and did I mention that she was holding her 1 year old and standing in front of a coffee table. Luckily, I don’t think anyone was injured, but after that I was like, yah, I’m leaving. The dorm I’m in now isn’t permanent, but I’m staying here until the end of break, when they move me into another dorm. Hopefully the one with all the Judo players. Well anyways, it was New Years, and Yone decided to gather a bunch of people to go down to Umeda and watch the countdown. Before that I hung out with Kento, Marieah and Marina. Before Marieah and Marina came, Kento and I went to lunch at a, big surprise, Chinese food restaurant. Probably the greatest place in the world. It had All You Can Drink for $2. That is not a typo, there is not supposed to be a 0. Two dollars. 200 Yen. Unfortunately, because I don’t drink a lot of soda, I couldn’t make much use of it. I had one cup of Coke and then like 10 cups of Orange Juice. Once it got time, we headed over to Umeda. When we got to the countdown place. The countdown was in the form of a laser lights projected on the side of the building. And Japanese people don’t countdown from 10. They count down from 90. I think I might have been the only Exchange Student to do it the whole way. Though I do get a lot of practice at counting from 1-100 everyday at Judo when we do push-ups. Then again when I’m at home at night doing 100 more push-ups on my own. Yah, I do a lot of push-ups… where was I? Oh yah, On a normal day, we would have missed our last train going home, but on new years, the trains run all day long for obvious reasons. Even though they were running all night long, we decided to go to a restaurant anyway to wait until morning. There was maybe like 13 of us, but all I got was a thing of fried chicken which should have cost me about $5. However when we calculated the total of everybody’s orders, we came up $30 short. Why could this be? Well some people decided to leave early, and we are guessing they didn’t pay all of what they were supposed to pay. So from now on we have enacted what is called the “Go home early tax”. Though I think it is self explanatory, I’ll explain anyway, for those of you who may be less quick to catch on. What it means is that from now on, if you leave before the bill, you gotta pay more than what we estimate your total as. In the end I paid $10 instead of 5, so it wasn’t that bad, but still kind of a hassle. But I’m glad I participated in the countdown.
Because I moved out of my host family, I was not able to celebrate a traditional family New Years. But that’s okay, because I’m pretty sure I would have rather wanted to spend it with friends anyway. They all understand that I’m not into all that traditional stuff. Which reminds me, I think it’s time people start understanding that the culture, tradition, and whatever else they get out of visiting temples and shrines and stuff, I get that from sports parks, stadiums, and hall of fames. I also find it Ironic that the people who understand this and respect it the most are my Japanese friends and Usui-Sensei. But I think this is enough of an update for now. Sorry about that 2 month dry spell, I’ll try to update more frequently from now on. Maybe if I get a more stable connection in my next housing situation I’ll do it more, because I’m always trying to find things to help me procrastinate. Speaking of I got a short paper to finish. Haven’t mentioned Kobe Bryant once in this one either. Anyway, Hopefully really soon, I’ll have a pretty exciting update. If you want to know more about it, ask my Mom, Sister or Kaji. Speaking of my sister, she got a new Kitty!!! It’s sooooooo cute!!!!!
And If you all were wondering what those pictures on facebook of me on a stage with a microphone. That was me performing a comedy. I’ll post it later. And I’ll try to translate it for the Japanese people.
Because I moved out of my host family, I was not able to celebrate a traditional family New Years. But that’s okay, because I’m pretty sure I would have rather wanted to spend it with friends anyway. They all understand that I’m not into all that traditional stuff. Which reminds me, I think it’s time people start understanding that the culture, tradition, and whatever else they get out of visiting temples and shrines and stuff, I get that from sports parks, stadiums, and hall of fames. I also find it Ironic that the people who understand this and respect it the most are my Japanese friends and Usui-Sensei. But I think this is enough of an update for now. Sorry about that 2 month dry spell, I’ll try to update more frequently from now on. Maybe if I get a more stable connection in my next housing situation I’ll do it more, because I’m always trying to find things to help me procrastinate. Speaking of I got a short paper to finish. Haven’t mentioned Kobe Bryant once in this one either. Anyway, Hopefully really soon, I’ll have a pretty exciting update. If you want to know more about it, ask my Mom, Sister or Kaji. Speaking of my sister, she got a new Kitty!!! It’s sooooooo cute!!!!!
And If you all were wondering what those pictures on facebook of me on a stage with a microphone. That was me performing a comedy. I’ll post it later. And I’ll try to translate it for the Japanese people.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
クリスマス
このクリスマス俺はユダヤ人スタイルのクリスマスをした。かじ君と一緒に中国レストランへ行った。次の日にはティムさんのお兄さんはエルサルバドールに帰るから、彼と遊びに行った。勘違いから、最後の電車に間に合わなかった。それから歩くことを決めた。一回止まって、道を聞いた。良い経験だったと思う。
Christmas
This Christmas, I decided to celebrate Jewish-Style. Kaji and I went to a Chinese restaurant. Afterwards, because Tim’s older brother was leaving for El Salvador the next day, we decided to go hang out with them. Because I made a mental error, I missed the last train. So I decided to walk home instead, and only once did I stop and ask for directions, which I actually didn’t need, but decided to get them anyway, just in case. Overall I think it was a good experience.
Christmas
This Christmas, I decided to celebrate Jewish-Style. Kaji and I went to a Chinese restaurant. Afterwards, because Tim’s older brother was leaving for El Salvador the next day, we decided to go hang out with them. Because I made a mental error, I missed the last train. So I decided to walk home instead, and only once did I stop and ask for directions, which I actually didn’t need, but decided to get them anyway, just in case. Overall I think it was a good experience.
初めての試合
皆さん知っていると思いますけど、十二月十四日は日本で初めての柔道の試合だった。簡潔に言うと、負けた。
具体的に言うと：起きた… わ～！遅い！寝坊した！でも絶望していなかった。急いだら、間に合うから。早い電車に乗れて、良かったと思った。何故かわからなかったけど、王子公園駅に行くに間かばんを調べた。たぶん頭の中で母が俺を呼んでいる声を聞いた。でも、かばんを開けて、帯を忘れたのに気付いた。くそ！先輩に三十分遅くなると言うメールをして、家に向かった。きっと大変になるけど、まだ大丈夫だったと思う。でも…違う電車に乗って帰ったよ！あの時絶望だった。また先輩にメールして、先輩は「心配しないで、帯を貸す」と言う返事をした。じゃあ、あの日には黒帯をしていた。
王子公園体育館に着いたとき、俺はびっくりした。その前の日練習が終わってから、先輩は「スーツを着て」と話してくれた。でも着いたとき、出る人は誰もスーツを着ていなかった。俺とクリス君はスーツを着ていた。二人だけだった。WWW 。
この前から、もう俺の相手は知っていた。神戸大学院の久保さんだ。でもまだ見たことがなかった。久保さんは百六十八センチぐらいだ。俺と同じだ。久保さんは自分みたいだ。でももちろん日本人だ。出る前に俺は目標が三つあったよ。最初は寝技はダメ。二つ目は試合は二分以上戦ってみる。最後は自分のペースでやる。俺はその内の目標の二つを成功した。久保さんと俺は同じペースでやりたいと思って、試合は二分十五秒かかった。でも一分三十秒は寝技だったよ。それで負けたと思う。
全般的に関学は良かった。五十パーセント以上メダルを勝ち取ったよ。でも先生はうれしくなかった。やっぱり関学はもっと勝つべきだった。年配の先生は長い時間説教をした。まじめじゃないし、（練習が）やさしいし、髪に気をつけすぎだと言った。
かばんをまとめて、出かけた。皆さんはレストランへ行くことに決めた。俺と三人の選手は三宮に早く着いたから、Namco Landと言う所に入った。藤田先輩の誕生日のためにU.F.O. ゲームでキン肉マンの人形を勝った。それからレストランへ行った。食べ放題と飲み放題だった。柔道の選手は皆ですごく楽しくなるよ。食べ放題だから店員はずっと忙しかった。あの晩の間俺たちはうるさすぎるから、店員は部屋のドアを閉めた。次は楽しみます。
My First Tournament
As you all know, I had my first Judo tournament here in Japan on December 14. Short story: I lost.
Long Story: First, I woke up… Oh no! Its late! I overslept! But it wasn’t terrible. If I hurried, I could still make it in time. So I did. I even got on an early train, so everything was still looking good. I don’t know why, but while I was headed towards the Oji-Koen train station (my destination), I checked my bag. Maybe it was my mother’s voice yelling inside my head. But I open my bag, and realize that I forgot my belt. SHIT! I emailed the Sempai (cuz Japanese cell phones are awesome like that and have email) telling him I was going to be 30 minutes late and headed home. Or so I thought. Surely it will be a hassle, but it should be fine, I thought. But one train stop later I realized… I got on the wrong train! Now it was hopeless. I email the sempai again, and he replied saying “don’t worry about it, we’ll lend you a belt”. So for that day I wore a black belt.
When I arrived at the Oji-Koen Gym, I was surprised. The day before, after practice, the sempai’s told us to wear suits to the tournament. So when I got to the gym and out of all the people entering the tournament, nobody was wearing a suit. Chris and I were the only 2 people wearing suits. Hahaha… (“www” is the Japanese form of lol)
Before that day, I had known who my opponent was, Kobe University’s Kubo-San, But I had yet seen him. He was about 5’9”. Same as me. And he actually looked like me, except Japanese. Before the tournament I had three Goals for it. First: keep the fight off the ground (I’m not very good at fighting on the ground). Second: make the fight last more than 2 minutes. Lastly: Fight at my own pace. Out of those 3 I succeeded in 2 of them. I think Kubo-San and I wanted to fight at the same pace, and the fight lasted about 2 minutes and 15 seconds. But 1 minute and 30 seconds of the fight was on the ground. I think that’s why I lost.
Overall Kangaku did well. We took home more than half the medals, but the Senseis were not happy. The older Sensei gave us a long lecture saying things like, we’re not serious, we’re too easy going, and we care too much about our hair.
We packed up our bags and headed out. Everybody decided to go to a restaurant. Me and three other players got to Sannomiya early, so we went to a place called Namco Land. We won a “Kinnikuman” doll for the Sempai’s birthday in one of the claw games (unlike American claw games, Japanese ones are very winnable, but cost twice as much). After that, we went to the restaurant. We got our own private room, and it was All you can eat ! Get all the Judo players together and it gets insane. Because it was all you can eat, the waiters and waitresses were always busy with us. And at one time during that evening, because we were too loud, the waiter had to close our door. I can’t wait for the next tournament.
具体的に言うと：起きた… わ～！遅い！寝坊した！でも絶望していなかった。急いだら、間に合うから。早い電車に乗れて、良かったと思った。何故かわからなかったけど、王子公園駅に行くに間かばんを調べた。たぶん頭の中で母が俺を呼んでいる声を聞いた。でも、かばんを開けて、帯を忘れたのに気付いた。くそ！先輩に三十分遅くなると言うメールをして、家に向かった。きっと大変になるけど、まだ大丈夫だったと思う。でも…違う電車に乗って帰ったよ！あの時絶望だった。また先輩にメールして、先輩は「心配しないで、帯を貸す」と言う返事をした。じゃあ、あの日には黒帯をしていた。
王子公園体育館に着いたとき、俺はびっくりした。その前の日練習が終わってから、先輩は「スーツを着て」と話してくれた。でも着いたとき、出る人は誰もスーツを着ていなかった。俺とクリス君はスーツを着ていた。二人だけだった。WWW 。
この前から、もう俺の相手は知っていた。神戸大学院の久保さんだ。でもまだ見たことがなかった。久保さんは百六十八センチぐらいだ。俺と同じだ。久保さんは自分みたいだ。でももちろん日本人だ。出る前に俺は目標が三つあったよ。最初は寝技はダメ。二つ目は試合は二分以上戦ってみる。最後は自分のペースでやる。俺はその内の目標の二つを成功した。久保さんと俺は同じペースでやりたいと思って、試合は二分十五秒かかった。でも一分三十秒は寝技だったよ。それで負けたと思う。
全般的に関学は良かった。五十パーセント以上メダルを勝ち取ったよ。でも先生はうれしくなかった。やっぱり関学はもっと勝つべきだった。年配の先生は長い時間説教をした。まじめじゃないし、（練習が）やさしいし、髪に気をつけすぎだと言った。
かばんをまとめて、出かけた。皆さんはレストランへ行くことに決めた。俺と三人の選手は三宮に早く着いたから、Namco Landと言う所に入った。藤田先輩の誕生日のためにU.F.O. ゲームでキン肉マンの人形を勝った。それからレストランへ行った。食べ放題と飲み放題だった。柔道の選手は皆ですごく楽しくなるよ。食べ放題だから店員はずっと忙しかった。あの晩の間俺たちはうるさすぎるから、店員は部屋のドアを閉めた。次は楽しみます。
My First Tournament
As you all know, I had my first Judo tournament here in Japan on December 14. Short story: I lost.
Long Story: First, I woke up… Oh no! Its late! I overslept! But it wasn’t terrible. If I hurried, I could still make it in time. So I did. I even got on an early train, so everything was still looking good. I don’t know why, but while I was headed towards the Oji-Koen train station (my destination), I checked my bag. Maybe it was my mother’s voice yelling inside my head. But I open my bag, and realize that I forgot my belt. SHIT! I emailed the Sempai (cuz Japanese cell phones are awesome like that and have email) telling him I was going to be 30 minutes late and headed home. Or so I thought. Surely it will be a hassle, but it should be fine, I thought. But one train stop later I realized… I got on the wrong train! Now it was hopeless. I email the sempai again, and he replied saying “don’t worry about it, we’ll lend you a belt”. So for that day I wore a black belt.
When I arrived at the Oji-Koen Gym, I was surprised. The day before, after practice, the sempai’s told us to wear suits to the tournament. So when I got to the gym and out of all the people entering the tournament, nobody was wearing a suit. Chris and I were the only 2 people wearing suits. Hahaha… (“www” is the Japanese form of lol)
Before that day, I had known who my opponent was, Kobe University’s Kubo-San, But I had yet seen him. He was about 5’9”. Same as me. And he actually looked like me, except Japanese. Before the tournament I had three Goals for it. First: keep the fight off the ground (I’m not very good at fighting on the ground). Second: make the fight last more than 2 minutes. Lastly: Fight at my own pace. Out of those 3 I succeeded in 2 of them. I think Kubo-San and I wanted to fight at the same pace, and the fight lasted about 2 minutes and 15 seconds. But 1 minute and 30 seconds of the fight was on the ground. I think that’s why I lost.
Overall Kangaku did well. We took home more than half the medals, but the Senseis were not happy. The older Sensei gave us a long lecture saying things like, we’re not serious, we’re too easy going, and we care too much about our hair.
We packed up our bags and headed out. Everybody decided to go to a restaurant. Me and three other players got to Sannomiya early, so we went to a place called Namco Land. We won a “Kinnikuman” doll for the Sempai’s birthday in one of the claw games (unlike American claw games, Japanese ones are very winnable, but cost twice as much). After that, we went to the restaurant. We got our own private room, and it was All you can eat ! Get all the Judo players together and it gets insane. Because it was all you can eat, the waiters and waitresses were always busy with us. And at one time during that evening, because we were too loud, the waiter had to close our door. I can’t wait for the next tournament.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
マンコ酎ハイ
一昨日友達はさびしいから一緒に飲みにいってん。三回目の注文で俺は「マンコ酎ハイ」を注文する力を召集した。
The other day, one of my friends here was feeling sad, so we went out to drink. And on the third round I finally mustered up enough courage to ask the waitress for a マンコ酎ハイ.
Don't ask me what her reaction was, because even though I had the courage to ask with a straight face, I couldn't look her in the face while doing it.
The other day, one of my friends here was feeling sad, so we went out to drink. And on the third round I finally mustered up enough courage to ask the waitress for a マンコ酎ハイ.
Don't ask me what her reaction was, because even though I had the courage to ask with a straight face, I couldn't look her in the face while doing it.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
次の試合に出る
I will compete in the next tournament. I'll let that set in your mind for a while.
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Anyway, how awesome is that?!
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Anyway, how awesome is that?!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
血と捨て身の日
The Day of Blood and Sacrifice
Sounds bad huh? Actually, it was one of the best days I've had over here in Japan. For starters, the senior members of the Judo Team graduated yesterday, and Fujita Takeshi-San was promoted to the captain. Today was a very small practice. 10 people, so I was able to fight a lot. 6 times out of 9. I had a pimple on my forehead, which popped, and it bled all over whoever I fought. I fought Kawashima-San twice, who is both heavier (which also means stronger), and a lot more skilled, of course, he's Japanese. Most of the time, because of his superior strength and skill, I attempted a lot of sacrifice throws. The great thing about these fights was I frequently stopped some of his throw attempts and was able to make him bend over a couple of times. Kawashima-San is a very lou... er... vocal person, and whenever this would happen, he would yell, 「こいつ強い！」 This guy is strong! Coming from such a strong competitor such as Kawashima-San, it really made my day. But what he said is true. Since I've gotten here, I really have gotten much stronger. And the weirdest thing is that I have actually lost weight. I didn't think I had any weight to lose, but when I came, I was 68 kilos. Now, I am 64. びっくりした(I was surprised). The cutoff for the weight division I am currently in is 66 kilos, so I now have weight to gain.
In other news, you just lost The Game :)!
Sounds bad huh? Actually, it was one of the best days I've had over here in Japan. For starters, the senior members of the Judo Team graduated yesterday, and Fujita Takeshi-San was promoted to the captain. Today was a very small practice. 10 people, so I was able to fight a lot. 6 times out of 9. I had a pimple on my forehead, which popped, and it bled all over whoever I fought. I fought Kawashima-San twice, who is both heavier (which also means stronger), and a lot more skilled, of course, he's Japanese. Most of the time, because of his superior strength and skill, I attempted a lot of sacrifice throws. The great thing about these fights was I frequently stopped some of his throw attempts and was able to make him bend over a couple of times. Kawashima-San is a very lou... er... vocal person, and whenever this would happen, he would yell, 「こいつ強い！」 This guy is strong! Coming from such a strong competitor such as Kawashima-San, it really made my day. But what he said is true. Since I've gotten here, I really have gotten much stronger. And the weirdest thing is that I have actually lost weight. I didn't think I had any weight to lose, but when I came, I was 68 kilos. Now, I am 64. びっくりした(I was surprised). The cutoff for the weight division I am currently in is 66 kilos, so I now have weight to gain.
In other news, you just lost The Game :)!
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