Chris Cox Summer study tour extravaganza　Machine

ありがとございます　福岡女子大学

2009-06-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thank you for allowing us to come visit. This trip has been very very enjoyable and wanted to say thank you for everything that you have done for us. I have had a amazing experience that i think i will remember for a lifetime. This trip has only increased my desire to learn more about Japanese culture and fueled my desire to increase my Japanese language skills. I appreciate everything that has been done for me on this trip.
さんしゅうかん、なかよくしてくれて、ありがとうございました。
たくさんはなしてくれて、ありがとうございました。
日本語をおしえてくれて、ありがとうございました。
日本のことをまなべて、とてもうれしかったです。
またあいたいですね。
アメリカにあそびにきてください。

Wednesday + thursday all in one

2009-06-25T17:04:00.001-07:00

Ok so on wednesday i desperatly needed to go to the bank so Jaime and I had to go exchange money however we of course forgot our passports so we had to run back to the hotel grab them and then run all the way back to the bank...which was right across the street. Then we went back to school to play volley ball with a bunch of the students. Which was fun ... i was very frightened by the Maki volleyball special...so much power. Then we went to Kyuudo which is Japanese archery.... so awsome i wanted to stay and watch but i was afraid of being rude but i thought it was really interusting. After that we went to dinner with a bunch of the girls which was very enjoyable. We had to split into two groups because we were so big but the funny thing is that we unintentionally ordered the same dishes. A very fun very tiring day.

On Thursday we went to Tenjin after school to try to buy presents for our family but it is very difficult. Then dinner again with our friends. Also a fun day but only because i enjoy hanging out with our new friends so much

Yestudai

2009-06-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we had a lecture about things that people notice as foreigners in Japan. It was interusting to see how alot of us had similar ideas or had noticed the same things. We also had an english conversation class in which we did our questionaires that we had developed in for class. It was interusting to see the students perspective on life, health, and in general from a Japanese point of view. Also it was raining quite hard yesterday which no one here likes but i actually quite enjoy it. For dinner we went to an italian resturant that one of the students here works at. Very good, very tasty and all together a very nice time. Also we went to the shopping area to walk around and to the video arcade to take pictures and play some dance dance revolution( which i suck at) and the people here are like amazing at. Oh i forgot to say Reppizn Pallan

2009-06-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we had a party with the girls that went to CSUN last year. Very fun, they made us food which i ate alot of perhaps to much.... All in all it was alot of fun just to relax and talk to more people. During the day we went to Aeon Mall and ate lunch with a bunch of the girls which was also alot of fun. I took the baskin robbins triple challenge which is simply three scoop of ice cream instead of two. Then we went back to school to study but we had alot of trouble actually accomplishing anything instead of just joking around with the girls. All in all it was a fun but also relaxing day. also i dislike japanese keyboards because they moved the backspace key over one!!! Heres a couple of picts comming at yah

Friday through Sunday

2009-06-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

So im going to have to group all these three days into one blog because we had a very busy weekend. So on Friday we got to learn about traditional japanese drama and music. Professor Holst showed us a noh dance and we got to try to play the koto. This was an interusting experience. I dont know how they perform these movements for a whole play because doing on motion of standing to sitting was killing me. Later that night we got to go bowling with a bunch of the girls from FWU. Its no supprise that even in Japan i still suck at bowling. Though the bowling shoes here are way cooler then the ones in America. All in all it was alot of fun. Hanging out with the girls here is always a fun experience.
On Saturday we got to go to Kumamoto Castle. It is one of the three most famous castles in Japan. I thought it was really cool though the weather was incredibly hot. We ran up the 8 flights of stairs to see the view and then had to immediatly run back down said stairs to catch the bus on time. Rhett is geeting very brave in asking strangers to take pictures with him. I am still a little hesitant to be so bold. I guess if you have to classify the two of us you would say we are the BOLD and the BEAUTIFUL...im the later. We also got to go to this amazing park were some japanese shrines are located. Really amazing place to see. Then sleep on the bus ride back and pizza for dinner.
Sunday Rhett, Andrew, and I went to a Noh play. It is so peaceful that it is hard to stay awake but all together it was really interusting. They had translated the story for us so we could follow along. It was a very sad story and beautifully done. After that we went to the Fukuoka Museum of Art. Even in Japan i still dont really get modern art. Some of it was really interusting. Then dinner which was really good. A omelet on rice which is called omirice here. Then we went to the city to go to a manga store here. Really awsome to see a huge building with 4 floors on it all dedicated to manga!!! I think i might spend all my leftover money here... : )

Thursday

2009-06-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

ok so thursday was the first day of rest that i have taken here. No trips to the city just some good old fashioned studying and relaxing. We studied how to change verb forms which is really interusting and i hope will help to expand how i can talk to many of the students here. Yesterday i wanted sweets like really badly so i had to order a hot fudge sunday. We ate dinner with Teraro sensei..i felt kinda bad because i kept asking questions on like when to use a verb how to use things like that. My first like american meal here was a club sandwhich which i quite enjoyed. I had to go to bed early because at this point even talking in english im trying to think of how to congegate the next verb.....which i know how to do .....i hope ...anywho more next time prob more interusting as well

Wed News Dai

2009-06-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we went to visit Akasaka which is a area of Fukuoka where they have excavated to find some relics from Japans past. Mostly pottery. It was very interusting to see, they had many maps there showing the trade routes of the past and how they lead to Japan. By Boat from China or Korea it is roughly about a three month boat trip. Then we got to go to Tenjin ( the 7th time in 6 days ) eat dinner which was awsome plus it is fun to try to conversate in our broken japanese and their english. I had something like bbq pork which i enjoyed immensly. Ayana had like this chicken tempura which was awsome i almost had to steal her dinner also. Rhett didnt sit by me at dinner so i had to speak japanese throughout. We both keep saying to the girls here ( im sorry but i have forgotten english so please speak to me in Japanese) then back to the hotel sleep required again earliest that i have gone to bed in consecutive days.

Mondi Tuesdi

2009-06-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Monday we went to school and got to learn more new Japanese. Also we got to learn about Shooju Manga which is manga made for girls. I found it to be very interusting. Rhett and I got to go to dinner with Maki, Ayana, and Maya. We went to Tenjin and at at a Yatai, やたい, or a Ramen noodle stand. Anyway afterwards we went to the arcade and took pictures in the picture booths that they have there. It is a very popular thing to do here. They seem to be only for girls but actually you can have alot of fun trying to take good pictures in a cramped booth with a time limit, also you can edit your pictures after with electric pens after and draw whatever you want. Rhett, Maya, and I played a Taiko drum game which i think might be impossible to get good at unless you play consistantly.
Tuesday more school. We got to sit in on a science class which talked about the ways that we can save energy. I think our governer had probably sat in on the same class because the ideas on how to conserve energy were very similar to those in america. After school again to Tenjin. There are some many cool things here that it is hard to not want to buy the whole store. Rhett and i have been asking the students to speak to us only in japanese so that we can hear their sentence structures. So far my understanding of what they are saying is relative to how slowly they speak and also how many english sounding words get thrown into the sentence. Then dinner and sleep so precious to me now, the moment i lay down im out like a light. More tomorrow( even though im posting this today)

Weekends are fun

2009-06-16T16:13:00.001-07:00

Ok so this weekend we got to visit Nagasaki with the students of FWU. it was a very exciting fun experience. A long bus ride (about 2 hours) and we were all ready to start exploring. First thing we got to see was the catholic church that is in nagasaki. Built up on a hill it is a very beautifully built church. Also at the same site is a beautiful garden. There in resides a single heart shaped stone that we all searched for because if my facts are correct it will grant you good luck ..or maybe grant your true love..i cant remember ; ( next stop was to the atomic bomb museum. This was while interusting a very frightening example of the destruction that can be wrought through war. The next place that we went to was the statue of peace which is an amazing huge statue!! All together the day was very cool then dinner with some new friends and sleep like an egyptian mummy.
Sunday we got to go to the biggest antique market in 九州, right outside of the gates of はこざき　Shrine. The market was a very interusting site. Like being at a swap meet here but much bigger with much more random items for sale. next we went to the shrine there and fed the pidgeons which is weird in America but here they enjoy pidgeons around most of them are sooo fat lol. We then went to tenjin which is the downtown area here to eat lunch and see a kyogen performance the only thing i can aquate it to is a shakespear play, even some of the students here had trouble understanding.. or maybe they just said that so i didnt feel so dumb. That night Rhett, Andrew, Gary, and myself went back to Tenjin to see if we could do it on our own without help from the Japanese students. There we played video games for a few hours and then came back home. Also i had Mcdonalds which is prob one of my least fav places to eat but here in japan the amount of grease is significantly reduced, it is actually enjoyable to eat.

Meeting the students

2009-06-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today we got our bus passes! Its like the first time you got to drive around on your own. The freedom the exziliration the nervous pit in your stomach as you realize that you have little to no idea what bus stop your supposed to get off on. But no time to think about that Today we get to meet the students of FWU!! very exciting. It was essentially a full day of meet and greet, and i dont think you could ask for anything more interusting. The ability to comunicate is helped greatly by the students english here. I wish i could speak japanese as well as the student here are able to. So many people to meet, names to remember, things to experience...... im starting to think that a month might be to short a time... but i promise i will do my best : ) We also got to go to a very interusting lecture by Hirota sensei and a welcome party with even more new people to meet. On Friday we got to go to the Tea Ceremony Club which was really cool, a good chance for us to meet some more new friends

4th day

2009-06-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Another study day... ; ) i still dont mind it. Every time class ends i become a little sad because i want to learn so much more. Yet all good things have to end sometimes. Also we have a field trip today so that is very exciting. We got to visit a few of the shrines that they have here plus a museum that has stored in it many of the national treasures of japan. Some treasures are as small as a piece of pottery that they have found from their past. The shrines are amazing. Set into the sides of the mountains one can almost imagine comming here in the past. It is so peaceful here, i find the blending of the modern japan and the past japan very interusting.

third day of bloginaza

2009-06-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today study session with Terao Sensei. Maybe the first time that i can remember that i actually was excited to study ..anything. Being surrounded by it makes me want to know what im looking at. We are still under quarantine so we havent gotten to meet any of the students yet so today we walked around the hotel. We dont have bus passes yet and i think that we are also still alittle indimidated by all the kanji that is around us. So instead we went to the stores that are around the hotel .. or at least in walking distance. Its really interusting that even in a simple store everything that i see is interusting and new.

Second Blog

2009-06-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

06/07/09
きょうはたのしとおもしろいかったですねえ。 Today was fun and interusting. Though Jet lagged a bit we did so many things. The first place that we got to visit was a pottery work shop. The artist there walked us through his craft and work place explaining the amount of time and effort that must go into the pottery every season. The kilm that they have there is huge!! They said that out of every season there is usually only one piece of pottery made that they find to be truely unique. Hirota sensei had to translate for us but she is an excellent translator so it was very interusting expierience. First true day here and i already wish i had been studying Japanese from year one!! Our next stop was to a cute resturant located in what is translated as the Rainbow Pine Forest. This stop was to visit Niji no Matsubara beach. The food was awsome so good and soo tasty. Next on the agenda was the ruins of Nagoya Castle and the museum that they have there. Truely some amazing treasures that they have stored there. Of course since it was a museum no pictures were allowed buti took some awsome mental photos ; ) One of my favorite pieces was a book with black pages and all the writing and pictures were not only amazingly delicate and complex but also written in gold ink!! Then to Karastu Castle.. So Cool they explained that it was so simple because it was used by samurai to guard the coast..the view at the top was amazing though i was hesitant to get to close to the edge.. because it was very windy. I really liked the architecture it is amazing that they had the skill to build something so well constructed so long ago. All together a very exciting day finished off with korean bbq (painfully ordered with limited japanese) and then sleep like Rip Van Winkle.

First Blog in Japan

2009-06-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

06/05/09
the plane ride was long of course.. Time may fly when your having fun but when excited and in a crapped place time moves at the speed of a turtle on roller blades. we arrived on the sixth and we had the privilage of being tested for influenza (something of which i have always said we need more of back home..maybe ill talk to arnold when we get back) because とてもたのしかたですね..very fun.

Chris Cox Summer study tour extravaganza Machine

ありがとございます 福岡女子大学