Piczo

Orientation

At 7:oo, my alarm rang. I forgot to change it to 8:30. Er... Anyway, I quickly got dressed and did some last minute packing. And at 9:30, my host mom drive me to Kochi Station. I was ready for Rotary's multiple district orientation in Okayama! Yurie and I loaded the train and found our seats. 2 stops later, next year's exchange student, Marina Yamasaki and Ayaka Honda, boarded and greeted us warmly. The train ride was only 2 hours, and when we arrived at the station, we were all alone for a few minutes. Soon enough more Japanese students arrived, as well as one gaijin. We kind of just stared at each other wondering whether or not the other one spoke English. She turned out to be Amanda Hansen, from Tennessee, in Mitsui. A good friend suring Orientation weekend. Soon 2 French girls and a Swedish boy came through the gates. Later an Aussie called Bronwynn in Matsuyama met us at the station. A couple Rotarians greeted us and shuffled us onto a bus headed to the Seaside Hotel. Inside, I met up with Mem, from New York, who I went to Okinawa. Later another Aussie in Imabari, named Sarah, arrived. Before everybody could talk, the Orientation started. Everyone introduced themselves, including the exchange students. I kind of messed up because Mem made me laugh. But later we had to do a longer introduction speech. So far for all the speeches that I have had to do, I have been able to prepare. This one was my first off the top of the head. The Swedish boy went first. He has learned more English here in Japan, than he has Japanese. He sat down after a brief pidgeon Japanese speech. The main Rotarian asked who wanted to go next, and for the first shock of the day, I stood up and walked to the front of the room. "Minna-san Konnichiwa! Julie Garner desu. 16 desu. Watashi wa Tosajoshi no Ichinensee desu. Kochi-ken ni sunde imasu, demo American kara kimashita. Washi no kurabusu wa Koto to Sado to Nihon Buyou." (Basically, I'm Julie, I'm 16, I'm a Sophomore that lives in Kochi but came from America. My clubs are Japanese Harp, Tea Ceremony, and Dance.) The main Rotarian was shocked and told me my Japanese was very good, to which I responded "Chigaimasu!" (That's wrong!) He asked about my favorite foods and if I liked Japan. I responded in Japanese and then bowed and sat down. Yurie said it was very cute. Mem went next and after a few Japanese mistakes, the main Rotarian told her to just speak in English. Amanda, who like me and Mem, had just started studying Japanese, definitly had the best out of the 3 of us. The French girls had been studying the language 2 years prior so they did great. Bronwyn is currently in her second exchange to Japan, so her language was near perfect. And Sarah spoke English as well. I know I should feel really proud of myself for learning 2 alphabets and being able to speak enough to get around, but honestly I was upset. I've been studying pretty hard and I'm just not getting it fast enough. I love the language but it's soooo difficult. The Rotex, or former exchange students, did speeches for next years exchange students. Which was followed by next year's exchange students doing speeches. It was all very boring. After about 4 or 5 hours of just sitting there doing nothing. We got to go with the Rotex and plan some entertainment after dinner for the Outbounds, next years exchangers. It started to get a little groupey actually. The English speakers, French speakers, and Japanese speakers all clung together. But it was a great opportunity for 5 English speakers to become fast friends. Then after a long discussion on the culture and Me, Mem, and Amanda offering adive to Sarah and Bronwyn, who had only arrived 2 or 3 weeks ago, it was time to settle into our rooms. I was to share with Amanda and Mem. So we headed up and checked in to the rooms. And then we managed to be late for dinner with Bronwyn and Sarah. At dinner, we were all seperated at the table, but that didn't stop us from shouting across the table to talk. Dinner was about 10 courses of stuff. The best part was how many forks and knifes there were at each place mat. We all made some silly mistakes. I ended up eating my steak with a butter knife and a cake fork. After dinner was entertainment time. Not that we had actually prepared anything. But I did realize my true calling in acting! Mem and I pretended to be Japanese exchange students, while some Rotex pretended to be American exchange students. I really did play the part of Japanese exchange student very well. The quote of the skit, "Yeah in Japanese school we can sleep, what can you do?" After some more skits, Yurie, Naoko, last year to Oregon, and Me did a skit on Japanese jokes. Then, Amanda, Mem, and Me decided to teach the Outbounds some American dances. The 3 of us stood in the front of the room and did the Macarena, which Yurie had the music for, and then the Cha Cha Slide, which is hard to explain in Japanese. Then by popular request we taught the chicken dance. Honestly, to think, Julie Garner stealing the spot light. It's comical at best. After the entertainment, we headed back into the dining hall for midnight snack and about 2 hours of talking. It was back to the English Speakers Society. But really, we all sared some much information about how cultures and argued that the Statue of Liberty is really on the New Jersey side. haha. Think about 3 accents, Aussie, East Coast Fast talk, and slightly Southern, having discussions about Japanese school life compared to life at home. Always pretty interesting. Even when it was time to sleep, Me, Amanda, and Mem pulled an all-nighter and talked about intellectual things, which we haven't been able to do in 6 months. You don't realize that knowing a language fluently is not just about communicating, it's about expressing yourself and your feelings. I didn't even know I felt the way I did until I started talking. At 5, I caught about an hour and half worth of sleep, which didn't help very much. At 7:30, we met up with the Aussies for an interesting looking Western breakfast. Then checked out, put our belongings in a safe place, and boarded a bus bound for Kagawa's famous shrine, Kompira. The drive, about 40 minutes was filled with Karaoke. French girls sang in French, the Swedish boy sang "If Your Happy And You Know It" in Swedish, and Amanda, Mem, and Me sang "Proud to be an American." I have a terrible voice, but once the microphone came our way, we all sort of hogged it. The Aussies and us Americans also sang Butterfly, from DDR. I would have kept going, because I'm turning into an actress but the Rotex wanted to sing. Later we arrived in Kotohira, is a one-horse town known solely as the site of the Kompira Shrine, a large shrine complex in the north-western part of Shikoku island. Kagawa prefecture is famed for its Sanuki udon wheat noodles and you'll find no shortage of shops hawking them on the road and stairway to the shrine. Rotary had us all attend an Udon making school. So the first part of the excursion, we learned to roll dough, cover in flour, cut it up, and enjoy. After I had cut it all up, the teacher peered down at it and said, "Chotto Hen." Wonderful, he called my creation a little bit strange. We put our cut up Udon in little packages for later. Then the group headed into Kotohira and on our way to Kompira Shrine. Kompira (also Konpira) is the oldest and most revered of Shikoku's shrines. Until the Meiji Restoration, it was in fact (mostly) a Buddhist temple, but was turned into a Shinto shrine during the enforced segregation of the era. Formally known as Kotohira-gū (金刀比羅宮), nearly everybody calls its by the half-familiar, half-respectful name Kompira-san (金比羅さん) instead. And it is known as a guardian deity of the sea. With its park and forest, it is laid out on the slope of Mt. Zozu or Mt. Elephant's head over 521 meters high. True to it's name, it is located on a hill, and to get to the top in about 800 steps. The steps towards the bottom run through huge Omiyage shops with loud sales people and bright colors. I enjoyed the great excersize my leg were receiving in the climb, but Mem, Amanda, and Bronwyn kept moaning at the sight of new steps. haha. The Shrine was really packed with Japanese people. For the record, Japanese religious activities are really open to anyone, infact when I pray at the Shrines, usually, I am welcomed with open arms and encouraged greatly. But today was different. The 5 of us met alot of "Gaijin go home!" Lucky, we had each other and we all really ignored it. At the top of the Shrine, we were treated to looking out at the gorgeous Kagawa and Shikoku's finest green mountains. It was hard for me to head back, but lunch time was approaching rapidly. We retraced our steps down the mountain and back through the Omiyage filled streets to the Udon school. Back at the school, we got our Udon and split into groups of 3. The groups poured their noodle dough into a boiling pot of water and watched them cook. I apoligized to Amanda and a Rotarian for mixing my 'strange' noodles into theirs. When it was all done and cooked, we tried the noodles. Let's just say, I've never eaten more delicious noodles in my life. Even Amanda, who is like the Noodle Grand Master, was in heaven. Kagawa really does have amazing Udon. When lunch was over, the group went downstairs to buy Omiyage for friends and host family. I think it worth mentioning what I actually bought for my host family. Octopus. God, I love Japan.