桜

Yes! The sakura trees are in bloom! :D

I went with my family to partake in the hanami - flower wieving. We haven't done the whole thing with a picnic basket yet, but I think we will now during the spring holidays. Still, no food meant no ditracting me from all the beauty surrunding me. (Haha, I sound like such a glutton!) I'm not complaining - I needed all my senses to take in as much as possible. :)

The cherry blossom is Japan's national flower, and I must say I don't think they could have made a better choice! And with all the sakura trees here blossoming in perfect unison now, it looked like a veil of pink blossom clouds. It was really warm and sunny that day too, so it was a perfect day for a hanami.

I love flowers and trees, so a blooming tree is perfect! It was beautiful.

Without further ado, I bring thee: pictures! (click for larger)

Look! A chibi sakura! :P

Also, there's news on the bukatsu (clubs) part of things. I've decided to quit kyudo, as we hardly ever trained, and so I found little reason to stay. However, I had a good time when we did train, and I'm very grateful to both my wonderful sensei and my bukatsu friends. :)

Still, my goals in joining a club were to try something new, to have fun, make new friends and train so that I could get as good as I could withing a year. This cannot be achieved without training.

So! I've talked to my councelor in Ijuin Rotary club (for the first time, go me!) and asked him if he could pwetty pwease do a bit of snooping around to see if there's any kendo clubs close to where I live that would allow a cute little foreign girl to wave a bamboo stick around. (Since my school's kendo club will be history as of the new term.)

There's a junior high kendo coach that's said he's willing to teach me, though, so at least I know of one. Fingers crossed!

Location: Japan
Mood: um... hungry?
Listening to: Scarborough Fair
Eating: no
Drinking: cocoa!

In need of a cardboard box

Take an exchange student who also happens to love Japanese sub-culture and j-pop/rock. Take her to Japan for a year. Place her in a Japanese music store. Watch her go crazy. Now place her in a second hand music/game store where everything is much cheaper. Watch her go insane. Let her do this sporadically for about 5 months.

Watch the stack of CD's grow...and grow.... and you end up with something like this:

...I put my DS in there for comparison.

I need a big box to send things home in. Now. Haha! p(^_^;;)q

On a different note, my kyudo club is nearly extinct. People hardly ever come to training, and as it is now it's Kuramura and me training outside. He' left the school's dormitory, and it now takes him 2 hours to go home... so naturally there'll be times when he can't come either. And we're trainig outside where it's cold. The other's won't show up until we start training in the dojo again, but that might take some time. And they all joined the student's council...

I don't know anymore. I'll keep trying for some time and see. It'll get better when it gets warmer too.

I've had this week off, because there were tests at our school for junior high schoolers wanting to get in to Josei. I've been doing basically nothing, so I've been a little bored. I don't get to move much, and I've come to realize I really am a sports freak. I love moving and learning how to do new, physical things. So sitting around all day makes me a dull girl. XD

I did, however, sing karaoke for 4 hours straight with my host sister Sayaka. Couldn't speak very well afterwards, but it was a lot of fun! I also discovered some new songs that are a lot of fun to sing; Ikomonogakari's "Sakura" and Aya Matsuuras "Ne~e". A lot of fun! (...and you can't beat the theme song from "Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan"! XD Pipirupirupirupipirupiiii~!

...random posts? Me? Never! ....

Location: Japan
Mood: kind of bored (but swimming soon! Yay!)
Listening to: MTV (in the living room with my family)
Eating: -
Drinking: -

Yesss!

I've done it! I've fired my first arrow with feathers!☆

Oosaki-sensei stood beside me the whole time, watching and helping me with everything from how to walk up to where I fire from to how to pick up my second arrow (while wearing the glove. Not as easy as you may think). They told me that usually girls have trouble getting the arrow all over to the side the target's on. Well...I got it over all right!

WHOOOSH!
"Where did it go?"
"I can't see it..."

Haha! XD I was far from the target, but Oosaki-sensei patted me on the back and said it was well done. And I fired my first proper arrow! So I've been happy the entire evening. ♪〜ヾ(*⌒∇⌒)ツ☆

Actually, I used Yumiba-senseis arrows since my red ones were at school. The feathers on these arrows are quite worn, so that makes them go a bit here and there too. Still - I won't say my technique is perfect either! ：P Tomorrow's training again! 。o@(^-^)@o。

The picture is of my teammates training. OK, so Kuramura is fixing his bow and Hamada is... ehm...well. Not. In this picture. Which is why I took it. XD He sat up in seiza when he heard a teacher coming, hehe!(^ε^)

Oh - I'm seriously attached to my bow now...

THIS...IS...SPARTAAA!

Whew, I'm tired! In an effort to totally exhaust myself while on exchange, I've decided to take one day every week where I practice the dances we'll be performing sometime in February. (Or not, depending on if we pass the dancing test or not.) Anyway, I went there today, taking a day off from kyudo. It was actually pretty fun.☆ Even though it's really fast and I'm not good at dancing. But I'm starting to remember. I can even do some of it! Including the whole aerobic with some more practice.☆ It's not impossible! And you get closer to the people in class working with them. They're really patient as long as you do your best. I think I like working together like this.

So, my schedule until February will look like this:

Monday: kyudo
Tuesday: dance practice
Wednesday: kyudo (dojo)
Thursday: kyudo
Friday: swimming

...I must be trying to kill myself. ：P Still, this is temporary. Once it's done I'll train kyudo at school on Tuesdays again!♪

道場

The place where we bow before every training. I'm not sure what it all is, but it looks nice. :P

These things have fallen victims to my featherless arrows.

Where the cool guys fire theirs. (With feathers!)

This is the dojo where we train, or at least parts of it. (^ε^) I love this place! It's just beside a temple, and it's all in traditional Japanese style.☆ Wood! I think it's beautiful.

The first arrow!

I'm in front of my computer, which allows me to type faster and tell you more about the amazing news:

~ I've officially fired my first arrow!! ~

It was a special practice arrow, like I said. And my target was not a mato target, but a makiwara. Now let me tell you - up until now kyudo's been pretty hard while doing nothing else but practicing to draw the bow. Now add an arrow....

The technique - it's so much to think about! And it's so much fun! I actually really like things that are technically challenging. As long as it feels like I'll be able to do it eventually. ;P

Oosaki-sensei (the actual kyudo teacher) took us to the dojo, and taught me how to hold the arrow, shoot and...well, everything. Holding the arrow - it's a lot harder than I'd thought. (Although I try not to say or think "pfft, that's easy!" because you never really know until you've tried. And as a rule it's always much harder than it looks!) You kind of just support it with your hand. Still, if you use too much strength, the arrow falls! So it's kind of the opposite of what your instincts tell you to do, right? "Hold on tight, don't drop it!" *cling* "...darn.." Haha! And to top it off, the bow is pretty heavy to draw for me still. Even though my wrist now bends as it's supposed to, it's hard to hold their position once you've fully drawn the bow. But I'll practice, practice, practice! Yaay~! v(*^^*)

Oosaki-sensei was really great and helped me, telling showing me (either physically by repositioning my various limbs or by mimicking the movements) what to do. The first time I let go of the string and fired the arrow, I was delighted by the power it released. I've felt it while practicing to draw the bow, but actually releasing it was really cool! I just stood there with my eyes popping going "Whoa! Whoa! Hee... hehehehehehee!" Oosaki-sensei smiled and laughed a bit at me when I did that. ^^ Oh, and my sensei looks freakin' elegant! Just the way he mimics how to pull the bow... I feel like I can see where the power goes and you can tell he knows what he's doing. And he's really supportive and seems like a really nice person too. It's a shame my swimming lessons on Friday collide with my second day in the dojo.

Once I released the string wrong so that, even from that short distance, my arrow went sideways and into the wall - missing the entire makiwara! XD I laughed while Oosaki-sensei went over and swiftly pulled it out. Well, actually I hit the protecting plate behind the target. There was a suspiciously round mark suggesting someone once hit the wall... :P

There's just a lot to think about. Even how to walk up to the place from where you aim have specific rules! And I haven't even started putting on my clothes yet... although I will next time! So I'll feel either really cool or really wannabee, haha!

Location:
Mood: Very sleepy...
Listening to:
Eating: doughnuts!
Drinking:

弓道

Today's pictures are from where we practice kyudo at school, and of some of the guys in my club...eh, practicing!(^∇^)/

Yesterday I fired my first arrow! It was on a practice target, and I stood really close by so as to practice my technique. So my arrow was one without feathers. (Aiming comes later.★) This also means it's not shiny and red. Yet. There are a million rules to learn first. How to walk up to where you stand, for example. I've only practiced a bit of that. It's really challenging! Which makes it fun!☆ I'll write more about it if I can get to my computer tonight.↑↑

Black and white

There are things that are annoying me right now, but I won't dwell on that. (Well, there have been small things all along. I've experienced both good and bad things here in Japan up until now - as I came to do, being on an exchange.) It's not all a dance on roses. It's just that I choose to write about all the positive things instead - they outnumber the bad by far, after all. It's more fun to read about, and more fun to think of too. A win - win situation. :)

Today was kyudo training again, and I practiced with my awesome bow of win! Last time I had a tendency to lean my body the same way as I pulled my string, because it's heavy and hard to draw. But today I didn't! The hand holding the bow still won't straighten out as it's supposed to, because the bow is still quite heavy to draw for me, but it's fun and I like the challenges! So I'll keep on doing it until I get it right! And then one day I'll shoot using cute, red arrows! Yay! XD

The guys in my kyudo club are great too. The freshman we teased the first time, Kuramura (who's name I now remember!) is really nice and funny. We practice together out in the cold every day after school, since he lives in the dorm and doesn't have much else to do anyway. And because we want to train (and I'm obsessed about those arrows, haha!).

Also, the singing teacher has arranged for us to meet every thursday during lunch so that she can give me singing lessons since my HR teacher won't help me change my schedule so I can go sing. The singing teacher is great, I love her! She plays the piano and I sing "Tonight" from "West Side Story" with her guiding me. I've told her I love singing and used to do it since I was a little kid. She listened to me sing for a while, and then commented "you always sang in a low voice, didn't you?". Well, yes...

I used to sit in the back of the car singing to myself the songs I wanted to hear (before I had an mp3-player, you know) and hear the music inside my head. Still, I'd stop if mom turned her head to hear. Yeah, I was shy. So I loved it if the radio was on and someone was talking, because then I could sing without being heard by anyone but myself. Still, I'd get really annoyed if there was music on, because then the melody would get mixed up with mine and I couldn't sing. XD

It's gotten better, but I'm still a bit shy singing in front of people. So I was taken aback when my teacher suggested singing a Norwegian song in front of everyone (meaning the school) on some occasion. "If you have a voice like that, I think you can do it." I'm very happy to hear that, but I kind of want to do this just for fun while I'm here. I won't say it for certain - heck, maybe I'll end up doing it, you never know - but I know I'd be so nervous that I'd be in pain for weeks. Haha! :P I think it'd be better if I could sing with someone. ("Oh, Shu~n!" XD) Anyway - I love singing, and it's great that I'll be able to get some lessons, just like I've always wanted. (Yes, really. I just never had time! 24 hours and 7 days is not enough.) So to my wonderful singing teacher: Thank you!

...and now I'll go to bed! :)

Location: Japan, baby!
Mood: Tired, slightly annoyed (but a bit too tired now to be really angry.)
Listening to: I noen timer - Odd Børretzen
Eating: Ochazuke (rice with green tea poured over it. Yum!)
Drinking: Green tea. Shiawase da na~

Yumi!

A short note of joy:

Today I started practicing with a yumi (bow)! It is a lot harder than I'd expected, even though I knew it would be tough. Drawing the bow is a lot harder, and it's heavier. Plus that my bow is really tall - over 2 meters tall! - so I need some practice to be able to hold it up straight without wavering. And that's before I start to draw it. Phew! Still, I've learned to put on my glove, my...um... "breast protection piece of leather"?...and I'm happy!

Also, I don't have to buy my own arrows. Some that were bought by a student who quit before using them fit me perfectly. They're shiny and red and really short and cute!

In (even shorter) short:

Me <3's kyudo.

Location: Japan!
Mood: Happy and tired
Practicing: Kyudo!

Kyudo! (and get those girls!)

I've officially become a member of the kyudo club!
(Kyudo is traditional Japanese archery, used by the samurai.)

Today I basically had a private lesson with Yumiba-sensei (23). ("Yumi" as in "bow", haha!) He showed me how to place my feet, hold the bow and how to draw (and release) the bow. (Although I'm currently using a rubber band fastened to something that looks like a plastic handle. I probably will be for the next month or two.)

Let me tell you - it's a lot harder than it looks! As is the case with most things, actually. I believe that you should never say that something's easy until you've tried it! It's just that skilled people can make it look that way. ;)

I think it's very fun - lots of challenges! Keep your arms up, shoulders down, align your hands, don't use too much strength, relax... I think hitting the target is the last thing you bother with! XD Or, if you manage a perfect shot, you'll hit it. So you aim for the perfect shot. Although me and ol' rubby will be friends fore some time before I go anywhere near a target! :P Still, Yumiba-sensei said that I was the first newcomer he'd seen that had the arm holding the bow aligned that well with the body when "shooting". I was happy to hear that! ^^ He also gave me his number and mail, so that I can contact him whenever I want to practice. He said he'd come over whenever he could. "And besides, if I have too much free time I'll get fat!" XD

Another guy from the kyudo club (a first-year who's name I can't remember yet) came to practice later. By then Yumiba-sensei and I were sitting down taking a break. He showed me a purikura picture of him and his girlfriend, so I told him about my boyfriend in Norway. I told him that he'd turn 20 this year, but think he must have misheard me, or I might have messed up. He smiled and looked like he was about to laugh. Then the conversation went about as follows:

Yumiba: Ano...Heren?
Me: Yes?
Yumiba: Heren?
Me: ...yes? (o_o;;)
Yumiba: Heren, that's the same age as me! O__o
Me: Oh! Ah, no, no, he turns 20!
Yumiba: Ah, 20! I thought you said 23... *phew*

He looked relieved to know that I did not date a guy 5 years my senior. XD Still it was quite fun, because our age difference is the same as between him and his girlfriend. And so the conversation went on, much to the dismay of the nexly arrived first-year, since the obvious question had to be asked: "so, do you have a person you like?" "Eh.. no." This, of course, was subject to much lament on our behalf. Yumiba-sensei was kind enough to explain: "There's a lot of cute girls around, but he sais he doesn't have interest in any of them! What shall we do with him? He's a nice kid, but there's no one who's fallen for him yet..." So we conjured up various ways in which to help him, including praying at temples, have him watch romatic TV-shows and painting hearts on the targets. (Amor, you know.)

Yumiba: So have you ever recieved any chocolates for Valentine's Day?
?: Well, from my grandmother and stuff...
Yumiba: *turns to me* What shall we do with him? *turns back* You like chocolates, don't you?
?: ...yeah, I guess...
Yumiba: *turns back to me again* A girl's sweet love, and sweet chocolate... that's the best!
Me: Yes! A girl's sweet love, chocolate and don't forget a warm heart!
Yumiba: ...Right? Oh, what shall we do with him? Heren, give him a friend chocolate (obligation chocolate) for Valentine's Day, will you?

The rest of the time was spent whispering and giggling with Yumiba-sensei teasing (in a friendly manner) the poor kyudo guy, who'd turn around now and then asking "what?" to which Yumiba-sensei would reply "Ah, nandemonai. Kochi no hanashi da." ("Oh, nothing. Just talking between the two of us." Lit. "here's conversation" ...I find this hard to translate well -.-;) Then we'd laugh till my stomach hurt and sensei'd be massaging his cheek. XD

After kyudo practice I walked back to the train station with sensei, and we talked some more before I got on the train home. Lots of fun! Tomorrow's bunkasai, culture festival, at school!

Location: Japan!
Mood: Elevated XD
Practicing: Kyudo!

PS: I can't seem to write a short blog post about anything, ever. -.-; Though I know many of you don't mind. (Dolle, Molle... I'm looking at you!) If you do - you're free to skip it. ;P

Testing Kyudo!

Today was my trial day at kyudo. It was fun, although we only got to practice with rubber bands fastened to a small plastic handle. (Obviously, thinking you'll be shooting an arrow from a 2 meter long bow on your first day when you can't even hold it correctly is asking a bit much! XD) We went by car to practice in a dojo away from our school, since we don't have a dojo of our own. It was amazingly Japanese and really beautiful!

The teacher did nothing but sweep the floors(!), so we were taught by the students. Still, they were really helpful and knew a lot more than we did, so it was fine! They even stood behind me correcting my stance and way of holding the bow. ^^ And, OMG, physical contact!! XD (Still, I must say I'm surprised the teacher didn't even come to look at any of us...?) They were really nice and funny too - there was one boy we found out went a class beow us (or he's younger, can't recall), so he's our kouhai (junior at work or school etc.). He jokingly got down on his knees, bowing with his head to the floor. Then we realized that he's our senpai (senior) when it comes to kyudo - so Francesco threw himself flat down on his stomach while I repeated the low bow. All the while laughing and saying "onegai shimasu" repeatedly. XD

They're having a contest in a few weeks time, so up until then they're all practicing. After that, they don't really seem to know when the next training will be. Apparently they send each other mails on their cell phones when they have a training. What I'm worried about is that I might not learn as much if we hardly ever practice. In which case maybe I should just work damn hard ans start kendo? I might get bored of going home so early eventually too, although club activites every day will be tiring, I'm sure... I don't know. I'm confused again. :S What to doo~?

People who have tried any of this, or just want to give me a tip... you're welcome to leave a comment! :)

Location: Japan!
Mood: tired (thank God it's Friday...)
Listening to: my host dad snoring in the sofa XD
Eating: are you crazy?! It's past midnight...
Drinking: maybe some water before I go to bed. Bed~ m(_ _)m