So, here's another one of those posts that I promised to help people who might want to study in Japan.
Firstly, I earlier said you'd want to get a phone plan. I was wrong. The best way to go is Softbank's prepaid, I believe. You can get unlimited texting with it, and the calls actually give you more options than the plan offers! But even unlimited texting from the Softbank plan costs extra money if you're texting outside of Softbank...it's not such a good deal, after all.
Secondly, there's a bunch of things you'll probably miss that you just don't think about before you leave! There's the obvious hamburgers (I don't count McDonald's), Mexican Food, etc, but here are a few less obvious things that you'll want to get out of your system before you go. So, here's a list of some food that's expensive to buy in Japan:
1) Cheese. Cheese exists in Japan, but if you want to pay $10 for a slice of Parmesan the size of your thumb, be my guest. The cheapest cheese I've found is at Santoku for about 400 yen ($5), but even that's pretty expensive for the quality cheese you get....
2) Strawberries and other fruit. They exist here, sure, but again are ridiculously expensive. Really, the only affordable fruits here are bananas, apples, and mandarin oranges. If you're trying to save money, you won't want to buy anything else.
3) Dried Fruits. Again, they exist, but are quite expensive.
4) Baking. Anything. No one in Japan seems to have an oven! The closest we have in the dorm are toaster ovens, and they burn the outside while the inside is still raw. If you cut things small enough, it could be possible (I heard of someone baking a turkey successfully that way, using tiny turkey bits in 4 toaster ovens), but baked goods are harder. There are apparently some recipes that can be used in a rice cooker, though! If you do decide to give it a go, be aware that you can't find baking soda in a grocery store. Look in a pharmacy (apparently, since the Japanese don't bake often, it's in the pharmacy since it can help with stomach aches).
5) Decent bread. They sell not-so-tasty (it's not bad, just not gourmet) bread at the Hyaku En Shop (Hundred Yen Shop), though. But 8 slices for a over a dollar seems a little pricey to most Americans.
6) Breakfast food. A traditional Japanese breakfast consists usually of rice, nato, fish, and noodles. As such, they're inexpensive here. Bagels and cereal, on the other hand, are very expensive. I still have cereal in the morning, but I'll mix different kinds together (a cheaper one and a more expensive one) so I enjoy the taste and spend less money. Cheapish toast with 100 yen jam is a good option, as well. Some apples/bananas in the morning aren't a bad idea, either, if you like fruit with breakfast.
7) Meat. Don't get me wrong, the Japanese love their meat. Most of them (with some exceptions when they're under 25 years old) don't actually know what a vegetarian is; the villagers in Ten'ei thought it meant they could ONLY eat veggies (so, they didn't serve them rice)! But, Japan is a tiny country, and everything has to be imported. So, meat is expensive most of the time. Find your local supermarket and check it at least a couple of times a week for sales. There are apparently some meat shops that have super-cheap meat that you can stock up on. For meat, buy cheap and store it in your freezer. One nice thing is that the Japanese like their meat fatty, so the nice, fat-less ones are actually less expensive most of the time!
Now, there are some things that are incredibly cheap. Surprisingly, rice is not one of them (although you can find specials where it is). Here is a short list!
1) Milk and yogurt--but only at the Hyaku En (Hundred Yen) Shops! There are actually a bunch of good deals at these shops, but don't get carried away! The reason they stay in business is because, while some things (like milk) are sold for quite cheap, other things are sold for far too much. Just make sure you check out other markets, as well. And since it's not like the states (with 3 major ones in a few miles radius), there are little markets all over. You'll have plenty of options.
2) Noodles, noodles, noodles. Don't bother with expensive ones like penne; they all pretty much taste the same. Spaghetti is very cheap, as are Japanese noodles such as ramen, soba, and udon. Always a good choice.
3) Various types of soups/curries. You can make a bunch of different soups/noodle soup dishes with dashi (fish stock), soy sauce, etc. Throw in whatever veggies are cheapest at the moment (cabbage is always a good bet), and you're fed for several meals. Curry is also cheap, and again, use that meat you got on sale earlier with whatever cheap veggies you found, and you're good for another few meals (mine lasted me over a week!).
4) Cabbage, potato, onion. Just know where to look, frankly, and you can find most veggies for decent prices. There's a nice little veggie shop near where I live, and they always have excellent deals.
5) Find your local Don Quixote (they really are everywhere; ours is called Picaso) if you want good deals on alcohol! I don't think I've found it cheaper elsewhere.
For the most part, traditional Japanese foods will be cheap, while imported things are more expensive. While this sounds obvious, it can be hard for foreigners to determine what came from what. After you've spent a little time in Japan, it will become more clear, but in the meantime, I hope this helps! Just remember to search your neighborhood to know your options before you spend too much money at an expensive store, and you'll be fine. :)
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Ten'ei Village
I have to admit, I was a little surprised when my British friend Clare sent me a link to a website unassociated with the school advertising a weekend homestay program in a remote village. I was even more surprised when I clicked on the link, and it read, "Have you ever been to Japan?" I almost blew it off. But, the website explained itself. The people sponsoring the trip wondered if we had been to the parts of Japan that weren't city, bustling nightlife, and crowded shopping centers. And you know what? I hadn't.
So, I went ahead and applied for the program. A few weeks later, we met the group of students sponsoring the event; they all seemed thrilled to be doing the program. As it turned out, half of the students were agriculture students who had been to the village before to study rural farming. The other half were Japanese students who had studied abroad and wanted current foreign students to truly get the most out of our time in Japan.
We had dinner with them that night, and they all seemed like neat people. It was nice to finally meet some older students instead of the freshmen and sophomores that comprised the international clubs we'd met.
Finally, the day of our trip came. We clambered into two cars (I was with several Japanese students--one who had studied abroad in Boston and was nice to chat to in Japanglish--, a girl who had graduated and was working for Toyota, a girl from Taiwan who spoke good English and Japanese, a guy from Switzerland, and a girl from England who went to the same school as Clare). Amongst those in the other car were some Japanese students, Ashleigh, and Clare.
As we traveled, we got to see a bunch of beautifully decorated trees, some of the smaller towns between Tokyo and the village, and other gorgeous scenery. When we finally arrived in Ten'ei (the drive was about 3 hours), we went straight to the tiny village hall to meet some of the villagers who were to be our "sensei" (teachers) for the next two days.
After some short introductions, we climbed back into the cars and went to the fields.
The fields. The symbol for rice field is 田, pronounced "ta." If you looked at the freshly plowed soil, you can kind of see the resemblance.
This is me, plowing the field. We were all instruction on the proper way to turn the dirt using that tool (I forget the name, but it either translated to 100-use tool or 1000-use tool). Of course, those haven't actually been in use for a long time in Japan.
This is the way they do things now, which was much more exciting. It's also possibly the slowest vehicle I've ever been in, and there was no power-steering, which made things more fun. Still, it was fun to drive!
So, here's Ashleigh, wearing the silly blue suit that was our designated outfit for the length of the trip, removing the bad pieces of grass from the good ones. These leftovers from the stalks of rice are made into ornaments to decorate shrines. The scraggly-looking pieces must be removed so that the ornaments will be nice.
You just don't get these beautiful views and fresh air in Tokyo. It was amazing to be able to step into a different world for the weekend. As the sun set, we grabbed the poofy parts of the old rice stalks and made "owls" out of them. The ones that the villagers made were nifty looking, but mine just looked like a white puff.
We returned to the village and tried our hand at making the ornaments from the stalks; the only ones who really made any progress were the villagers and some of the more adept Japanese students. I have mine in my dorm room--it does look kind of silly!
This activity was quite easy, and, as they explained, it's a task they give the children. These are edamame beans taken from their shelves that we pounded down on blocks of wood. The pounded beans were toasted over the fire; they keep for months on end that way, so it's a nice pre-made snack during the cold winter months. Ten'ei gets quite cold in the winter (they have a ski area that everyone made a big deal out of--"Have you heard of British Hills!?"), and wandering out to go buy snacks would not be so fun.
From there, we went to meet our host families. Ours lived the farthest away, so we were driven. I was with a Japanese student called Daisuke and the Toyota employee, Miyuki. They were each very helpful and patient with me when trying to communicate. It made life a lot easier for me that they were so nice, because the elderly couple who hosted us spoke with a dialect that I found very hard to understand.
These little Russian-doll-like guys (we called them "Daruma-san" which literally means translates to "Mr. Doll," although we used it as a respectful way to describe the lot of them) at first made the couple seem a little eccentric to me. Upon explanation, it was revealed that each daruma represented a wish that my host father had wanted to come true. From what I could understand, he either started buying them all in high school (or he bought all of them, then). They came with one pupil painted and the other eye all white. When the wish came true, he painted the other pupil in. Can you find one up there without two pupils? Seems like he must be a very fulfilled man :)
This contraption is the table. Each house had one like it (low to the ground; and most houses had a hole beneath the table where your feet could rest), and each house's table was heated. Most of the houses had electric heaters, but my host family had a heat fan that blew heat onto that conductor (the wooden bench) which then heated up the table. The blankets surrounding the table trap the heat! Since rural houses in Japan don't use centralized heating (or, really, any heating other than a fire), heated tables and heated mattresses/blankets are incredibly common. I didn't go into a house without a heated table!
This sign is congratulating the couple on their golden anniversary--50 years!!! It's incredible, isn't it? And they were pretty cute, if old-fashioned. The husband would sit under the warm table while the wife took care of everything--all the food, all the cleaning, everything. Then again, the husband still keeps up the farming: rice, veggies, etc. So, I guess it's a fair trade!
After dinner (consisting of fried chicken, a lot of things made from potatoes and stuff I tried but have no idea what it was made of, rice, and other delicious things), Daisuke and I were driven to the public onsen (hot springs) to bathe. We met up with another host family while there, and it was a lovely experience. This family had two little kids (a 7-year old girl and a 5-year old boy) who were ADORABLE.
This host family took us back with them after the onsen (since we had to have a ride home), and we drank with them and ate a second dinner (homemade sushi and some other things that I couldn't describe in English words)--so much fun! This family was younger and more lively. Kids everywhere are all the same, too; they chased me around and were, of course, very scary--it was quite fun! This picture is of their house :)
Daisuke, "Grandma," "Grandpa," me, and Miyuki. It's polite in Japan to call the elderly "grandma/grandpa" and the middle-aged "aunt/uncle" even if you are just meeting them on the street. In the picture, as well, are the remains of our scrumptious Japanese breakfast consisting of fish, nato (it's bean curd, basically, but look it up if you're curious), rice that Grandpa grew himself, noodles, and fresh fruit. As it turns out, the skin of Japanese grapes is harder than that of the ones in America. The Japanese were all just sucking the insides out of the grapes and throwing away the skins! They were shocked to see that I was eating the whole thing.
After breakfast, we were taken to the lumberyard, where we learned the very important skill of chopping wood:
I was horrible at it at first; you have to hit the log right in the center, and that's pretty difficult when you're using a big, sharp object to do it, but after some practice, I greatly improved. I think our old sensei was a little surprised a foreign city-girl was doing so well!
This is the pile that the students and our sensei chopped together. We were pros. The wood, however, has to dry, and won't be ready for another FEW YEARS, or so they said.
This is where they dry the wood and turn it into charcoal to be used in the winter. We all got to go back to being 5 and write our names with charcoal on the wall. We stayed 5 for awhile when we learned we had some extra time, and we played some children's games. One was a Japanese game similar to red-light, green-light, and another was the Swiss version of duck-duck-goose.
After our fun and games, we went back to the city hall place (it was really someone's house, but it was our meeting place the whole time, and I got the feeling it's a meeting place at other times of the year, as well) to make lunch.
We made these "onigiri," triangle-shaped rice balls. Often, onigiri have something inside of them and are coated with seaweed, but these were empty and coated with miso (a Japanese flavoring--you've probably heard of miso soup) or salt. They were pretty good, but I don't think I could have handled another one for about a week! We had other foods to try with it--a nice soup and some flavors to try with the onigiri.
After lunch, we went on a little walk around the village.
We got to see more rice-tiers and vegetables being farmed along the way.
Ten'ei Village is special as far as rice-farming villages go. It's one of the only ones that only uses warm water for rice-farming (many use warm and cold, or just cold water). As we walked up the hill, we got to experience a naturally warm swamp. It was cold around the edges, but if you walked in (to where I'm standing), you could see the water bubbling--and it was definitely warm! The Japanese all called me brave, since I was the first foreigner into the swamps; I just figured if they knew it was safe, I could follow.
The trees up north had all already lost their leaves, and if you looked at the mountains, the tops seemed blurry from all the scraggly branches. It was a really neat image.
En route, we saw some cucumbers and eggplant picking in the stream. One of our guides pulled out a pickled cucumber for us to taste--it was incredibly salty. A very interesting experience!
There were several of these types of houses: the straw thatches are low-maintenance (and some other descriptions of the use was given to me in Japanese, but I didn't understand all of it). Only a few houses in the village used thatching, though.
We walked to see some shrines; here, one of the students is teaching us how to pray at a Shinto Shrine. There's a ritual of bowing and clapping that must occur for your prayers to be heard.
At this particular shrine, whenever a baby is born in the village, he or she is brought here, and his or her name is written down so that the shrine will watch out for the child.
These trees were "fusai," man and wife. I thought it was cute.
Daisuke is being silly. That part of the tree ended up falling--no one was hurt, but it was pretty funny!
A view of the village. All over Japan, the houses look nothing alike. The different-colored roofs are in stark contrast to that seen in Arizona, and it at first threw me for a loop. It's nice to have some originality in the homes, though!
Here was one of the smaller shrines that we saw along the way. I asked what it was for, but all I got in response was "it's a small shrine." So, I guess we all knew about the same amount!
After our walk, we went back to our little meeting-house and said our goodbyes. We all gave a little speech about what we had learned in our time there, and the villagers gave little speeches for us, as well. I couldn't understand a lot of it, but I do know that the woman who ran the event (a villager in the town) was so touched by our desire to know about the town, she cried during her speech. It was really sweet.
I'm really glad that I got to go to rural Japan and experience the more traditional culture, even if it was just for a weekend. It's these kind of experiences that I really wanted from coming here, and I know I'll remember it for the rest of my life. It also got me closer to some Japanese students who I'll hopefully be able to keep in touch with! It really was an amazing time.
So, I went ahead and applied for the program. A few weeks later, we met the group of students sponsoring the event; they all seemed thrilled to be doing the program. As it turned out, half of the students were agriculture students who had been to the village before to study rural farming. The other half were Japanese students who had studied abroad and wanted current foreign students to truly get the most out of our time in Japan.
We had dinner with them that night, and they all seemed like neat people. It was nice to finally meet some older students instead of the freshmen and sophomores that comprised the international clubs we'd met.
Finally, the day of our trip came. We clambered into two cars (I was with several Japanese students--one who had studied abroad in Boston and was nice to chat to in Japanglish--, a girl who had graduated and was working for Toyota, a girl from Taiwan who spoke good English and Japanese, a guy from Switzerland, and a girl from England who went to the same school as Clare). Amongst those in the other car were some Japanese students, Ashleigh, and Clare.
As we traveled, we got to see a bunch of beautifully decorated trees, some of the smaller towns between Tokyo and the village, and other gorgeous scenery. When we finally arrived in Ten'ei (the drive was about 3 hours), we went straight to the tiny village hall to meet some of the villagers who were to be our "sensei" (teachers) for the next two days.
After some short introductions, we climbed back into the cars and went to the fields.
The fields. The symbol for rice field is 田, pronounced "ta." If you looked at the freshly plowed soil, you can kind of see the resemblance.
This is me, plowing the field. We were all instruction on the proper way to turn the dirt using that tool (I forget the name, but it either translated to 100-use tool or 1000-use tool). Of course, those haven't actually been in use for a long time in Japan.
This is the way they do things now, which was much more exciting. It's also possibly the slowest vehicle I've ever been in, and there was no power-steering, which made things more fun. Still, it was fun to drive!
So, here's Ashleigh, wearing the silly blue suit that was our designated outfit for the length of the trip, removing the bad pieces of grass from the good ones. These leftovers from the stalks of rice are made into ornaments to decorate shrines. The scraggly-looking pieces must be removed so that the ornaments will be nice.
You just don't get these beautiful views and fresh air in Tokyo. It was amazing to be able to step into a different world for the weekend. As the sun set, we grabbed the poofy parts of the old rice stalks and made "owls" out of them. The ones that the villagers made were nifty looking, but mine just looked like a white puff.We returned to the village and tried our hand at making the ornaments from the stalks; the only ones who really made any progress were the villagers and some of the more adept Japanese students. I have mine in my dorm room--it does look kind of silly!
This activity was quite easy, and, as they explained, it's a task they give the children. These are edamame beans taken from their shelves that we pounded down on blocks of wood. The pounded beans were toasted over the fire; they keep for months on end that way, so it's a nice pre-made snack during the cold winter months. Ten'ei gets quite cold in the winter (they have a ski area that everyone made a big deal out of--"Have you heard of British Hills!?"), and wandering out to go buy snacks would not be so fun.From there, we went to meet our host families. Ours lived the farthest away, so we were driven. I was with a Japanese student called Daisuke and the Toyota employee, Miyuki. They were each very helpful and patient with me when trying to communicate. It made life a lot easier for me that they were so nice, because the elderly couple who hosted us spoke with a dialect that I found very hard to understand.
These little Russian-doll-like guys (we called them "Daruma-san" which literally means translates to "Mr. Doll," although we used it as a respectful way to describe the lot of them) at first made the couple seem a little eccentric to me. Upon explanation, it was revealed that each daruma represented a wish that my host father had wanted to come true. From what I could understand, he either started buying them all in high school (or he bought all of them, then). They came with one pupil painted and the other eye all white. When the wish came true, he painted the other pupil in. Can you find one up there without two pupils? Seems like he must be a very fulfilled man :)
This contraption is the table. Each house had one like it (low to the ground; and most houses had a hole beneath the table where your feet could rest), and each house's table was heated. Most of the houses had electric heaters, but my host family had a heat fan that blew heat onto that conductor (the wooden bench) which then heated up the table. The blankets surrounding the table trap the heat! Since rural houses in Japan don't use centralized heating (or, really, any heating other than a fire), heated tables and heated mattresses/blankets are incredibly common. I didn't go into a house without a heated table!
This sign is congratulating the couple on their golden anniversary--50 years!!! It's incredible, isn't it? And they were pretty cute, if old-fashioned. The husband would sit under the warm table while the wife took care of everything--all the food, all the cleaning, everything. Then again, the husband still keeps up the farming: rice, veggies, etc. So, I guess it's a fair trade!After dinner (consisting of fried chicken, a lot of things made from potatoes and stuff I tried but have no idea what it was made of, rice, and other delicious things), Daisuke and I were driven to the public onsen (hot springs) to bathe. We met up with another host family while there, and it was a lovely experience. This family had two little kids (a 7-year old girl and a 5-year old boy) who were ADORABLE.
This host family took us back with them after the onsen (since we had to have a ride home), and we drank with them and ate a second dinner (homemade sushi and some other things that I couldn't describe in English words)--so much fun! This family was younger and more lively. Kids everywhere are all the same, too; they chased me around and were, of course, very scary--it was quite fun! This picture is of their house :)
Daisuke, "Grandma," "Grandpa," me, and Miyuki. It's polite in Japan to call the elderly "grandma/grandpa" and the middle-aged "aunt/uncle" even if you are just meeting them on the street. In the picture, as well, are the remains of our scrumptious Japanese breakfast consisting of fish, nato (it's bean curd, basically, but look it up if you're curious), rice that Grandpa grew himself, noodles, and fresh fruit. As it turns out, the skin of Japanese grapes is harder than that of the ones in America. The Japanese were all just sucking the insides out of the grapes and throwing away the skins! They were shocked to see that I was eating the whole thing.After breakfast, we were taken to the lumberyard, where we learned the very important skill of chopping wood:
I was horrible at it at first; you have to hit the log right in the center, and that's pretty difficult when you're using a big, sharp object to do it, but after some practice, I greatly improved. I think our old sensei was a little surprised a foreign city-girl was doing so well!
This is the pile that the students and our sensei chopped together. We were pros. The wood, however, has to dry, and won't be ready for another FEW YEARS, or so they said.
This is where they dry the wood and turn it into charcoal to be used in the winter. We all got to go back to being 5 and write our names with charcoal on the wall. We stayed 5 for awhile when we learned we had some extra time, and we played some children's games. One was a Japanese game similar to red-light, green-light, and another was the Swiss version of duck-duck-goose.After our fun and games, we went back to the city hall place (it was really someone's house, but it was our meeting place the whole time, and I got the feeling it's a meeting place at other times of the year, as well) to make lunch.
We made these "onigiri," triangle-shaped rice balls. Often, onigiri have something inside of them and are coated with seaweed, but these were empty and coated with miso (a Japanese flavoring--you've probably heard of miso soup) or salt. They were pretty good, but I don't think I could have handled another one for about a week! We had other foods to try with it--a nice soup and some flavors to try with the onigiri.After lunch, we went on a little walk around the village.
We got to see more rice-tiers and vegetables being farmed along the way.
Ten'ei Village is special as far as rice-farming villages go. It's one of the only ones that only uses warm water for rice-farming (many use warm and cold, or just cold water). As we walked up the hill, we got to experience a naturally warm swamp. It was cold around the edges, but if you walked in (to where I'm standing), you could see the water bubbling--and it was definitely warm! The Japanese all called me brave, since I was the first foreigner into the swamps; I just figured if they knew it was safe, I could follow.
The trees up north had all already lost their leaves, and if you looked at the mountains, the tops seemed blurry from all the scraggly branches. It was a really neat image.En route, we saw some cucumbers and eggplant picking in the stream. One of our guides pulled out a pickled cucumber for us to taste--it was incredibly salty. A very interesting experience!
There were several of these types of houses: the straw thatches are low-maintenance (and some other descriptions of the use was given to me in Japanese, but I didn't understand all of it). Only a few houses in the village used thatching, though.
We walked to see some shrines; here, one of the students is teaching us how to pray at a Shinto Shrine. There's a ritual of bowing and clapping that must occur for your prayers to be heard.At this particular shrine, whenever a baby is born in the village, he or she is brought here, and his or her name is written down so that the shrine will watch out for the child.
These trees were "fusai," man and wife. I thought it was cute.
Daisuke is being silly. That part of the tree ended up falling--no one was hurt, but it was pretty funny!
A view of the village. All over Japan, the houses look nothing alike. The different-colored roofs are in stark contrast to that seen in Arizona, and it at first threw me for a loop. It's nice to have some originality in the homes, though!
Here was one of the smaller shrines that we saw along the way. I asked what it was for, but all I got in response was "it's a small shrine." So, I guess we all knew about the same amount!After our walk, we went back to our little meeting-house and said our goodbyes. We all gave a little speech about what we had learned in our time there, and the villagers gave little speeches for us, as well. I couldn't understand a lot of it, but I do know that the woman who ran the event (a villager in the town) was so touched by our desire to know about the town, she cried during her speech. It was really sweet.
I'm really glad that I got to go to rural Japan and experience the more traditional culture, even if it was just for a weekend. It's these kind of experiences that I really wanted from coming here, and I know I'll remember it for the rest of my life. It also got me closer to some Japanese students who I'll hopefully be able to keep in touch with! It really was an amazing time.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A Shmorgishborg of Information
Again, sorry about the delay! It seems that with the semester moving faster, I've had less time to write (which I suppose is probably a good thing)! Here are some of the more important aspects of this last month.
Firstly, a little about my campus and some of the things I've done.
Alcohol is a big deal for college students (and businessmen, actually). After every big event, the custom is to party. It's not just a kid's way to have fun, it's literally a cultural deal. There's a complicated regime with a "first nomikai (drinking party)" followed by a "second nomikai," followed by possibly more or maybe karaoke. These parties start early (maybe even as early as 5 or 6pm!) and each last 2-3 hours. Since each one costs over $20 (and since the Japanese tend to get pretty drunk pretty quickly), I haven't participated. Still, it isn't uncommon to see Japanese students drinking on their campus (the auditorium is a very popular location)! There is a legitimate club called Waseda ODD--OutDoor Drunkards.
On any Japanese campus, there are two types of organizations: clubs and circles. Clubs are a lot more strict--members must attend more events and spend more time doing activities. However, I've been involved in one: Waseda International Club (WIC).
WIC participated in a cultural festival called "Yataimura," which translates to "City of Tents." That's pretty much exactly what it was. WIC had 4 different tents selling food from North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. I was in the South America group, and I got to help prepare the food (twice--once to taste and determine what to cook, and once to actually prepare for Yataimura).
Although I didn't help make them, we had signs and costumes. Daniela, Ashleigh, Val, and I are representing South America! (Daniela was the only one from South America...and she's Canadian as well.)
They wanted foreigners to help sell the food--it was actually a little uncomfortable for some people, since they used us as a sort of marketing technique (as no Japanese actually knew where we were from). A few drunk men were convinced I was from Brazil! The food we ended up making: South American dumplings (they tasted more Asian than anything, though), steak cubes (since we were all too poor for real steak :P ), and bread pudding. They were pretty delicious, and the dumplings sold out!
This is the Waseda Bear--our mascot. He's kinda cute, but the cap and gown makes him seem a little too serious for me.
These (surprisingly straight) fellows are members of the "Shockers," an all-male cheerleading team, and the "jocks" of the Waseda Campus. Between the fact that they call themselves the Shockers, they're male cheerleaders, and they do stunts like this, I find it hard to not laugh! They were pretty good, though, so I'll give them that. Pretty entertaining.
These adorable little girls also performed--they were really coordinated! Clubs start from a very young age in Japan--it's important to be involved in them since so much revolves around group activity in Japanese culture.
After Yataimura, Halloween rolled around the corner. I bought myself a pumpkin, and I thought I'd share what I carved:
He reminded me a lot of home, and I was happy to have him on my fridge for a few days :)
In the background, you can see a "kaki," one type of Japanese persimmon. They are distantly related to apples, and they are absolutely delicious. One of the cheapest fruits sold here!
Ashleigh and I dressed as Harajuku Girls for Halloween. Harajuku is a shopping district notorious for its over-the-top fashion trends (and delicious crepes!). Harajuku Girls are those who partake in that fashion, dye their hair an orange shade (initially an attempt at dying black hair blond--but I have to wonder if that's just the style, now), and wearing ridiculous outfits.
If you're curious and get the chance, google them--you'll be amused!
The next day, we went to the first round of the SouKeiSen (Waseda-Keio War--the abbreviated Kanji for "Waseda" reads "Sou") baseball game. There are 6 teams in the league Waseda plays in; one of the other teams is Keio University--Waseda's rival.
We, of course, sat in the one of the student sections. There were (strangely enough to an American) two student sections per school, each with their own band (so 4 pep bands). During their respective at-bats, the bands played nonstop, and the students stood, sang, and cheered with them (they knew all the words to all the songs and chants!). The other team would cheer occasionally during these periods. It was odd to me, though, because the two separate student sections (for the same school) had no regard for each other! The bands played different cheers/songs, and they and the students managed to stay in time with their individual section! It was quite different for me!
Some other cultural differences stood out during the game. For instance, the sportsmanship was phenomenal. If an umpire made a bad call, everyone just kept cheering, and the players just went back to what they were doing (while I and another American friend stood in shock). Even though Waseda played fairly badly that game, the cheering never died down, and the fans never got less excited. It honestly seemed like they were there for the purpose of cheering on the team (and not particularly watching the game)! The most surprising thing of all, though, happened right at the beginning. A Keio player had a good hit during the first inning and scored a home run--and Waseda cheered. It really confused the foreigners; was I cheering for the wrong team? Nope--just fantastic sportsmanship. In the end, though, I found that I enjoy the booing and and yelling more. I like the competitive feel of sports that the Western world boasts!
We had a random Wednesday off one week, so Clare, Alex, Tomasz, and I went to the Imperial Palace Gardens to have a relaxing morning with some clear blue skies (the weather really was gorgeous)! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:
It's hard to believe you're still in Tokyo--but if you look past the beautiful greenery, you can still see the skyscapers! On this level field, a lot of people had gathered with picnics. If I ever go back, I'll definitely remember a picnic lunch!
We found this gorgeous waterfall. I was pretty much in love.
The other side, where the waterfall emptied.
There was also a glorious music building that was built for one of the ladies who lived in the Palace for her 60th birthday, some guard towers, and numerous walls--but most of the buildings that had been there are now gone. The gardens are gorgeous, though, and definitely worth a trip on a sunny day!
We had another day off that Friday, and that weekend was the Intensive Japanese Language Student trip to Hakone--a place famous for hot springs! We started early with a long bus ride, and our first stop was a place with a gorgeous view of Mt. Fuji. We had beautiful weather the whole weekend, so the pictures turned out lovely!
The trees near Hakone had begun to change. This one blew me away.
A group of good friends here: Geoffroy, Edouard, Youri, Alex, (Me), Ashleigh, Marija, and Clare. Behind us, of course, is Mt. Fuji! And a beautiful blue sky we never get to see in the city.
From there, we went to a beer factory and got a tour of the place! I could understand a little less than half of what our tour guide was telling us, but it was neat to see all the workings of the place. We all got three free beers to try; it was a lovely experience.
After trying Asahi's finest, we boarded the bus and headed toward our hotel! We set up our rooms (after much switching, I ended up in a room with good friends), had some delicious green tea, and went to our feast.
It was literally a feast. This isn't even all of the food we got!
This is the vegetarian version--I had a little of both (since one friend didn't like fish but forgot to request veggie). What I think was swordfish may have been one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.
After dinner, I tried out the onsen (hot springs). At this hotel, they were indoor, and there were two areas (one for men and one for women--though they switched sides depending on the day). It was a little unnerving at first, since you do have to get completely naked. But once you start the process, it's very relaxing. First, you wash yourself completely at little stations around the pool. Then, with your hair up so it doesn't touch the water (that's considered rude), you climb into the onsen. You relax until you get too hot, and then you wash yourself again to cool down. You can repeat this process as long as you like--just make sure you don't pass out! In the women's bath the first day (I ended up going in the morning, as well), there were two different temperature onsens. Even the cooler one was extremely hot! It was a very relaxing experience.
The next day, after an all-you-can-eat breakfast (complete with a very strange looking fish that I did not touch--I mostly went for chocolate croissants), we got back on the bus and went to check out some volcanic activity!
There was a lot of sulfur in the air, but seeing the water bubbling and boiling was very neat. There were a few little trails--each had a great view of Mt. Fuji!
The area around that volcano is very famous for its black-shelled hard-boiled eggs; they're cooked in such a way as to turn the shells black. Clare and I tried some; they tasted like regular hard-boiled eggs, but as the legend goes, we'll each live an extra 7 years! We also tried egg-flavored soft-serve ice cream (which, rather than tasting like egg, tasted very sweet and delicious).
After our volcanic experience, we went to a touristy area for shopping and a 15 minute cruise. Here are some pictures from the cruise!
It looked like a Pirate Ship, so I thought it merited a picture. Captain Jack, are you there?
Not entirely sure what it is, but I thought it was gorgeous!
Following our boat ride and lunch, we got back on the bus and drove to the Hakone Open Air Museum. Since it was a beautiful day, it was a very nice and relaxing walk through basically a park full of neat sculptures and tower-like things. There were some indoor exhibits (Picasso, Spanish artists, etc), but most of it really was in the open. There was a mini-onsen for feet that we spent some time in--very lovely!
An adorable children's playhouse that looked a lot like Jenga!
Here is a very large sunny-side up egg that we particularly liked.
After that, it was a long bus ride home, but I don't know one person who didn't agree that the trip was well worth it. :) What a fantastic trip!
Firstly, a little about my campus and some of the things I've done.
Alcohol is a big deal for college students (and businessmen, actually). After every big event, the custom is to party. It's not just a kid's way to have fun, it's literally a cultural deal. There's a complicated regime with a "first nomikai (drinking party)" followed by a "second nomikai," followed by possibly more or maybe karaoke. These parties start early (maybe even as early as 5 or 6pm!) and each last 2-3 hours. Since each one costs over $20 (and since the Japanese tend to get pretty drunk pretty quickly), I haven't participated. Still, it isn't uncommon to see Japanese students drinking on their campus (the auditorium is a very popular location)! There is a legitimate club called Waseda ODD--OutDoor Drunkards.
On any Japanese campus, there are two types of organizations: clubs and circles. Clubs are a lot more strict--members must attend more events and spend more time doing activities. However, I've been involved in one: Waseda International Club (WIC).
WIC participated in a cultural festival called "Yataimura," which translates to "City of Tents." That's pretty much exactly what it was. WIC had 4 different tents selling food from North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. I was in the South America group, and I got to help prepare the food (twice--once to taste and determine what to cook, and once to actually prepare for Yataimura).
Although I didn't help make them, we had signs and costumes. Daniela, Ashleigh, Val, and I are representing South America! (Daniela was the only one from South America...and she's Canadian as well.)
They wanted foreigners to help sell the food--it was actually a little uncomfortable for some people, since they used us as a sort of marketing technique (as no Japanese actually knew where we were from). A few drunk men were convinced I was from Brazil! The food we ended up making: South American dumplings (they tasted more Asian than anything, though), steak cubes (since we were all too poor for real steak :P ), and bread pudding. They were pretty delicious, and the dumplings sold out!
This is the Waseda Bear--our mascot. He's kinda cute, but the cap and gown makes him seem a little too serious for me.
These (surprisingly straight) fellows are members of the "Shockers," an all-male cheerleading team, and the "jocks" of the Waseda Campus. Between the fact that they call themselves the Shockers, they're male cheerleaders, and they do stunts like this, I find it hard to not laugh! They were pretty good, though, so I'll give them that. Pretty entertaining.
These adorable little girls also performed--they were really coordinated! Clubs start from a very young age in Japan--it's important to be involved in them since so much revolves around group activity in Japanese culture.After Yataimura, Halloween rolled around the corner. I bought myself a pumpkin, and I thought I'd share what I carved:
He reminded me a lot of home, and I was happy to have him on my fridge for a few days :)In the background, you can see a "kaki," one type of Japanese persimmon. They are distantly related to apples, and they are absolutely delicious. One of the cheapest fruits sold here!
Ashleigh and I dressed as Harajuku Girls for Halloween. Harajuku is a shopping district notorious for its over-the-top fashion trends (and delicious crepes!). Harajuku Girls are those who partake in that fashion, dye their hair an orange shade (initially an attempt at dying black hair blond--but I have to wonder if that's just the style, now), and wearing ridiculous outfits.If you're curious and get the chance, google them--you'll be amused!The next day, we went to the first round of the SouKeiSen (Waseda-Keio War--the abbreviated Kanji for "Waseda" reads "Sou") baseball game. There are 6 teams in the league Waseda plays in; one of the other teams is Keio University--Waseda's rival.
We, of course, sat in the one of the student sections. There were (strangely enough to an American) two student sections per school, each with their own band (so 4 pep bands). During their respective at-bats, the bands played nonstop, and the students stood, sang, and cheered with them (they knew all the words to all the songs and chants!). The other team would cheer occasionally during these periods. It was odd to me, though, because the two separate student sections (for the same school) had no regard for each other! The bands played different cheers/songs, and they and the students managed to stay in time with their individual section! It was quite different for me!
Some other cultural differences stood out during the game. For instance, the sportsmanship was phenomenal. If an umpire made a bad call, everyone just kept cheering, and the players just went back to what they were doing (while I and another American friend stood in shock). Even though Waseda played fairly badly that game, the cheering never died down, and the fans never got less excited. It honestly seemed like they were there for the purpose of cheering on the team (and not particularly watching the game)! The most surprising thing of all, though, happened right at the beginning. A Keio player had a good hit during the first inning and scored a home run--and Waseda cheered. It really confused the foreigners; was I cheering for the wrong team? Nope--just fantastic sportsmanship. In the end, though, I found that I enjoy the booing and and yelling more. I like the competitive feel of sports that the Western world boasts!We had a random Wednesday off one week, so Clare, Alex, Tomasz, and I went to the Imperial Palace Gardens to have a relaxing morning with some clear blue skies (the weather really was gorgeous)! Here are a few of my favorite pictures:
It's hard to believe you're still in Tokyo--but if you look past the beautiful greenery, you can still see the skyscapers! On this level field, a lot of people had gathered with picnics. If I ever go back, I'll definitely remember a picnic lunch!
We found this gorgeous waterfall. I was pretty much in love.
The other side, where the waterfall emptied.There was also a glorious music building that was built for one of the ladies who lived in the Palace for her 60th birthday, some guard towers, and numerous walls--but most of the buildings that had been there are now gone. The gardens are gorgeous, though, and definitely worth a trip on a sunny day!
We had another day off that Friday, and that weekend was the Intensive Japanese Language Student trip to Hakone--a place famous for hot springs! We started early with a long bus ride, and our first stop was a place with a gorgeous view of Mt. Fuji. We had beautiful weather the whole weekend, so the pictures turned out lovely!
The trees near Hakone had begun to change. This one blew me away.
A group of good friends here: Geoffroy, Edouard, Youri, Alex, (Me), Ashleigh, Marija, and Clare. Behind us, of course, is Mt. Fuji! And a beautiful blue sky we never get to see in the city.From there, we went to a beer factory and got a tour of the place! I could understand a little less than half of what our tour guide was telling us, but it was neat to see all the workings of the place. We all got three free beers to try; it was a lovely experience.
After trying Asahi's finest, we boarded the bus and headed toward our hotel! We set up our rooms (after much switching, I ended up in a room with good friends), had some delicious green tea, and went to our feast.
It was literally a feast. This isn't even all of the food we got!
This is the vegetarian version--I had a little of both (since one friend didn't like fish but forgot to request veggie). What I think was swordfish may have been one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.After dinner, I tried out the onsen (hot springs). At this hotel, they were indoor, and there were two areas (one for men and one for women--though they switched sides depending on the day). It was a little unnerving at first, since you do have to get completely naked. But once you start the process, it's very relaxing. First, you wash yourself completely at little stations around the pool. Then, with your hair up so it doesn't touch the water (that's considered rude), you climb into the onsen. You relax until you get too hot, and then you wash yourself again to cool down. You can repeat this process as long as you like--just make sure you don't pass out! In the women's bath the first day (I ended up going in the morning, as well), there were two different temperature onsens. Even the cooler one was extremely hot! It was a very relaxing experience.
The next day, after an all-you-can-eat breakfast (complete with a very strange looking fish that I did not touch--I mostly went for chocolate croissants), we got back on the bus and went to check out some volcanic activity!
There was a lot of sulfur in the air, but seeing the water bubbling and boiling was very neat. There were a few little trails--each had a great view of Mt. Fuji!The area around that volcano is very famous for its black-shelled hard-boiled eggs; they're cooked in such a way as to turn the shells black. Clare and I tried some; they tasted like regular hard-boiled eggs, but as the legend goes, we'll each live an extra 7 years! We also tried egg-flavored soft-serve ice cream (which, rather than tasting like egg, tasted very sweet and delicious).
After our volcanic experience, we went to a touristy area for shopping and a 15 minute cruise. Here are some pictures from the cruise!
It looked like a Pirate Ship, so I thought it merited a picture. Captain Jack, are you there?
Not entirely sure what it is, but I thought it was gorgeous!Following our boat ride and lunch, we got back on the bus and drove to the Hakone Open Air Museum. Since it was a beautiful day, it was a very nice and relaxing walk through basically a park full of neat sculptures and tower-like things. There were some indoor exhibits (Picasso, Spanish artists, etc), but most of it really was in the open. There was a mini-onsen for feet that we spent some time in--very lovely!
An adorable children's playhouse that looked a lot like Jenga! 
Here is a very large sunny-side up egg that we particularly liked.After that, it was a long bus ride home, but I don't know one person who didn't agree that the trip was well worth it. :) What a fantastic trip!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Establishing Routine
It has certainly been awhile since I posted, so this is long overdue. There hasn't been much exciting going on, though, since I've pretty much only been doing school the last two weeks. I do have a final set of classes:
5 units of Japanese for Thematic Interaction
1 unit of:
Communication at the Workplace
Reading J-Society and J-Culture for Vocabulary Acquisition
Describing Memories through Photographs and Words
Reading at Your Own Pace
Let's Enjoy Talking
Kanji
Japanese for Science and Technology Students
Grammar
Japanese Conversation: When in Trouble
So, those are my classes. I won't take the time to describe each one of them here, since there are 10, but feel free to ask me about any of them :)
Now that I've been here a month, I think I've finally figured out where is best to shop for what...at least, as far as groceries go! There aren't really any supermarkets here; just a bunch of small shops. Some sell some things cheap, and others sell other things cheap. There is one store that seems to sell all fruits and veggies at better prices than all the rest, and another store that I walk past every day after school that often has wonderful sale prices. It's quite nice to be able to walk for normally priced groceries and food instead of having to drive.
As far as transportation goes, I legitimately haven't been in a car in over a month. It's actually a little novel to me, since I think I may go the whole year without needing even a taxi! Still, you can travel quite a ways by bus and train, and I really like how reliable that's been for me. Public transportation in Japan is a little pricey, but it's just too well run to argue the costs.
I'm a very lucky individual to have friends in all of my classes, as well. My friend Ashleigh (who appears in pictures in most of my blog entries) is in all but one, and even then, I have friends. And since most of the exchange students are of the same mind when it comes to travel and knowledge, good people are not hard to find. The most irritating to everyone, I think, are the Americans. I have to say, most of the Americans here are sort of the rejects from the United States--so, I joined a more international crowd :)
There are two international clubs on campus: WIC (Waseda International Club) and Niji no Kai (something about a rainbow...but really just another international club). I've been spending more time with WIC than Niji no Kai, and I'm involved in their Yataimura celebration. Yataimura is a cultural festival where different groups from WIC sell different foods from all over the world. I'm in the South America group; last night, we cooked South American food samples to determine which ones we wanted to sell--very delicious! And now I have another recipe I can cook. :) Next weekend is Yataimura, so we'll get together next Saturday to cook and on Sunday to celebrate and share world foods!
Here are some fun and interesting things that have happened in the last couple of weeks:
Marija, Clare, and I went to Ikebukuro to visit Sunshine City, an indoor shopping mall with several food theme parks inside. On the way there, we used the last remaining tram in Tokyo (which happens to be in Nishi-Waseda, where we live!).
Marija, Me, and Clare on the tram.
One of the food theme parks was Ice Cream City. Basically, all the food parks are connected, and you pay to enter the whole thing. Once you're inside, there are a bunch of different vendors with various delicious treats waiting for you! There are also arcades, rides, and other small attractions. It was actually pretty easy to get lost in there! There were different themes in different sections: one was based of some anime none of us knew anything about, one was some kind of ghost/zombie village (you had to go through it to get out of the park!), one was sort of western and saloon-y...it was a strange but wonderful place.
The ice creams we got. Yum.
Glape flavored ice cream made me chuckle.
A few days later, Ashleigh and I went shopping in Harajuku for a phone.
We were walking past Docomo (a phone store that we weren't interested in), when these guys popped out of some random doorway. Turns out Vader advertises for Docomo. Join the Empire and receive a free cell phone? Anyway, it was amusing.
A week or so later, I went to a dinner party for Bridging Scholarship recipients. It was in the heart of Tokyo at an ambassador's gorgeous house. Sushi bar and French buffet...the food could not have been better. I was very lucky, and I ran into Katie, the other girl from the UA at Waseda (who lives in the same dorm and is also a Bridging Scholar--not one of the annoying Americans :P ) randomly on the train leaving Takadanobaba Station (our station). We managed to be on the same train in the same car at the same time...going to the same place. So, we went together. We met some very interesting people--sponsors, guests, and other scholarship recipients. I even met the man who specifically donated money to me! It was a lovely evening.
On the way back, we stopped to take pictures of Tokyo Tower at night. It was one of the last two days where the summer "white light up" is still used; now it glows more orange (though I haven't seen it--I am learning in class!).
On an outing to go find the elusive ice cream in Takadanobaba, we found a Big Boy. I thought they only had those in Nebraska in the 50s.... Turns out, here it's somewhat like a diner. They had delicious looking steaks and ice cream...but it was kind of expensive. (As it turns out, the best place to get ice cream in Takadanobaba are the convenience stores--convenies. They actually have some pretty delicious things!)
We went out drinking one night, and came back to Takadanobaba Rotary (outside the station) to find this nonsense. Ew. I have video, too, of course!
Just a beautiful picture of the beautiful sky I took for class. Wanted to share it. Kind of reminds me of the poofty clouds back home. :)
That's about all I have right now. Now that I'm developing a small sort of routine, I'll try to post more often. I'm learning a lot about where to find the things that I want--good beer/salad/food variety, so I'll update about what I learn, as well.
Much love!
5 units of Japanese for Thematic Interaction
1 unit of:
Communication at the Workplace
Reading J-Society and J-Culture for Vocabulary Acquisition
Describing Memories through Photographs and Words
Reading at Your Own Pace
Let's Enjoy Talking
Kanji
Japanese for Science and Technology Students
Grammar
Japanese Conversation: When in Trouble
So, those are my classes. I won't take the time to describe each one of them here, since there are 10, but feel free to ask me about any of them :)
Now that I've been here a month, I think I've finally figured out where is best to shop for what...at least, as far as groceries go! There aren't really any supermarkets here; just a bunch of small shops. Some sell some things cheap, and others sell other things cheap. There is one store that seems to sell all fruits and veggies at better prices than all the rest, and another store that I walk past every day after school that often has wonderful sale prices. It's quite nice to be able to walk for normally priced groceries and food instead of having to drive.
As far as transportation goes, I legitimately haven't been in a car in over a month. It's actually a little novel to me, since I think I may go the whole year without needing even a taxi! Still, you can travel quite a ways by bus and train, and I really like how reliable that's been for me. Public transportation in Japan is a little pricey, but it's just too well run to argue the costs.
I'm a very lucky individual to have friends in all of my classes, as well. My friend Ashleigh (who appears in pictures in most of my blog entries) is in all but one, and even then, I have friends. And since most of the exchange students are of the same mind when it comes to travel and knowledge, good people are not hard to find. The most irritating to everyone, I think, are the Americans. I have to say, most of the Americans here are sort of the rejects from the United States--so, I joined a more international crowd :)
There are two international clubs on campus: WIC (Waseda International Club) and Niji no Kai (something about a rainbow...but really just another international club). I've been spending more time with WIC than Niji no Kai, and I'm involved in their Yataimura celebration. Yataimura is a cultural festival where different groups from WIC sell different foods from all over the world. I'm in the South America group; last night, we cooked South American food samples to determine which ones we wanted to sell--very delicious! And now I have another recipe I can cook. :) Next weekend is Yataimura, so we'll get together next Saturday to cook and on Sunday to celebrate and share world foods!
Here are some fun and interesting things that have happened in the last couple of weeks:
Marija, Clare, and I went to Ikebukuro to visit Sunshine City, an indoor shopping mall with several food theme parks inside. On the way there, we used the last remaining tram in Tokyo (which happens to be in Nishi-Waseda, where we live!).
Marija, Me, and Clare on the tram.
One of the food theme parks was Ice Cream City. Basically, all the food parks are connected, and you pay to enter the whole thing. Once you're inside, there are a bunch of different vendors with various delicious treats waiting for you! There are also arcades, rides, and other small attractions. It was actually pretty easy to get lost in there! There were different themes in different sections: one was based of some anime none of us knew anything about, one was some kind of ghost/zombie village (you had to go through it to get out of the park!), one was sort of western and saloon-y...it was a strange but wonderful place.
The ice creams we got. Yum.
Glape flavored ice cream made me chuckle.A few days later, Ashleigh and I went shopping in Harajuku for a phone.
We were walking past Docomo (a phone store that we weren't interested in), when these guys popped out of some random doorway. Turns out Vader advertises for Docomo. Join the Empire and receive a free cell phone? Anyway, it was amusing.A week or so later, I went to a dinner party for Bridging Scholarship recipients. It was in the heart of Tokyo at an ambassador's gorgeous house. Sushi bar and French buffet...the food could not have been better. I was very lucky, and I ran into Katie, the other girl from the UA at Waseda (who lives in the same dorm and is also a Bridging Scholar--not one of the annoying Americans :P ) randomly on the train leaving Takadanobaba Station (our station). We managed to be on the same train in the same car at the same time...going to the same place. So, we went together. We met some very interesting people--sponsors, guests, and other scholarship recipients. I even met the man who specifically donated money to me! It was a lovely evening.
On the way back, we stopped to take pictures of Tokyo Tower at night. It was one of the last two days where the summer "white light up" is still used; now it glows more orange (though I haven't seen it--I am learning in class!).
On an outing to go find the elusive ice cream in Takadanobaba, we found a Big Boy. I thought they only had those in Nebraska in the 50s.... Turns out, here it's somewhat like a diner. They had delicious looking steaks and ice cream...but it was kind of expensive. (As it turns out, the best place to get ice cream in Takadanobaba are the convenience stores--convenies. They actually have some pretty delicious things!)
We went out drinking one night, and came back to Takadanobaba Rotary (outside the station) to find this nonsense. Ew. I have video, too, of course!
Just a beautiful picture of the beautiful sky I took for class. Wanted to share it. Kind of reminds me of the poofty clouds back home. :)That's about all I have right now. Now that I'm developing a small sort of routine, I'll try to post more often. I'm learning a lot about where to find the things that I want--good beer/salad/food variety, so I'll update about what I learn, as well.
Much love!
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