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Breaking Out of the Norm with Important Pieces of Flair

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by Jes Stayton, Greenheart Travel High School Abroad participant
My school, and most schools in Japan have a very restrictive dress code. (I’ll never complain about my American school’s dress code again.) We wear uniforms, and since jewelry and dyed hair is not allowed, everyone looks the same. This can create some problems for me, as I just discovered that the girl whom I regularly talk to in French class is not the same girl whom I usually talk to in English writing class. Telling people apart is so much more difficult when everyone is the same ethnicity and has the same hair coloring, except for variations in skin color. I never realized how much I depended on hair color in identifying people, before I came to a country where almost everyone has the same hair color. Many people also wear masks (to protect from disease) so from a distance, many people look the same. I’m very grateful that the school doesn’t make everyone wear the same hairstyle, or I would be in real trouble.

flair One thing that I think is really cool about Japan is the things my fellow students do in order to follow the dress code and still express themselves. We are required to tie up our hair during school, but most students seem to be trying to stretch this rule as much as possible without actually breaking it. Everyone has long bangs, and many girls have ’side bangs’ so long that they touch their shoulders. Many people in my class have short hair. (ie: hair just short enough that they don’t have to tie it up) Low pigtails also enjoy a popularity that they don’t seem to have in the United States. Because jewelry is not allowed, glasses are treated like an accessory. I’m a little jealous of Japanese girls on this point. In America, glasses aren’t really something you’d want to emphasize. They’re not considered ugly, but they aren’t treated as an accessory either. I have bad eyesight, but I wear contacts because I’ve always personally thought that glasses are ugly. Japanese glasses made me rethink that. I have seen two pairs of hot pink clear plastic glasses since I came here, along with bright green, purple, blue… I wish I had an excuse to buy glasses while I’m here. (lime green!)

Posted by TAadmin at 10/28/2009 10:20 AM Comments (0)

Adjusting to Attention Abroad

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by Jes Stayton, Greenheart Travel High School Abroad participant

Being an exchange student in Japan is a little different from being an exchange student in France, or Australia. Japan is about 99 % ethnically Japanese, so people don’t even have to talk to you to know that you are an exchange student. In my first week, and sometimes even now, random strangers greet me in the hallways at school. On my second day of class, a girl in my English writing class whom I’d never spoken to before started asking me questions about America. (Yes, I take English writing. In addition to English, and Communications, which is conducted almost entirely in English) Outside of school, people usually don’t talk to me, but they do stare a little when they think I’m not looking. There are the rare instances, however, when students wanting to practice their English on foreigners say ‘Hello’ or ‘Good morning’ to me as I walk by. This is all little weird, but at least I knew about it beforehand. It must be hard, though, for foreigners who want to live in Japan just like any normal Japanese person would, and be treated as such, when even their appearance marks them as foreign. I also wonder if people from who speak other languages are insulted when Japanese students say hello to them in English.

After a month and a half in Japan, I’ve noticed that I’ve started to do this too. Whenever I see a foreigner, I do a little double take. It feels really strange to me that I’m doing this. I grew up in America, seeing all kinds of different ethnicity every day, so why I am surprised when I see foreigners? I guess the closest analogy to this is how I would feel if I were walking down the street in America, and I saw someone wearing a full length ball gown. It’s not strange, per se, but you definitely notice, and wonder what they’re doing. Are they on vacation? Where are they from? That sort of thing. I wonder how I’ll feel when I return to America?

japangossipgirl

Photo: Sophie Donelson

The thing that really surprises me is that my fellow classmates think I’m cute. They admire my hated curly hair and ask if it’s natural. Curly hair is desirable in Japan. This seems strange to me, coming from a country where some of my friends spend up to an hour flat ironing their hair every day. I guess everyone wants what they don’t have. It’s a little ironic, though. As my friends are admiring my curls, I am admiring their beautiful, glossy, pin straight black hair. That’s one thing that makes me a little sad: the way Japanese people seem to want to look like like Westerners. Hair dye and perms aren’t allowed in school, but it seems like every other woman I see on the street has either one or both. Even the advertisements, and fashion magazines show almost exclusively people who look western. I wish they showed more people of Japanese appearance.

Posted by TAadmin at 10/27/2009 4:54 PM Comments (0)

Part III: Gion, Geisha and Gourmet Cuisine

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by Jes Stayton, Greenheart Travel High School Abroad participant

By this time I was pretty hungry, and ready for lunch. First, however, we rode several buses. One was so crowded there was barely room to move. souffle

A piece of advice: if you ever have to get on a crowded bus, take your coat off first, even if it’s cold out. You’ll regret it if you don’t. The place where we ate lunch was a famous souffle restaurant. We had to wait again, but it was worth it. The souffles were delicious. A souffle comes in a cup, but its one of those weird things that seem to exist on the borderline between drink and food, so it was surprisingly filling. Mine was apple and cinnamon. I liked it.

It was fairly late, so we went back to find the tour meeting spot. My host family had nicely arranged for me to attend a tour of Gion in English. I was very surprised and grateful, as I’ve always wanted to see Gion and learn more about geisha. After finding the spot, we shopped a little bit, and I bought another pair of socks, (I love Japanese socks!) before rushing back to the tour meeting spot. We were on time. My host Aunt and sister went back to the hotel, but my host mother went on the tour with me. I enjoyed it very much. We walked around Gion at night. There were some ‘fake’ geisha (to use the tour guide’s wording), that is, Japanese women in beautiful makeup and kimonos who aren’t really geisha. This was when I discovered that Gion was the area we wandered around the day before. I was happy about that, because it meant I had already taken some pictures, and this meant I could photo by Daniel Bachler enjoy the tour. Taking pictures at night with my camera is also almost impossible. The guide was very informative and spoke English quite well. She told us quite a bit about Gion and the geisha in modern times, which was interesting. Unsurprisingly, there were several references to the book Memoirs of a Geisha. I was also very impressed with my host mother’s English. She could understand everything the guide said.

The tour was one-way, ending at Gion corner. We walked to the subway, and took the subway to the hotel bus stop. When my host Aunt and sister got off the bus, we all walked to the restaurant together. There was another small line, but I don’t think the restaurant was famous. It wasn’t nearly as expensive as the other places we went to. Whatever it was, the food was phenomenal. I had something that I absolutely adored, which, on inquiry, turned out to be mackerel pike. I hope I can have it again someday. I know they have mackerel in America, so maybe also mackerel pike? After dinner, we walked back to the bus stop, and took the bus back to the hotel. Everyone went to bed relatively early, compared to the night before. The next day, we woke up, packed our bags, and returned to Sendai.

Posted by TAadmin at 10/21/2009 8:50 AM Comments (0)

Part II of the Kyoto Experience: Yuzen Dyeing and Taizo-In Temple

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by Jes Stayton with Greenheart Travel’s High School Abroad program

silver temple

The next day, we woke up, dressed, and left the hotel. We walked to breakfast, which was nice, because the weather was cool. Kyoto is warmer than Sendai, because it is farther south. The restaurant was a famous coffee shop, so we arrived before it opened and waited for a while. I thought it was small, but it was huge inside. I guess that’s the benefit of being famous. There was some American food on the menu, which I ordered. (I’ve never been wild about American food, but now that I’m not eating it every day I miss it.) It was very good, but still different from what we have in America. It came with tea, for one thing, and a big pile of vegetables. It was good anyway.

After breakfast, my host sister took the hotel bus back to the hotel, where she would study. My host mother, host aunt and I went to a Yuzen dyeing shop. Yuzen dyeing is a traditional Japanese dyeing technique dating back to the 8th century. At this shop, you could dye something (it was more like painting than dyeing) and then buy it. There was also a process similar to tye-dyeing, which my host mother chose to do. I made a water bottle holder with peach blossoms on it. Yuzen dyeing goes like this: you pin a series of stencils (or stencil, depending on how complicated your picture is) to your fabric and paint on various colors. It was a lot of fun, and I was very happy with my result.

Next we visited a large complex of temples. They were beautiful, and although I didn’t go inside most of them (there were a lot), I enjoyed seeing the temples and taking pictures. We did enter Taizo-in temple, which had a famous garden. It was very beautiful, and peaceful. I could certainly understand why it is famous. The whole complex is a UNESCO world heritage site. There a lot of temples in Kyoto, because it was the capital of Japan for a long time. It really blows my mind how old they are. Old in Japan is not the same as old in America.

click here for video of temple...

Posted by TAadmin at 10/19/2009 10:38 AM Comments (0)

Weekend Trip to Kyoto, Japan: Green Bean Kit Kats, Gion and History Dramas

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by Jes Stayton, Greenheart Travel Participant in the High School Abroad Program

Last week there was a holiday from the 19th through the 23rd. This holiday happens every year in Japan and it is a common time to go on trips. My host family and I went on a trip to Kyoto. However, the trip probably wasn’t as fun for my host sister as it was for me because she had exams directly after the trip. I don’t have to take them because my Japanese isn’t good enough. But I have to take the ones in November. Scary thought.

We left at around 8 a.m. on Sunday. Since it was only a two day trip, I brought my clothes in the large backpack I normally used for school in America. I was rather proud of myself for packing so little, until I saw the little backpack my host mother was bringing. My host sister didn’t even bring noticeable luggage, just a bag full of study materials and a medium size purse. We drove to a lot, where we parked our car and paid in advance for the space. One of the parking lot employees ferried us to the airport. kitkat
At the airport, we did a little shopping. It seemed to be mostly food. I wasn’t sure but I think most of the food was ‘Sendai cuisine’: edible souvenirs. There was a lot of green bean themed food. I saw a package of green bean flavored Kit-Kat bars. (Isn’t the point of candy to not be a vegetable?) The security check and airplane waiting area was mostly the same except for the fact that you had to scan a bar code on the ticket as you went through (I thought this was cool) and my host sister wasn’t made to throw away her green bean smoothie. We also didn’t have to take off our shoes. Photo courtesy of "My Two Yen Worth"

The airplane ride was uneventful. My host family slept the entire time. Afterward, we got our luggage, and rode the monorail to the train, rode the train to the subway and walked from the subway to the restaurant where we would eat lunch. It was a long walk. The first restaurant we tried was full, (Japanese restaurants usually don’t take reservations) so we had to find another. At the restaurant I had my first experience with Kyoto prices. The lunch cost 1800 yen, which I thought was a lot. My host family assured me that it was normal for Kyoto, and I believed them, but it still felt like a lot of money to me. Little did I know. The dinner that night was close to twice that much.
kyoto

After lunch, we went to the hotel and relaxed for about thirty minutes, then took the hotel bus back into Kyoto and walked around for a little while. I saw many modern buildings, and took a lot of pictures, then we went into an old part of town (Kyoto has been an important city since before America even existed.) which I think was Gion. We then had dinner. It was at a restaurant on the second floor of a building. I have no idea how big it actually was, because it was divided into lots of little rooms with two or three tables each. I told my host family that we didn’t usually have this in America and they seemed surprised. It was very nice. The room was quiet and before the waitress came in with each course she knocked on the door. Meals come in courses in Japan. There’s no main dish, just a bunch of little dishes, all about the same size. At home we set them on the table all at once, (which makes setting the table difficult for me) but in restaurants they bring them out one by one.

We then shopped in what was basically a street with a roof. (Cars were not allowed in, though. It was a very narrow street) That was fun. I love shopping, and I managed to buy a pair of socks and pretty chopsticks without spending a fortune. I think Kyoto prices are higher than Sendai prices, but I’m not sure. I haven’t done a lot of shopping in Sendai.
By the time we were done shopping my feet hurt, and I was glad to head back to the hotel. At the hotel, we showered, and watched a history drama. History dramas are basically a TV show set in the past. My host aunt likes them. The ones we watch are set in medieval Japan and Korea, but I think there are dramas set in the twentieth century as well. I don’t understand the words, but I like to look at the costumes. The shows we watch have a lot of kings, princes, etc. in them, so the clothes are fairly ornate. I went to bed first, at eleven, but when I woke up at two in the morning my host mother and sister were still awake. Wow. In America my parents don’t usually even stay up for New Years. For a history drama video click here...

Posted by TAadmin at 10/13/2009 8:53 AM Comments (0)

Spending America’s Fourth of July Weekend in Nice, Working on French Pronunciation

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by Joy Mason, Greenheart Travel Language School participant

Friday

Good news, I held an entire conversation with Pierre and Isabelle in French! I hardly made any mistakes, and it was a conversation with meaning and purpose, about how I felt rude on the phone because it’s hard to speak French on the phone (oh man is it difficult) and about their plans and all this stuff. Also, Pierre said that my French is getting better. A real-live conversation. On the other hand, a stranger talked to me this evening, and I had no idea what he said. After three repetitions, no idea. But that’s how it goes.

Saturday July 4, 2009
ice cream in Nice

Happy birthday, America! I actually missed being there a lot more than I thought I would. We were watching television (of course) last night, and some golf in Washington D.C. came on, with all the greens decorated with American flags, and it just made me homesick for America. I missed being home when everyone gets excited for the Fourth of July and all the cities hang red-white-and-blue banners and people make plans and get paid holidays and love America. Photo courtesy of Fenocchio's website

Here, it was just another day, and I went to Nice with Kate, Anne, and Katherine. We went shopping, and I bought a dress! We also went to a photography museum in Nice, and it’s a good thing it was free. I would have been a little put-out if I had paid to see scratched-up photos of body parts and pictures of trash on the beach. But hey, if you’re into that sort of thing, it was neat, I guess. Finally, we ate ice cream at Fenocchios, the greatest ice cream place ever.

Monday

I had to do an oral presentation in class today, and I decided to do it on “how to make a pb&j.” I explained that in the U.S. schools, we quite often have to make oral presentations, especially on “how to” do or make something, and that the example often given is “how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” As I talked about the things you need for such a sandwich, I pulled them out of my bag, and everyone started smiling. And then when I said, “And now I’m going to show you how to make a peanut butter and jelly,” they all laughed. So I made a pb&j, and then I had pre-made sandwiches to give out to everyone! It was a resounding success. I’m not sure everyone liked the sandwiches, but they definitely liked that I had the sandwiches.

Brigitte, my current teacher, asked the other day if I wanted to teach French, and I said maybe. Today she told me (very tactfully and kindly) that if I wanted to teach French, I really needed to work on my pronunciation. And she’s so right. I have the knowledge of the written language, but not the spoken language. I have such a hard time with certain pronunciations, like words with the letter ‘r’. Americans say the letter r with a cupped tongue and in the front of the mouth, while the French say the letter r with a flat tongue pressed up against the teeth and in the back of the throat. Brigitte says that I should say “La roue rouge roule sur la route” to practice my”r” pronunciation.

Click here for a French language video...

Posted by TAadmin at 10/8/2009 9:11 AM Comments (0)

The French Adventure Continues: Marineland, Family Feud and Realizing there are 6 Billion People in the World

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by Joy Mason, Greenheart Travel Language School Participant

Sunday

Today I went to the Evangelistic Church of Antibes. I’d been missing contemporary worship, and I can’t tell you how happy I was when I walked into the sanctuary and there were Dolphin

drums and a bass playing! Afterward, I went to Marineland! It was great! I saw a dolphin show, and an orca show, and a sea-lion show, and some sharks and fish and all sorts of things in the aquarium.

Tuesday

The twins and I watch television quite a lot in the afternoons and evenings. The show we watch the most often? “Secret Story”, a rather brainless reality show where there are a bunch of “beautiful” (read: guys and girls who spend more time on their hair each morning than I do in a full month) people who have strategies and deceptions and stuff like that. There’s also “The Voice.” That’s how he calls himself: “Ici La Voix.” I laugh every time he says that. We also watch “La Famille En Or,” which is the French version of “Family Feud.” Hilariously, though, the theme song is the “We are family” song, but instead of “we are” they say “En or.” I also watch a lot of “CSI,” which I never watched in American but quite enjoy here in France.

Click here for a video of "La Famille En Or."

Wednesday

I went to Grasse today with Emir, Pelin, Bercin, Amy, Kate, Maria-Julia, and Paola. Grasse is the world capital of perfume. When I told Pierre that we went to the perfume factory, he replied, “They have nothing but perfume factories in France!” We toured the Fragonard Perfume factory, which was interesting.

One really cool thing about traveling and living in different places like I have been is that it totally expands my view of the world. I mean, obviously, right? But we were talking at dinner tonight about how many people there are in the world, and how you can never know all of them. It’s so weird for me to think that there are like 5,999,999,999 (give or take a few hundred million…) people in the world right now that I will never meet, never know, never even realize exist! Before two Sundays ago, Emir and Paola, for instance, did not exist in my world. Now they do. Isn’t that so weird to think about? I mean, it’s a little self-absorbed: Emir and Paola didn’t exist in the little world that centers around me. But what I mean is, before I met Emir and Paola, I had never met (that I know of or remember) anyone from Turkey or Brazil. And now I have. And in knowing them, I learn a little bit more about this world I live in. Even meeting Kate, from Britain, is the same: even though I’ve met lots and lots of British, meeting someone new still expands my knowledge of the world. I’ll never ever be able to travel to everyplace on earth, but meeting people from all over is a little taste of all those places and all those peoples and all those cultures that God has created. And, seriously, how cool is that?

Posted by TAadmin at 10/6/2009 9:53 AM Comments (0)

Missing Microwave Dinners, Michael and Learning French by Playing Wii

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by Joy Mason, Greenheart Travel French Language School participant.

Part II in Joy’s account of learning French in Antibes, France…

Thursday

I didn’t miss America until I came to France. England is just enough like the States that I didn’t really miss America, I missed home. But here, maybe because I’m talking with people of so many different nationalities but not so many Americans, I miss the actual U. S. of A. I miss peanut butter, and when they talk about Obama (because they love Obama more than many Americans!), I think about how I haven’t been in the U.S. since Obama’s been President, which is just kind of weird. I miss microwavable meals, which I haven’t had since Christmas, and all these other things not necessarily specific to my home but specific to America.

Speaking of home, I Skyped with Mom today from the house, and it was hilarious. I kept speaking in French to her and in English to the Pravettonis, and the French and the English were getting so mixed up in my head. But I know Mom liked seeing some of the people I’m living with (she only saw Isabelle and Alex), and I think they liked seeing her, too.

Tonight, with the Pravettonis, I am watching Jaws, which in French is called Les Dents de la Mer or “The Teeth of the Sea.” I find that title funny.

Friday (June, 26 2009)

Today, Michael Jackson died. Well, actually, Michael Jackson died yesterday, but we found out today. Apparently Alex and Anthony are both big fans of Michael Jackson, so once I got back, we listened to Alex’s music collection of the King of Pop until Pierre got home. While we listened, we played cards (I think cards is usually Antho’s idea, which is interesting, because it’s him that loves watching TV the most), played bowling and golf on the Wii (which they had planned since yesterday, and were very excited about), and Alex and I played MarioKart (at which I was awful, but that’s how it goes).
Antibes

You know, doing exercise or playing games is a great way to learn a language. People are usually speaking slower because they’re explaining something, and they’re using simple language. The conversation usually centers around the game or exercise, so it’s easier to put new words in context, and you’re either having fun or exercising at the same time! It’s been really helpful, actually, to play games/Wii/exercise with the family.

Saturday

Today I went to Cannes. There were nine of us. When we got off the bus, the first thing we saw was a market. This market was not typical: it looked like Grandma and Grandpa had a garage sale, not even kidding. There were all these random knick-knacky things like Grandma just saves: painted plates and boxes of matches and bronze ashtrays and ceramic figurines and stuff like that.

Anne and Kate and Katherine and I walked around old Cannes for a while, making it up to the castle/church/fort thing and a great view of Cannes, and then we went back to the newer part of town and went shopping. Then we went to the beach for maybe an hour. I like Antibes’ beach better. And, finally, we found the hand prints of the stars: Sydney Pollack (I always think I know who he is until I actually start talking about him), the late great Gregory Peck, Mel Gibson, and Chuck Norris.

Posted by TAadmin at 10/2/2009 3:27 PM Comments (0)

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