Matsuyama: Making Friends and Memories

Matsuyama. A city that was unfamiliar to me in the states has now become a place that I will never forget. Because our program director believed that there wouldn't be that much to do in this city, she packed programs up the wha-zooey.  Once we got off the ferry, we settled into our 70's style hotel with private bathrooms.  For Day 1, our Augie group took field trip to the town of Tobe.  Tobe is known for their indigo decorated porcelain pottery.  There were pocelain statues and tiles paving thing streets.  I don't understand why Forest Park doesn't have cool things like that.  Then, my art skills were put to the test when I had the task to paint my own cup.  I hope it looks better when it dries.  For lunch, we were given a traditional meal where we got to sit on the ground at coffee like tables.  I put on my brave face and tried to raw fish and other mysterious dishes.  It wasn't bad...probably because it is in my blood to like it. 

In the afternoon we were auctioned off to Japanese families to do their bidding. Haha, actually they just wanted to feed us dinner.  My family person's name is Sally (American version).  She drove me to her house and told me that she picked me because we are both studying psychology and she wanted to improve her English.  Her house was a cute, compact condo that she lived at with her husband and three cats.  Because she thought her house was boring since she didn't have any kids, and she didn't like to cook, she took me to her sister's house.  From her sister's house, we packed her sister, brother-in-law, mother, father, 4 yr. old girl, 2 yr. old boy, and me in their van to go to an event called imotaki.  Imotaki is a picnic-like meal where there are paper lanturns everywhere,  music playing in the background, and where you sit with your family on tatami mats.  On the tatami mat, there is a giant pot that cooks all of the random food you put into it.  The place we were at was under a bridge, and we had food like udon noodles, tofu, chicken, veggies and potatoes of some sort, and the full octupuses that I politely declined.  While Sally and I were the only two that spoke English, the family bonded with me as we talked about Fukodome/Sammy Sosa, Fuji cameras, those wierd shape bracelet fad things now, and the beer that they kept trying to give me.  It was a lovely time. 

During one day, I was forced to go to some John Deer wannabe factory.  While it did not hold my interest, I came up with a theory as we were watching the tractors get made that they are actually building space ships and that is why they didn't want us to take  pictures, and why they had lasers.  Crop circles.  It all makes sense.  I also saw the outside of Matsuyama castle, which was quite impressive.  During the evenings, I was spending time with university students.  Its fun trying to communicate when one doesn't understand the other, but through our various hand gestures, the point gets across, eventually.  We would go to things like the mall, out to dinner, arcades, and kareoke.  Pour some sugar on me with some eye of the tiger.  We were jammin'.

My last night at Matsuyama was one of those, "How do I get myself into these situations?" types of nights.  While most people were experimenting with the hot springs, I told Sally that I would hang out with her again.  She took me to her parent's house, an hour away, and I was chatting with her dad through Sally.  He liked that I was interested in his shrine and this was our convo:

"Do you believe in mystical water?"

"Sure, we have baptism where you put the baby in the water and we have bread and wine and stuff."

"I have mystical cups where if you drink water then you will be cured of all disease."  He had a cabinet full of the same looking cups.  "Tell your parents to drink from each cup."  I thought these two cups were a jackpot gift.

Then, Sally took me to her mother's kareoke bar, which I assumed to be like the Japanese kareoke, but it was definately just a local bar with a tv behind the bar.  Not to mention, three old drunk men in front of the bar.  They kept bringing me out food and they asked what my favorite food was, and they ordered the okonomiyaki for me.  By the end of the night, I sang Yesterday and My Heart Will Go On, one of the old men kept trying to give me his wallet, and I was ready for bed.  Oh, how I love Japan.

Tales of Kirsten: From Kyoto to Hiroshima

I started to write this post in the middle of the night, when my hotel room in Hiroshima was occupied, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to catch up on my Japanese Tales (we learned about the Tales of Genji in my art history class, hence the title, even though my life is way more normal and less weird than Genji's), but then I got caught up in something else.  Time to catch up!   During my stay at Kyoto, I've been doing quite a lot, but I have also been making room for naps so I wouldn't wear myself out.  With our art history class, I visited another castle.  Not as cool as Osaka's, but it was decent.   Another day a group of us climbed another mountain type of thing to go to this beautiful temple, Kiyomizuyaki Temple.  The view was amazing, and it had this amusing Love Shrine area where if you walked from one rock to another with your eyes closed through the crowds of people than you will find your true love.  I thought it was dumb, but other people did it.  My botany teacher would be proud that I went to learn about Ikibana, a type of art having to do with flower arranging.  Apparently, it takes years to master.  Maybe I will take it up to impress the men.  It's kind of hard to remember everything I did because it was a long time ago and my journal has been commandeered.  I absolutely loved Kyoto, and I did not want to leave.

Hiroshima was our next stop.  It took about a million trains to get there, but get there, we did.  When we got off the bullet train I was chatting with one of the Memorial Park volunteers.  He explained a little bit about how he was a survivor and what happened when the bomb went off.  This 80 year old man was so energetic and fun to talk to.  Hiroshima has this tram system, which we used to get to our hotel.  From the tram we got our first sight of the A-bomb dome.  I was amazed about how it was still standing.  The next day was full-on Memorial Peace Park day.  We went into the museum, which had artifacts that survived the bomb, personal accounts from the surrivors, and descriptions of the before, during, and after the bomb.  It was devestating, expecially since I was not as familiar with hearing the Japanese perspective of August 6, 1945.  After the museum, one of the survivors gave us an account of everything he remembered on the day of the blast.  It hurts to think about it, as I am recalling it now.  For lunch the old man I met the day before sat by me and he was telling a group of us his account, as well as his opinion of how people compare Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima.  It wasn't the same.  Next, we got a tour of the memorial park and we hung the paper cranes that the Augustana Library has been folding.  One thousand cranes for peace.  Hiroshima has made a great impact on my view of the world. 

Our last day at Hiroshima was spent taking a day trip to Miyajima, an island/city type of place.  We took a ferry to get there, and from the ferry we could see giant torii gate standing in the water.  We landed and we got to see the sacred deer again.  One tried to eat my purse and was all up in my face, but its ok because he was sacred.  Some of us went through the temple to get closer to the torii gate, and we were surprised because we walked in on a traditional wedding!  I didn't really know what was going on, but the bride looked beautiful in her kimono and fancy up-do hair style.  While some Augie students decided to swim to the torii gate and get yelled at by a monk, my group decided to stand in the water and admire from afar.  Right after Miyajima, four of us went to a Hiroshima Carps baseball game.  It was quite an exciting game with lots of cheering and songs that I didn't know.  We saw an Americana try to start the wave, but it didn't work, unfortunately.  I would have to say that my favorite part was when each team's fans sung their team song and every single fan released their oddly shaped balloons into the air.  I also enjoyed how there was a giant ramen cup as a type of mascot being driven around the field.  The last night of Hiroshima was so fun because I was actually able to see the Japanese people in a non-touristy setting.  They were having a good time, and so was I.

Osaka to Kyoto. A Whole New World.

Hello Everyone!

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog, I can barely keep up with my homework!  At the moment, I am in Kyoto, an ancient city that used to be one of Japan's capitals.  Before then, I was in Osaka, the second largest city in Japan.  Osaka was more modern, so it was a good transition from the US to Japan.  We stayed at a youth hostel that was hotel like, even though there was a midnight cerfew.  The youth hostel would give a mix of american and japanese food.  It was always a well balanced meal and delicious every time.  So.  The Japanese people are really into Buddah and torri gates.  They are EVERYWHERE!  There are are Buddahs that take over the entire building and there are Buddahs that are the size of my forearem.  Everywhere.

One night, when my friends and I were planning on checking out the Pachinko (gambling place) across the street, we started talking to a woman from the youth hostel who was part of an international club, and she invited us to a Bon Udori local festival.  From what I got out of it, she told me that the festival was something about honoring your ancestor's spirits.  When my friends and I got there, they insisted we joined them in this dance.  The local people were wearing traditional yukata and dancing in a large circle around this drum.  I have issues dancing when its not free style, but it was still lots of fun.  The local people were so excited that we were there.  One of the guys wanted me to hold his toddler and I was like hmm.  She was a cute toddler.  It was so much fun and I made great Japanese freinds that night. 

 We took a day trip to Nara before we left Osaka.  Nara was also one of Japan's ancient capitals and it is known for thier sacred deer.  The deer are not run over by cars or hunted like in America, but all over the city.  We were walking through the Horyuji Temple shrine and deer were walking around.  I bought some crackers and they swarmed me.  They started poking me with their antlers and bowing their heads for the crackers.  Watch out CasaBlanca roommates, I'm going to take a deer from the forest and give it some crackers and train him. 

Now that I am in Kyoto, I feel like I am in ancient, traditional Japan.  The youth hostel that we are staying at makes us take off our shoes when we are inside, so it feels more like staying at someone's house than in a hotel.  I must say, since I did not get a chance to experience the night life in Osaka, I have been taking full advantage of it here.  My friends and I met up with some of the people we were hanging out with in Osaka and they showed us the hip places to go.  We went to a bar that was in hidden behind a secret sliding door that was as high as my knee so we had to crawl under.  So far, I have not experienced the squatty toliets, but that night I really had to pee so I had an interesting time using that.  We met up with our Japanese friends last night as well and ended up in at arcade and then a night club.  It was super fun dancing to the American music.  Some Japanese people were breakdancing, which was hilarious.  The first night we went out we missed the 10:30 curfew so we slept in the kareoke bar booth and next to the river.  Last night we slept next to the river too.  Besides my crazy fun nights, we went to see the famous torii gates at the Fushimi Inari-taisa shrine.  It was never ending torri gates, I think Memoirs of a Geisha was filmed there.  It was amazing, but I didn't walk up the entire  mountain because it was hot and I was getting sucked to death by mosquitos.  Thanks for commenting on my blog, there will be more.  Coming soon.   Love you all!

The Jitters Beforehand

At the moment, I am preparing to go where no Bjornson has gone before: The Land of Sushi, Kimonos, Anime, and Chopsticks.  Asia seems like the complete opposite of our own, American culture.  Right?  I mean, their toliets are holes in the ground, they eat fish eggs, and they don't wear flip-flops.  While there appears to be a couple things that I need to learn to embrace, I hope that I can make some connections with the people.  I am already half-Japanese, so I am a step-up from the rest of the 80 students from my Augustana group. 

Going to Asia has been on my Life Goal List since before freshmen year of college.  I do want to be put outside of my comfort zone.  I do want to meet lots of Asians and get to know everyone coming with me on the trip.  I do want to beat everyone I know at Super Mario Kart and get the latest version of Zelda.  This study abroad experience is going to open so many doors for me that I will have to watch where I am going 10 times more than usual.  I can see myself being amazed by all of my surroundings while walking at the same time and I can definatley see myself running into an unfortunate, shorter Japanese person.  The plane takes off from O'hare at 9:30 Thursday August 19th 2010.  I will miss every one oh, so much!  Please, keep in touch.

<3 Kirsten

The Brain Man

There has been no one like Daniel Tammet before. In every era, there has been a mind-blowing person who astonishes the world with his unique views and ideas: Einstein, Napoleon, and DaVinci to name a few. Now, a new mind has arisen. Tammet was born with a slight form of autism, enabling a part of his brain to open in a way others are incapable of doing. In fact, it makes sense Tammet’s brain performs well to one extreme, but is poor on another. Humans do not use all of their brain, so Tammet most likely tapped into a part of his brain no other human uses to restore the part that was damaged. What makes Tammet’s brain different from everyone else? What was different in his genes to make him the way he is? Unless Tammet will decide to become a study object, the world might never know. Because Tammet is one of a kind, his future could be a dangerous one. His brain is attracting attention from both doctors and possibly, the government. The government could use his memory as a tool for their own agendas, and doctors could make him their guinea pig. Daniel Tammet’s mind is nothing short of amazing, but depending on how he chooses to use and expose it could change the course of history.

Poem Compare/Contrast Introduction

Although both poems, “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Heyden and “This is a poem for Peter” by Peter Meinke describe a relationship between a father and son, they do not share the same kind of tone. One poem explains the son’s point-of-view; while the other expresses the father’s feelings for his son. Because “This is a poem for Peter” was written from the father’s point-of-view, the narrator is harsher when he is confessing his inability to be a good father on himself than in “Those Winter Sundays.” When the son reminisces about his father in “Those Winter Sundays,” he is more grateful and appreciative. At first, both poems appear to be similar, but when the descriptive wording is analyzed it is clear the poets illustrate two completely different stories.

After He Was Gone

After the death of Buck Jarrett, every friend, family member, teammate, and classmate was affected on some level. In particular, Buck’s mother, father, and brother’s feelings of grief and despair were so great it was as if they were going down a dark tunnel and they could not get out. Buck was his mother’s favorite child and his death started a chain reaction that made his mother, father, and brother start to question themselves, their love for each other, and what they considered important in their lives.

Conrad was at the scene of his brother’s death, and he saw Buck swallowed by the waves in a storm. The traumatic experience caused Conrad to blame himself for Buck’s death; questioning why he got to live and his beloved brother had to die. Conrad’s classmates did not know how to talk to him anymore because he was so dispirited, and his mother did not show the same love to Conrad that she had to Buck. Depression consumed Conrad. Eventually, he reached a point where he thought no one loved him and that there was no reason for him to keep living his life.

Although unconsciously, Calvin was being forced to choose sides between his son and his wife. Conrad was confused and needed someone to confide in, while Beth was trying to ignore the fact that her son had died and wanted everything to appear jovial. The only way Calvin believed he could keep his family together was if he appealed to both sides. Therefore, Calvin became the peacemaker of the family. Unfortunately, he had to come to terms with his wife’s decision to ignore anything unpleasant was their lives, which in this case in Conrad. If Buck never died, Calvin might not have realized that his wife was a woman of appearances who only cared for one of their sons.

Because of Buck Jarrett’s death, his family began to crumble, but it also let his family examine their true feelings about themselves and each other. In cases like Conrad’s, going through hardships only made him stronger as a person, whereas Beth showed that she was unable to handle a difficult situation. It is not always easy to predict the outcome of how a family will react to a death for the reason that it can reveal a person’s inner strength, or a person’s inner weakness.