Johnny Esparza

English Weekend!

In one of my recent posts, I talked about how I attended a Pre-English Weekend event. This past weekend was the full English Weekend, in which I was one of the staff members.

Here we all are! There were quite a few of us, and we later split off into groups A, B, C, D, E, and F.

Here I am with my group! We were group D, so we tried to make a D shape with our hands.

Once again, at this English weekend we played games like the ones in the Pre-English weekend, only with a lot more people this time. One such game we played was called "バースデイトレイン," or "Birthday Train," in which everyone who attended needed to get in a line according to their birthday. Those born in January were up front, and the line snaked around the room until we reached the end for those who had birthdays in December. But this was the catch for the Japanese students: Since it was English Weekend, they were not allowed to speak in Japanese during the game. If they were caught speaking Japanese, then they had to play a "Penalty Game." Though this sounds a bit scary, the penalties were mostly funny. They had a jar with all possible penalties and you had to reach in and grab one. They had some such as getting a drawing on your face, you having to make a sexy pose in front of everyone, or eat or drink something with wasabi. Only one guy was unfortunate enough to be caught speaking Japanese, and his penalty game was that one member of the staff had to draw a moustache and glasses on his face with a marker.

Another game we played, I'm actually not sure what the title of it was... But 1 person from each group volunteered, and one by one, they all went outside the activity room we were in and given different drinks and foods, but ther was wasabi in a few cups and on some food. When everyone went back inside, they ate/drank in front of everyone, and they all made faces filled with disgust. Those who were left in each group had to identify who had eaten or drank anything with wasabi. And this game went for 3 rounds.

We also played another round of Fruits Basket. Simialar to the "I like everyone, especially those who..." game, in fruits basket you say a random trait, and whoever has that triat (ex. black hair), they get up and must run to a different spot. Everyone sits in a circle, and one person stands in the midle. After running, whoever is left is the next person in the middle. The person in the middle can also say "Fruits Basket," in which everyone gets up and finds a new spot. This game of Fruits Basket was different than the last time we played, since whoever was left in the middle had to play a Penalty Game. I, unfortunately, was the man in the middle one time, and had to play a Penalty Game. My penalty: Eat takoyaki (a wheat based food in the shape of a ball filled with octopus, green onion, ginger, and tempura) with wasabi sauce.

We also had someone come and give us a presentation on the Japanese style drums called "Ōtsuzumi." And they gave us a chance to try them out ourselves!

They also brought some Japanese masks usually worn during performances and allowed some students to try them on.

On our way back to KGU, we stopped by and picked some oranges on the mountain side. The sight was so beautiful, I wanted to stay there!

It was an amazing trip! They allowed us to eat as many oranges as we wanted to there absolutely free, but if we wanted to take any home with us, they were about $3 a kilo.

This past weekend was so amazing! I really hope I can meet up with all these people again sometime!

またね！

 

Trip to Nagasaki!

For one of the classes I'm taking, we had the opportunity to take a trip to Nagasaki and stay overnight. While there, we visited the Hara Castle ruins, Oura Cathedral, the Glover Gardens, and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

To get there, we traveled by bus and by ferry. The picture above is us during our short ferry ride. Everyone was outside enjoying the scenery, and we spent the time feeding the seagulls. One of my Japanese friends, Takanori, wanted to try feeding the seagulls from his mouth, alas he was not successful, but he came close!

And here's a picture of a few of us Exchange Students on the Ferry.

After we arrived at Nagasaki, one of the first things we did was stop off by this little convenience store. I took this picture because I thought it was so adorable. The girl above, Sachi, is an exchange student from Vietnam. While we were in the store, this little boy just came up, grabbed Sachi's hand, and started pulling her outside. She was laughing the entire time, and tried to get the little boy to stop. The boy's parents finally took notice and rushed over, apologizing over and over again. We all just laughed and said everything was okay!

 We stopped by the Hara Castle ruins, and were amazed by the view. Though the castle no longer stands, the remaing ruins are only pieces of stone that used to make up the surrounding fortress. At the top of the hill though, we found all these beautiful statues.

Our next stop was the Oura Cathedral.

Sadly, these were the only few pictures I was able to take as we were not allowed to take photos inside. The surrounding area was small and only had a small patch of grass with a pond that had koi fish and a crucifix statue. 

Next up was the Glover Gardens.

In the pictures above, you'll see a heart stone. There is actually a legend behind it. As the story goes, touching a heart-shaped paved stone will make your dreams of love come true.　The tree next to it was adorned with love notes people had decided to leave, tied to the branches of the tree.

 Here are some pictures of a few other things we saw there. There were beautiful fountains, and as we went up more and more stairs, we could see drop offs that had water cascading down their sides. The house on the bottom left corner is the Former Mitsubishi No. 2 Dock House. It used to be a facility where ship crews could rest while their ship was getting repaired.

 Then, we visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. The pictures show some of the remains of the Urakami Cathedral. In the bottom pictures, you'll see some rosaries that were recovered. The picture on the bottom right is actually several rosaries fused together. From the intense heat of the bomb, the glass beads melted and combined. It was said to have been from a woman whose mother died during the blast. The woman found all her mother's rosaries fused together like this and kept them for 40 years before finally donating them to the museum.

This was my favorite piece in the entire museum. It is a clock that was recovered after the bombing. The face is forever frozen in time at the exact moment the atomic bomb exploded, 11:02 am.

As we were leaving, I stopped by the gift shop. I saw some pamphlets there and the women behind the counter said it was okay for me to take one. Upon looking inside, I saw these words on the first page,

"August 9, 1945, 11:02.

The atomic bomb exploded.

Down under the enormous mushroom cloud

people had been going about their daily lives.

Find records of the various facts about that day

and the atomic bombing

at the museum.

Express thoughts and emotions born at the museum

by praying at the memorial hall.

These two facilities are connected.

Learn at the museum; pray at the memorial hall.

We hope that visitors will carry the emotions born here

into the future,

so that the atomic bomb will never be forgotten."

Though the trip to Nagasaki was a fun one, it was also draining. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. Those who lost their lives during the atomic bomb will never be forgotten.

Here is one last picture of everyone who attended the Nagasaki trip.

またね！

Halloween Adventure!

While Halloween isn't all that much of a popular holday in Japan, it doesn't stop groups form throwing small parties. This party we attended was held by the English Lounge in KGU. The English Lounge is a place where students go to practice their English by playing games, talking, reading, and the like with other students there. The majority of the English speaking International Students have signed up to be staff members for the English Lounge. While there, we meet a lot of new people. But the English lounge is not only for other students to practice their English, but also provides the chance for us to practice our Japanese.

We had ben told about the little Halloween Party from early on. And it was a great time! Almost everyone was dressed in costumes, save for a few people. They had snacks and such for everyone. They even had a costume contest.

A picture of the winner! She was dressed as Sully from Monsters Inc!

The day after the Halloween Party, on Halloween Day itself, we went on a Welcome Bus Trip. During our trip, they took us to the Takachiho Gorge.

Once the bus dropped us off, we had to walk down about 600 meters to reach the gorge, but there were some amazing sights along the way and at the end waiting for us!

While walking along the trail, I took this picture when I turned around and realized there was a high school also taking a field trip there.

Never in my life had I seen a sight so beautiful. I had to stop several times to take it all in. During this trip I realized the power nature had not only on landscape, but on people's emotions as well. I hope one day I get the chance to go again.

またね！