Castle, ninja, end of introduction
Door: Laurens
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Laurens
16 September 2016 | Japan, Osaka
So, last time I told you all I would become a ninja! Unfortunatly, it turned out I'm not suited to be a ninja :( But let me start from the beginning.
On Wednessday we gathered at the main entrance of the university at 07:45. 4 Busses would then take us to Iga Ueno. This was about a 2 hour drive. I got seated next to a GS Network student, named Taro. His English was quite good, but our conversation bounced around between Japanese and English. Once we arrived at our destination, we were first given about 1 hour of time to visit Ueno Castle. Though not nearly as big as Osaka Castle, it was still a beautiful one! Inside there were three floors with items to look at. But where Osaka Castle is surrounded by the city, Ueno Castle is surrounded by much more nature and tranquility!
Our next stop was a restaurant to have some lunch. This was an unbelievably delicious lunch! Most of what I ate I have no idea what it was, but it tasted sooo good that I really don't care either XD I believe a sign said the floor was reserved for 178 people. Got to chat a little with Seb (Sebastian) from Norway and Natasha from Germany as well. She had a vegetarian lunch, so hers was slightly different. We only got one our for lunch as well though, and although I finished everything, I could not help but feel rushed. A lunch that diverse and delicious deserves more time!
Next stop that day was the ninja museum! Or perhaps I should call it a ninja complex? We were first ushered into a real ninja house, with many traps and trix inside. There were about 3 hidden places to hide either a person or an object, 4 or 5 trick doors and even a trick ladder to the 2nd floor! Traps were not shown to us, so I can only assume that they are too dangerous to be displayed. From the ninja house we entered the actuall museum, where a lot of objects were displayed. And to my surprise, there was a lot of English explanation as well! The most exciting part of our visit to the ninja complex was the ninja show! Here, we were shown real ninja weapons and techniques! Unfortunately, video and even photo was not allowed :'( First a kunoichi (female ninja) cut up some bamboo mats with a blade. Because they had been absorbing water for the last 24 hours, their density had supposedly become the same as a human neck... The blade went through them as if they were the same density as water though! Then 2 ninja fought each other, with perfectly timed soundeffects for enhanced experience! After that a ninja gave a demonstration of shuriken (throwing star) throwing. next a kunoichi demonstrated several blow guns. Finally a kunoichi defeated a ninja in combat by using a scarf! Deffinitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen! The last thing we got to do was throw 5 shuriken ourselves! I managed to get 1 sticking into the wood and 1 at the edge of the paper, but the other 3 just bumbed off and fell on the ground... Sooo I'm not exactly a natural ninja :( After the shuriken throwing we still had well over an hour of time left before we could return to the bus. Part of this time I spent taking some pictures, the rest I spent talking to Rie-san. She is another GS Network student and like Taro she's from Osaka. In my opinion the conversation went rather stiff/rough, because we soon arrived to topics that are not entirely covered by my current vocabulary. But besides the standard and immediate "Wow your Japanese is really good!" compliment (almost seems like some sort of reflex or something :P) she also gave me the complement that I at least speak quite a lot. Apparently other exchange students she talked to didn't really feel like speaking Japanese. So I guess that 1 point for me ^^ It also turned out that she was in the same bus a me. Next to her sat Hitomi-san from Nara. We talked a little bit before I decided I was tired and put on some music and closed my eyes. Like I expected, I didn't sleep, but it was still nice :)
What I absolutely must not forget to mention however, is how much green I've seen during both bus trips!!! Trees, bushes, grass, rice terrases, EVERYWHERE! And even when you saw the concrete on either side of the road that kind of marks off the road, nature was allready well on its way to reclaim that space too!
Thursday was a rather important day, as we filled in everything necessary to open a bank account in the morning. We won't be able to use it untill the end of october, but hey, can't have it all right? It was also the day where our Japanese level was announced. Low to high from 1 till 6. I got into level 3 for the Intensive Japanese Course, Speaking & Listening Course and the Kanji & Vocabulary course. That was a little higher than I expected, especially for kanji, but I suppose I should be proud of it :D Lastly that day we registered for the courses we want to take.
Today we got confirmation of our courses, I got everthing I wanted ^^ We also received a ton of information and instructions about what to do in case of different natural desasters or accidents. The only thing they forgot to mention are the Kaijuu (large monsters) like Godzilla :P The last part of the introduction was for us to meet our Nihongo partners! They will help us practice our Japanese! My Nihongo parners are called Hiro (boy) and Makiko (girl) and they both live in Osaka. They both seem like really nice people! Hiro speaks a little Dutch! :O A friend of him taught him. He also wants to learn German and go on exchange to Germany. Apparently his parents used to be translators and also studied German! After our 'Tea Party' (wasn't even any tea!) was over, Makiko-san was so kind to take me to a bookshop where I could buy a kanji book for children! That was so nice of her! I hope the book will help me, I'm really curious XD
Classes start on Tuesday, so now I have 3 days to recuperate from this introduction week. I haven't got anything planned, but I'm sure something will pop up :)
Bye bye!
PS:
On Wednessday we gathered at the main entrance of the university at 07:45. 4 Busses would then take us to Iga Ueno. This was about a 2 hour drive. I got seated next to a GS Network student, named Taro. His English was quite good, but our conversation bounced around between Japanese and English. Once we arrived at our destination, we were first given about 1 hour of time to visit Ueno Castle. Though not nearly as big as Osaka Castle, it was still a beautiful one! Inside there were three floors with items to look at. But where Osaka Castle is surrounded by the city, Ueno Castle is surrounded by much more nature and tranquility!
Our next stop was a restaurant to have some lunch. This was an unbelievably delicious lunch! Most of what I ate I have no idea what it was, but it tasted sooo good that I really don't care either XD I believe a sign said the floor was reserved for 178 people. Got to chat a little with Seb (Sebastian) from Norway and Natasha from Germany as well. She had a vegetarian lunch, so hers was slightly different. We only got one our for lunch as well though, and although I finished everything, I could not help but feel rushed. A lunch that diverse and delicious deserves more time!
Next stop that day was the ninja museum! Or perhaps I should call it a ninja complex? We were first ushered into a real ninja house, with many traps and trix inside. There were about 3 hidden places to hide either a person or an object, 4 or 5 trick doors and even a trick ladder to the 2nd floor! Traps were not shown to us, so I can only assume that they are too dangerous to be displayed. From the ninja house we entered the actuall museum, where a lot of objects were displayed. And to my surprise, there was a lot of English explanation as well! The most exciting part of our visit to the ninja complex was the ninja show! Here, we were shown real ninja weapons and techniques! Unfortunately, video and even photo was not allowed :'( First a kunoichi (female ninja) cut up some bamboo mats with a blade. Because they had been absorbing water for the last 24 hours, their density had supposedly become the same as a human neck... The blade went through them as if they were the same density as water though! Then 2 ninja fought each other, with perfectly timed soundeffects for enhanced experience! After that a ninja gave a demonstration of shuriken (throwing star) throwing. next a kunoichi demonstrated several blow guns. Finally a kunoichi defeated a ninja in combat by using a scarf! Deffinitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen! The last thing we got to do was throw 5 shuriken ourselves! I managed to get 1 sticking into the wood and 1 at the edge of the paper, but the other 3 just bumbed off and fell on the ground... Sooo I'm not exactly a natural ninja :( After the shuriken throwing we still had well over an hour of time left before we could return to the bus. Part of this time I spent taking some pictures, the rest I spent talking to Rie-san. She is another GS Network student and like Taro she's from Osaka. In my opinion the conversation went rather stiff/rough, because we soon arrived to topics that are not entirely covered by my current vocabulary. But besides the standard and immediate "Wow your Japanese is really good!" compliment (almost seems like some sort of reflex or something :P) she also gave me the complement that I at least speak quite a lot. Apparently other exchange students she talked to didn't really feel like speaking Japanese. So I guess that 1 point for me ^^ It also turned out that she was in the same bus a me. Next to her sat Hitomi-san from Nara. We talked a little bit before I decided I was tired and put on some music and closed my eyes. Like I expected, I didn't sleep, but it was still nice :)
What I absolutely must not forget to mention however, is how much green I've seen during both bus trips!!! Trees, bushes, grass, rice terrases, EVERYWHERE! And even when you saw the concrete on either side of the road that kind of marks off the road, nature was allready well on its way to reclaim that space too!
Thursday was a rather important day, as we filled in everything necessary to open a bank account in the morning. We won't be able to use it untill the end of october, but hey, can't have it all right? It was also the day where our Japanese level was announced. Low to high from 1 till 6. I got into level 3 for the Intensive Japanese Course, Speaking & Listening Course and the Kanji & Vocabulary course. That was a little higher than I expected, especially for kanji, but I suppose I should be proud of it :D Lastly that day we registered for the courses we want to take.
Today we got confirmation of our courses, I got everthing I wanted ^^ We also received a ton of information and instructions about what to do in case of different natural desasters or accidents. The only thing they forgot to mention are the Kaijuu (large monsters) like Godzilla :P The last part of the introduction was for us to meet our Nihongo partners! They will help us practice our Japanese! My Nihongo parners are called Hiro (boy) and Makiko (girl) and they both live in Osaka. They both seem like really nice people! Hiro speaks a little Dutch! :O A friend of him taught him. He also wants to learn German and go on exchange to Germany. Apparently his parents used to be translators and also studied German! After our 'Tea Party' (wasn't even any tea!) was over, Makiko-san was so kind to take me to a bookshop where I could buy a kanji book for children! That was so nice of her! I hope the book will help me, I'm really curious XD
Classes start on Tuesday, so now I have 3 days to recuperate from this introduction week. I haven't got anything planned, but I'm sure something will pop up :)
Bye bye!
PS:
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