箱根バス旅行
私が通っている日本語学校は冬の修学旅行として、学生を箱根に連れていった。箱根は、東京の近く人気がある温泉で有名な観光スポットだ。私が行ったことがない所だった。学校からバスで２時間かかるので、集合時間は午前７時４５分で、出発は８時だった。でも、私は学校の近くに住んでないから、集合時間を間に合うため、うちを朝６時半に出た．．．なぜかその前の夜になかなか眠れなくて、辛かった。
そのあと、ご飯食べて、二つのグループ、観光コースや温泉コース、に別けた。私は観光コースだった。最初にケーブルカーで山を登って、大涌谷に行った。そこは地獄の谷だと言われている。着くと、なぜそのように言われているのかをすぐにわかる。黄色っぽくて緑の石はどこでもあって、木などの植物は白い何かがついていた。地面から白くて濃い蒸気が出ていて、おかしい匂いがした。活火山だから。硫黄の豊かな石がいっぱいあるので、変な匂いがするし、火山のおかげで蒸気が出る。初めてそういうところを見た。すっごかった。
日本では、どこに行っても名物はある。名物というのは、その所の特別な、または有名な食べ物・飲み物。例えば、徳島県の名物はすだち、名古屋市の名物はういろやひつまぶしだ。大涌谷の名物は黒卵。硫黄が入っている水で沸かした卵の殻が黒くなる。その黒卵を食べると、人生が７年長くなると言われている。そして、お土産売り場のリーフレットによると、黒卵のうまみと栄養は普通の卵より良いらしい。そこで、黒卵は５個入りパックで売られているから、クラスメートと一緒に買って、食べてみた。だが、普通の卵と同じ味だった。ちょっとがっかりした。まあ、それで人生を７年間延長できたら、いいんだけど。
All ready for the customers to arrive
最後に、彫刻の森美術館に行った。外で色な像があって、天気も結構よかったし、面白かった。でも、子供だったらいいなーと思ってた。子供向けの遊べる場所がいっぱいあって、楽しそうだった。私も、像の中で遊びたかったのに、６差未満など年齢限定だった。大人は一つのステンドグラスの塔しか入れなかった。それ以外に、ピカソの展覧会もあった。前見たことのないピカソの像や食器を見て、勉強になった。それで、バスに乗って、東京に戻った。
ワインのイベント
友人の知り合いで、カリフォルニア州のワインを日本に輸入している人がいる。彼はワインを売るためのイベントを月に１回ぐらいやっている。友達はそのイベントをバイトとして手伝ったりする。私はその２月のイベントに見学しに誘われて、行ってみた。勉強になった。
イベントでは白ワイン８本、ロゼ１本と赤ワイン１２本ぐらいはテーブルでよそってあった。お客さんが気になるワインを飲んでみて、どのワインを買いたいのかを決めたら、オーダーフォームを書くスタイルだった。私はイベントの半分ブレークに着いて、最初に全部のワインを飲んでみたり、お客さん用のファクトシートを読んだり、友達のノートをコピーしたりしていた。１５分がたったら、お客さんがどんどん来た。あんまりワインに詳しくないのに、すぐにテーブルの後ろに立って、お客さんにワインを注したり、質問を答えたりしていた。お客さんと色な話をしていた。もちろん全部日本語で。自分の名札で名前とスコットランド出身を書いたから、ワインだけじゃなくて、日本語を喋れる理由とか、日本に来たきかっけとか、そして、たくさんスコットランドやイギリスについて聞かれた。自分の言語力が高くなった気がした。
ワインについて聞かれたら、何言えばいいのかはまだよく知らないけど、そのイベントで働いている人たちの話を聞くのは面白かった。熱心で話してたし、色な情報を説明してくれたし、もっと聞きたいように言葉を使ってたし。まだたくさん勉強しないといけないが、いつかそのように話せたらいいなと思う。
卒業写真
大学を卒業するときに、式に袴というスカートみたいな着物の上につける服を着る日本人は多い。本当にうつくしいものだと思う。友達の素敵な卒業写真を見て、私もいつか着てみたいなと思ってた。ラッキーなことに、私は着るチャンスを得た。私の日本語学校が１０枚ぐらいずつ女性と男性用の袴を持っている。そして、留学生ビザの学生は卒業するときに、その袴を着てみて、卒業写真を撮るイベントがある。もちろん、私はやった。
学校が持っている着物の中で自分の好きな色を選べた。私はちょっと早め着いたから、一番最初に選択して、自分にとって、最もきれいな青と紫いろの着物を選んだ。それに合わせて、濃い紫色の袴にした。そして、二人の先生は帯を結んだりして、みんなに着させてくれた。私たちが着たのはちょっと簡単にした袴だったけど、それでも、着替えるのは結構時間かかった。普通は着物の下に白い襦袢を着るんだが、私たちは見えるの襟元部分しか着なかったし、私はちょっと緩やかなスカートを着ていたから伝統的な下着に着替えたけど、クラスメートはジーンズとかの上に着た。
みんな（私とクラスメート、５人、あと、下のクラス２人）が着替えたら、学校の茶道のための和室（畳のへや）で一人ずつ写真をとって、グループ写真も！それで、いい天気だったから、下駄に入って、隣の神社に行った。ところで、袴で歩くのは難しかった。足があんまり動けないから、広い歩幅ができず、小股じゃないとダメだ。階段とか、車道から歩道に上がるとか大変だった。または、帯はきついから、息もちょっと辛かった。その神社で傘を持って、もっと写真を撮ってた。袴と傘の明るい色と神社の強い赤はすごく目立つイメージにする。茶室に帰ったら、クラスメートと一緒にスマホで写真を撮ったりして、袴を着るのを楽しんでいた。みんなとこういう思い出を作れてよかった。ほんとに楽しかった。
Probably the best view of Mt.Fuji I have ever seen
Bus Trip to Hakone
The Japanese language school that I go to took all the students to Hakone as a winter school trip. Hakone is a popular tourist spot near Tokyo famous for its onsen. It’s a place I’d never been to before. Because it takes 2 hours by bus to get there from school, the meeting time was 7.45am, with departure scheduled for 8am. But due to the fact that I don’t live anywhere near school, in order to be on time I had to leave home at 6.30am. For some reason I struggled to fall asleep the night before, it was tough…
On route there were traffic jams caused by accidents, and we got stuck behind an extremely slow lorry on a small mountain road (the driver was doing something on their phone while driving), so it took us around 3 hours to get there in the end. Our first plan upon arriving at Hakone was the Hakone “pirate ship”. However, being 1 hour later than planned, even the teachers didn’t know whether we could still ride it. In a lucky turn off events we arrived at the port just as the ship was pulling in, so we just managed to ride it. Rather than just being a normal ferry, this ship was built to look like an old sailboat like its name suggests. It was a little bit cheap looking, and rather touristy, but we got a really good view of the stunning scenery and Mt. Fuji while riding it. Also managed to take some nice photos.
After that we ate lunch, then split into two groups, onsen course and sightseeing course. I was in the sightseeing group. First we took the cable car up the mountain to the Ōwakudani valley. It is known as “the valley of hell” and when you arrive it is easy to see why. The yellowish green rocks everywhere, the trees and other plants covered in a white substance, thick white steam coming out the ground and the strange smell in the air. This is due to the area being an active volcano. There are lots of sulphur rich rocks, creating that smell, and steam due to the volcanic activity. It was my first time going anywhere like that. It was amazing.
Wherever you go in Japan there are meibutsu, special food or drink associated with that region or place. For example, Tokushima prefecture’s meibutsu is Sudachi (a kind of fruit similar to a Lime), Nagoya’s is Uiro (a kind of sweet not dissimilar to mochi) or Hitsumabushi (a dish with grilled eel over rice). Ōwakudani’s is Black eggs. The eggs shells turn black due to them being boiled in sulphur rich water. It is said that eating one of the black eggs will extend your life by seven years. Also, according to a leaflet in the souvenir shop, the black eggs have more flavour and nutrient value than normal eggs. They sell the black eggs in packs of five there, so I bought one with my classmates and we all tried one. But, it was just the same taste as a normal egg. I was a little disappointed. Hopefully it at least extends my life by seven years.
Lastly, we went to The Hakone Open-Air Art Museum. They had lots of sculptures outside, and the weather was good. It was really interesting. But it did make me feel like I wanted to be a kid again. There were lots of places for kids to play in, and it looked really good fun. I also wanted to play inside a sculpture, but there were various age limits (e.g. 6yrs old or under). The only thing an adult could go in was a stained glass tower. Besides the outside part, there was also a Picasso exhibit. I saw some sculptures and crockery that Picasso had done for the first time, so I learned something new. Then we got the bus back to Tokyo.
Wine event
Among one of my friends acquaintance, there is a guy that imports wine from California. He holds events to sell wine around once a month. My friend helps out at these events as a part time job, and I was invited along to see how it works for the February event. It was a really good experience.
At the event, there were 8 white wines, one rose, and around 12 red wines set out on the table. And the customers could try the wines they were interested in, then fill out an order form once they decided which to buy. I arrived in the half time break. To start with I tried all the wines, read an information sheet (really for the customers) and copied my friend’s notes on the wines. After around 15 mins, customers started arriving. Even though I know very little about wine, I was soon behind the table serving wine and answering questions. Had a lot of conversations with the customers. Obviously all in Japanese. On my name badge, I wrote that I am from Scotland so I got a lot of questions on why I can speak Japanese, why I came to Japan, and about Scotland and the Uk as well as about wine. It made me notice that my Japanese level has improved.
I still don’t feel confident answering questions about wine, but it was super interesting listening to the people working at the event talking about it. They talked with such enthusiasm, knew lots of little facts, and used words in a way that made you want to hear more. I know I still have a long way to go, but I hope that someday I will be able to talk like that.
Taking Japanese style Graduation Photos
Taking graduation photos
When graduating from University, Japanese people often wear Hakama, an item of clothing similar to a skirt worn over a Kimono to the ceremony. I think it’s an extremely beautiful thing. When I saw my friends stunning graduation photos, I hoped that one day I could also wear one. I was really fortunate to get a chance to wear one recently. My Japanese language school owns around 10 Hakama for both genders. And when students on a student visa graduate they hold an event to wear them and take graduation photos. So of course I did it.
We were able to pick our preferred colour from the kimono that school owned. I got there a little early, so I got to pick first and chose a pretty blue and purple one (which I think was the best). And a dark purple Hakama to go with it. Then two of the teachers helped everyone get dressed, tied the obi’s etc. The kind that we wore was a slightly simplified version, but even so it took a while to get changed. Normally beneath the Kimono you wear a white undershirt but we just wore the visible white collar part, and my classmates just wore it over their normal clothes. I changed into a traditional underwear because I was wearing a bulky skirt though.
When everyone had changed (there were the five of us from my class, plus two girls from the class below us), we took photos one by one in the school’s Japanese style tea room (a tatami room), then some group photos. Before heading out to a local shrine because it was good weather. It was actually really hard to walk in the Hakama. Because you can’t move your legs much, rather than normal steps you have to take lots of really small steps. It was pretty tough using stairs, or even stepping up onto the pavement from the road. Also, due to the obi being tied really tight, it was a little hard to breathe. At the shrine, we took more photos holding umbrellas. The bright colours of the Hakama and the umbrellas, with the bright red of the shrine made for eye-catching photos. Once back at school, my classmates and I took more photos on our phones and enjoyed wearing the Hakama. I’m really glad I got the chance to make this kind of memory with everyone, I had a great time.