Week Two

This second week of the program has gone by a bit more smoothly than the first.  I'm starting to get into a routine, which helps a lot.  The sleep schedule isn't the greatest, but it's been a lot more fun.  Now that I've gone on 2 weekend trips, I feel a little bit more relaxed about the planning aspect of everything.  Now I've gotten to focus a lot more about learning about Japanese culture and sharing American culture. 

The weekends are by far the most fun.  During the week, the students don't get a break until at least 9:00, and it's not much better for the PA's.  On the weekends, besides the trips (which are pretty fun, anyway), we have a pretty open schedule to just hang out and relax.  AND SLEEP IN.  One of the instructors for the program has a house on the lake, so we got to spend Saturday swimming, playing volleyball, riding pedal boats, and just relaxing.  It was very refreshing.  After that, we went to a pow wow so the students could see a little bit of Native American culture.  There were some dances that the crowd could join in.  Most of the students were shy to join at first, but after me and a few others joined, they eased up.

Sunday was your typical lazy Sunday.  One of my fellow PA's, Aki (who happens to be Japanese) made some Japanese food for dinner for everyone.  After two weeks of foreign food, the students were thrilled to eat something familiar.  I can sympathize...I went to France for two weeks in high school and I missed American food after the first couple of days.  Anyway, the food was AMAZING.  She made some curry and rice and there was not an ounce left by the end of the night.  She said she'd teach me how to make it.  It basically tastes like vegetable stew with rice...except it's at least 20 times better than any vegetable stew that I've ever eaten.  I don't think I can ever go back to it now.

Mmmmm.. 

I feel bad because I intended to post a lot more than I do.  I just get so busy!  I'm hoping to post a little bit about some of my crafting next week...I've been working on a few projects : )

For now, I'll give you a few more of my cultural observations:

1) The students are FASCINATED by lightning bugs.  They came out at the pow wow and I think they took more pictures of the bugs than they did of the dancers.  It was kind of amusing for me.  Apparently they are rare in Japan.

2) I have a very sarcastic type of humor.  This is not always well understood by the students.  One of the students asked me where his passport was and I told him we had to burn it for security purposes.  His jaw dropped...I had to tell him I was kidding.  I think they're starting to catch on, though.

3) One of the students explained to me that American students tend to be much more adult-like than Japanese students of the same age.  Part of this may be that many American college students have to pay their own way through school and life, whereas the Japanese students are still mostly taken care of by their parents. 

Well, it's almost time for study hall.  Konbanwa!