Japan PDO Day 2: aaaaaiyaaaaaa awesome
Posted by irene , 6.12.2010 10:03 PM
Note: All these posts following with are, obviously, pictures that I have and will upload once I get a decent wifi source.
Yep!
I am currently using the only wifi connection known to all the YFU students right now... lucky me :D
6:04 AM
Everyone living in California really needs to appreciate this beautiful sky and landscape they can wake up to every morning.
This is at 6 in the morning, mind you! I would be so much more motivated to go to school if it was like this every day, haha. It usually doesn't start looking like this until at least... 6:30 in Michigan? If not later.
Today's schedule is pretty packed...
(and I never finished this)
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10:08PM
We had huge amounts of lessons and such today. Our entire day is crammed full... which is great :D it's amazing how long I feel like I've been here... Finally feel like I'm actually in California and I'm leaving in two days ;___;
Radio exercises (ラヂオ対ソ） in the morning:
After WWII, the Japanese government wanted to create a system of boosting morale, community bonding and such in its citizens (as well as encouraging physical wellness, of course!)
The exercises are essentially a series of timed stretches set to the wonderful beat of a man saying "いち、に、さん、し。。。” so on and so forth. Example video with way more people here!
Call me a nerd but they are actually somewhat fun... it's kind of amusing to see 60 other people doing the same exuberant movements as you XD
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In the afternoon, we discussed our homestay experiences (I think I'm going to discuss this in a later post), and then practiced Japanese.
I know I mentioned my uncertainty about this in my Day 1 post, but I somehow got into the advanced class o___o
けいこ先生, our teacher, is a native Japanese speaker from 大阪, Osaka! :DD Her accent is very good, as a result.
We just learned some basics: parts of the body, time, days of week/month, et cetera.
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We also played a game called bafa bafa. The premise sounds pretty simple, but actually playing the game was really fun XD
Our kumis represented different cultures, with completely different ways of associating, trading money, and values.
(for example, my kumi placed huge value on money and we spoke a language solely based on phonetic sounds... to trade. on the other hand, another kumi was a outspoken, patriarchal society with much physical contact, little notion of personal space, and less emphasis on the value of hard currency)
We sent three rounds of ambassadors between the two kumi rooms, mirroring our own exchanges, and it was definitely amusing to see the perceptions of one culture by another.
It'll be impossible for me to completely understand Japan, I realize that... but looking up current events and understanding the psychology behind the societal workings will help.
I want to make sure to not eliminate the human element behind all this though. Cultures do not operate simply by a set of rules... those rules are simply norms and guidelines.
The individuals themselves are the ones who make the decisions, with the norms in place to show precedent... which is usually followed as the outcomes for choosing those paths are known...
Getting a little too in-depth right now, sorry! I have a post on tis that I will type on the plane, when I have a clear head and time to thing ^0^
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After dinner, we had our two culture workshops :D
Since I picked karaoke and taiko drumming, both were rather musical. I have videos for both, which will go up velly velly soon.
...and right now I'm taking full advantage of my limited wifi connection! :)
Tomorrow is our last full day of PDO, and I really will miss it.
I have met so many people here... it's my dear wish that I will be able to see them again after Tuesday (stay in JP for 1 night).
...and yet, it's just the beginning! I really am unable to wrap my head around it right now... even after I've heard so much about it, it's almost unreal that I'm going there. In two days. AHHHH!
*deep breath*
Until I get a good connection (probably tomorrow), toodleloo! :)
~Irene
Posted in
Irene! Totally random comment here. I'm not sure if you've ever seen 洗澡 (Chinese movie from '99), but there's something in that movie exactly like that radio exercise thing you mentioned. Except in Chinese, and not quite as epic. Yep. Very enlightening.
Also: Taiko drumming! So cool! :D