Day 17-18

Culture Class: Calligraphy Lessons

Much to our excitement, this evening's culture class covered the delicate art of calligraphy writing. As many of us soon found after the first strokes, calligraphy is hardly as easy as it appears in movies and by masters. Called shodo in Japan, literally meaning "the principle of writing," this fine art was passed down to the Japanese from China and has survived the centuries, evolving, even, into a sport in some areas. Tonight, we did not practice full body calligraphy much to our dismay, but stuck to the basics, with horizontal and vertical lines. A line is more than a line; it takes a steady hand to create one without any blemishes or waves. After getting our lines down, or as good as they would ever be in a 50 minute class period, we moved on to larger, more complex kanji characters to write on our final special calligraphy paper. Characters such as love, peace, dream, and happiness were choices in the packet full of characters for us to choose from. Wisdom was a popular choice, as well as friendship. Even though, for many of us, this was our first experience with calligraphy, our final pieces turned out rather awesome looking. All of us were proud of our handiwork despite being far from mastery. Overall, a successful endeavor: no spilled ink, many beautiful creations.

Jillian

"Normal Life" from a Student's Perspective

Every day, we work very hard to compete with our very demanding schedule. However, on a normal day to day basis we all take our classes quite seriously, even if we are in different classes at times. For the past two days, we actually had something that could be considered a normal day. We had our daily routine in the morning as per usual; for example, we got up and did our daily run of Rajio Taisou (which is always invigorating). Then off to breakfast we went! After a hearty breakfast, we headed off to language class. Each class is working at different paces, which are interesting to see because we all work on different stuff. For example, in the beginners’ classes, they are working hard to master hiragana while the advanced class is in the process of mastering the art of kanji. Classes can range from very hard to very interesting, especially for the last couple of days. The lessons are very engaging and fun for everyone to enjoy. At this point we can all pretty much speak in complete sentences which is totally awesome considering how some of started off not knowing any Japanese. So full-emersion lunches aren’t so bad anymore. Culture Classes are very animated because we are very eager to learn about the different aspects of Japanese culture. Every day, we are fully engaged in whatever lesson we are being taught. As for after class, we have journal time, which is a great way to relax after our long days; also a time for us to be fully together. Helps end on a calm note and makes for great friend time.

Calyssa

Day 16

Okonomiyaki

Today, a final visit to the Lorna Sundberg International Center was made to cook okonomiyaki, a savory pancake-like dish made from eggs, vegetables, flour, and shrimp. As per usual, a vegetarian group was available for those who could not or didn’t want to eat shrimp and crab meat. After dividing into groups, we began to cook this savory dish. Very little technical work is required before mixing the vegetables and meat into the batter and frying, but onions and cabbage needed to be cut up. After that, we had fun taking turns pouring batter into the pan, frying it to a golden brown, and flipping the “pancake” at the right time. No one burned their okonomiyaki, but some didn’t get quite flipped completely and several “tacos” were created. No matter, all tasted delicious despite the odd shapes that emerged from the smoke. To go along with it, Japanese mayonnaise was passed around. For those who had never had it, it seemed to taste like “mayonnaise and mustard combined.” On top of the okonomiyaki, however, the flavors blended nicely and tasted excellent despite its strange appearance.

Throughout the past three weeks, coming to the International Center has been a wonderful relief from the busy schedule we are usually subjected to and has served as a kind of hangout for many people. The first visit saw hundreds of pictures taken of the awesome Asian and international artifacts displayed in the rooms and more still of each other getting excited to cook. With each visit, the number of pictures decreased, but it was still nice to look at the familiar environment associated with great food and great friends. I know many of us will be sad to leave it, and the incredible memories that were created, behind.

Jillian

Day 14-15

Variety Show

Today was jam packed full due to the intense preparation required for the variety show, the day's main event. Hosted by the "Ongei Brigade," literally meaning "sound entertainment Brigade," the 2011 Variety Show was a huge success and included many surprising acts. Josh G. started the event showing us some tricks on a traditional Japanese Kendama. Melanie and Alexis sang some incredibly beautiful songs on their guitar and ukulele, respectively, silencing their audiences. Riley performed a stand-up comedy act, leaving the audience baffled and in tears at times. Several dance groups were also included in the show: Lizzi, Rebecca, Hyunah, Monica, Nguyen, and Kemaya showed off their amazing skills dancing to SNSD's "Gee," a cute K-pop song with great dance moves. Let's not forget their awesome "clients," Calyssa and Josh G. On a completely opposite note, Fiona, Olivia, Clara, and Jillian created a parody of our morning exercises, rajio taiso, to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," ending the performance with a crusty-handed power pose and a house full of laughter.

As a culmination to the show, April, company president of the Ongei Brigade, surprised Margo and Kyle with a happy birthday song soon joined by the rest of the Academy. July 10th was their 17th birthday and for the past two weeks, April had been keeping the surprise from them diligently. We finally got to yell surprise tonight, at a surprise party planned by Calyssa as well as at the end of the variety show. Margo and Kyle received several presents, birthday crowns, and a box full of birthday cards from each person in the Academy. Both were close to tears at the end of the night, a very touching moment for all of us. It's good to know that the people here cared, still do care, for each other and leaving the nightly meeting, all of us felt closer than ever and a great sense of accomplishment for the good we had done that day.

Jillian

Wow….where do I start…ha-ha. Well, before I came to the academy, I agreed to myself that I wouldn’t tell anyone that my birthday was during the duration of this program. I thought maybe all the attention wouldn’t be necessary. I guess that didn’t go to well considering the Sensei’s and companies were planning a birthday party for Margo and me from the start. Not in a negative way, of course! First of all, I already knew that a company was planning a birthday party, but I would have never known that it was for Margo and I since I was told it was an early birthday party for Sones-sensei because his birthday is in July as well. I guess I was wrong and moreover shocked when Kemaya pulled me down to the stage after the variety show with Margo, while playing a Japanese birthday song. Oh and of course Kevin jumping on top of me in addition to all the pictures and laughter. -.- I would pretty much conclude that made my whole day until it was time for our daily journal time at 9…. Sones-sensei pulled me over to the side while everyone continued to go downstairs. (uhhh, I thought I was in trouble or something D:) Once he pulled Margo to the side, I pretty much knew it was something about our birthday. ^A^ However, when I got downstairs, it was a lot more than what I expected it to be o___o I was so overwhelmed with all the surprises and the benevolent aura that was given off in that room. Just looking at Margo’s watering eyes made me truly understand how overwhelmed and happy we both were. And Calyssa giving us both a personal beautiful box filled with letters from everyone….I really thought I was going to cry ha-ha. =___= The food was great too…it was nice to have some Korean food for once since I was craving it for the past two weeks. This will definitely be a memory I will never forget. :D

Kyle

Day 13

Today, the Japanese Language Academy traveled to Richmond to view the Japanese gardens at Maymont Park. The day was beautiful and no rain fell as we had feared. We had the opportunity to take a tour along the winding paths and over the glistening water in the garden. There was a great variety of plants although most of the scenery was green to provide a natural look. There were multiple pools of water with beautiful koi. The fish were gold, orange, white, and black with dapples of red and silver. We all crossed a wooden moon bridge which is called such due to its circular reflection mimicking the shape of the moon. There was also a cascading waterfall and a dry riverbed. The purpose of the dry riverbed was to represent the flowing motion of water using only rocks.
After the tour, we had a chance to explore the park in groups. We all took excursions along the rough paths. The paths in Japanese gardens are created as uneven and slightly hard to navigate so that the walker will slow down and take in what’s around them. This allowed us all to slow down and pay attention to the beautiful scenery. A few of us sat on the stepping stones that led across the lake and watched for koi to swim around the lily pads. It was a nice, relaxing day and we all learned a great deal about the culture of the society that we all so love!

Katelyn

Tokyo Market & Virginia Fine Arts Museum

Once we were done with our excursion in Maymont Park’s gorgeous Japanese garden and our picnic, we went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Tokyo Market. We split up into groups, rotated walking to the Tokyo Market to do a bit of shopping, and toured the grandiose Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Tokyo Market was a cute little shop located right off of Cary Street. Inside, a woman greeted us as we hunted for items in the tiny three aisle store.

Inside the Museum, there was a huge multicolored statue on one end of the foyer and on the other, a golden rabbit stretched fully, as if in mid jump. Most students went upstairs to contemplate the renaissance art and modern art exhibits, which were both very well done. Many who saw the contemporary pieces of artwork found them mind blowing. Melanie, Jillian, and Nic found the 1980’s Apocalyptic Era paintings especially stunning, a favorite being The Astronomer by Robert Morris. They found it a bit perplexing, yet profound: the colors, the sculpted body parts in the frame, the big eyeball on the rocket, blending together to create the field of astronomy and its challenges. At the very end of the museum visit, some students went into the gift shop and bought interesting items. Once everyone was done making their purchases, we boarded the bus and came back to Charlottesville. Many people slept on the bus ride back, and the students who stayed awake took embarrassing pictures of the unaware.

Melanie