貴方たちは友だち

In my first summer as a college student, I met a group of Campus Crusade for Christ people. While I did find them interesting for many reasons, one of the things that struck me was how close they were. These kids were picked from different parts of the country, and had really known each other for a few months before I met them, and yet, they were inseperable, and acted as if they had known each other for years. If Facebook is to be belived, they are still quite close. Maybe not as much as they were when I met them, but they do not treat each other as you would a mere aquaintance. At the time, I assumed this was due to them being Christians. In my experience, many Christians are friendly and open. For us non-religious people, I thought, it takes much longer than a few months to develop such a bond. I think I will be proven wrong on this assumption.

To be honest, I was very pessimistic about making friends here. My biggest fear was actually the other Americans. I was terrified that they would be weaboos, or people who are only interested in the most basic of things Japanese. They're the people that think that by watching hours of anime and clearing Japanese 101 they've become an expert on Japan. To be quite honest, I find these people unbearable, and if the Americans were going to be like that, then I wanted to have nothing to do with them. I was planning to have a bleak and rather lonely year in Japan.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I made friends here. The Americans are not at all what I thought they would be. True, they have an interest in Japanese pop culture, and possibly pursue hobbies which the average 日本人 would never think about. But their interest has far more depth than anything frivolous. Although a lot of it goes over my head (KPop, JRock, host clubs), it is quite clear that this is not just a passing fancy. And I was also relieved at how they interacted with Japanese culture, something that they may or may not have experienced first hand. What really surprised me was when confronted with foods they had never eaten before, only rarely did they pass on it, or declare that it was inedible. Indeed, with only a few exceptions, they have been most enthusiastic about trying new foods. And it is also worth mentioning that at the ゆかた祭り, they embraced it quite openly. They bought yukata that I felt were worth the money that was spent on them, and had patterns that were very attractive. And none of them fought me when I made it obvious that I did not want to see them wearing shoes, or have their hair down, or something else that would make my ancestors cringe in their graves.

Nine months ago, I can promise you I would not have believed you if you told me how important these people would become to me. How, I would ask, is it possible to become so attached to people you've only known for a few months? How could they become important to you, seeing as they're so unlike you? Why would they be so important to you; you will soon become seperated from them, and in some cases, may never see them ever again? I definitely think that all of us having an interest in Japan has a big thing to do with it. That is one of the common interests we all have. If it wasnt for that, I would have never met these people. And below that, there are the less common, but not less important, similarities, whether it be music, food, or people.

But what really ties us all together is that we've all been there together. We've had to stick together to deal with all the crisises that come with living in unexplored territory. We've cried over relationship problems, and we've laughed at the craziness that comes with mistranslations. We've taken the same ridiculous classes, and also shared countless meals. You know the bond that develops between soldiers on the battlefield? It's a bit of a stretch, but we've been soldiers on this battlefield we call 留学, and we are so very close to victory.

I want to stay in touch with all these amazing kids that I've met here. Facebook and tumblr are poor substitutes for meeting in person, but it's better than nothing. I dont know what the future brings, so I wouldnt rule out that we'll move apart, and on in our lives. But I'm going to try my damndest to keep that from happening. These friendships are so precious to me, and that is something I will always treasure. Thank you, my dear, dear friends.

Christmas Report!

Christmas has come and gone, and it was the most unusual Christmas. I didnt see a single family member, or eat some good ol' home cooking. And despite being in a temperate climate, snow didnt fall. But that doesnt mean I didnt enjoy it! I spent most of it with my new friends that I've made up here. Maybe it wasnt my favorite Christmas, but it definitely was not the worst!

Let's start with Christmas Eve daytime. Most unlike America, I went to class on Christmas. I guess it should be expected in a country with a miniscule Christian population (holla, Nagasaki), but it was still weird. Most of the other Western people in that class didnt show up; only the guy from Nevada and the Finnish girl showed up. That class was Family Life in Japan, and isnt that interesting. I dont quite remember what the topic of the lecture was, but I really enjoyed the teacher. She was so airheady! She jumped from tangent to tangent, in a mix of Japanese and hesitant English. I want to know what she's teaching next semester, because I wouldnt mind taking a class with her.

After class, I scarfed down lunch, because I was invited to celebrate one of the Chinese girls' birthday. Since the Chinese and the Koreans stick to themselves, I was very flattered to be invited to go to karaoke with them. Unfortunately, due to my procrastination and disorganization, I didnt get her a birthday present (and now that I think about it, neither did I gift the Russian...more things to do). I was the only person there who didnt speak Chinese, so I was left out of the conversation quite often. Thankfully though, I usually got a summarization of the conversations in either Japanese or English. I really want to go karaoke with these girls again though; one of them has one of the most beautiful voices I've sung karaoke with! They call her the "Queen of Karaoke" because of it. Her rendition of this song made the whole thing worth it! (Well, at least, I think this is the song she sang...)



愛我

After that, I came back to my room to freshen up for the Christmas Party one of the Japanese kids had set up. Unlike most Christmas parties I've heard of, which take place at someone's house, this one was at a local 居酒屋. While I wasnt too keen on drinking up on Christmas, I did want to spend it with friends, so I went. And I did have a lot of fun! We had なべ, which is basically where we cook our own food in this soup thingy. Oh it was so good! And the other stuff we had was really delicious too. There was いか and soybeans, だし巻き卵 and so much more. I really ate up.



After that, I called it a night. The next day, I was invited to one of last year's HUSA students to have French Toast and more fun at his apartment. To be honest, I'm not keen on French Toast, and I wasnt familiar with the movie they said they wanted to watch, but in the spirit of the holidays, I roused myself from my warm bed, and met up with them.

Like I said above, I'm not too fond of French Toast, but I still enjoyed myself. Our sempai didnt use too much egg on them, and I used lots of whip cream and syrup on them, so it was actually really yummy. Of course, I had no idea how the whip cream thingy worked. I ended up squirting some of it out onto the table and someone's glasses. Memo to self: Whip cream comes out when you push DOWN on the button, not across. After brunch, we more or less just hung out, "being dudes", as sempai would say. We played a game of The Game of Things, which is kinda like Apples to Apples. After dinner, when one of our Japanese friends fell asleep on the floor, we decided to say goodbye and head back to the dorms.



All in all, not a terribly bad Christmas. I'll admit, I was afraid that this would be the most unhappy, miserable Christmas I've ever had. I was going to miss seeing my family, eating my favorite foods, HEAT, and the birth of my nephew. But you know what? It was actually a lot of fun. I spent it with some very cool people, who did some very cool things (thanks Mimu and Jeff!!). And I ate tons of おいしい food. So you know what? I think I'll count this as a successful Christmas.

OH! It's not the exact one that I wanted, but I succeeded in getting a Rilakkuma with a mushroom! Chee~!



Now, where to put it...