Jes’ Weblog

Every week, the school offers a variety of field trips, and my first weekend there was to Saint-Guilhem le Desert. This is one of the more remote cities within Southern France.

It was founded in the 9^th century, when Guillaume of Aquiin retired from a lifetime as a soldier. As a friend of the Emperor Charlemagne, Guillaume was favored, and he was gifted the land, which he turned into a Monastery. He also received a piece of the cross that Jesus carried; it is still on display in the Abbaye de Gallone. You can see it protected in the center of the cross.

The church was at one point destroyed, but you can still see vestiges of the original 10^th century construction. You can also see the original crypt of St. Guillaume, though his body was removed before it was re-discovered.

From the monastery court yard, you can see the remains of a castle from long ago. When the villagers of St. Guilhem saw the castle, they believed that a giant lived there. And for centuries, they were afraid to leave the safety within the village walls, for fear of this giant. But, after 500 or so years, the villagers were talking of the giant, and one of them said, “wait a minute, it’s been 500 hundred years; the giant must be dead!” And, from that point on, the villagers were no longer afraid. 笑

St. Guilhem le Desert became a stop on the pilgrimage across Europe. Though out this trip, there are little fountains with clam shells engraved on them. This is a sign that the water is safe for drinking, and the water here was very delicious.

We ate lunch with the guides (they know where the food is delicious and cheap), and had a good time. The place was a hotel, called Le Guilhaume d’Orange. The plate of the day was a choice of beef or fish, accompanied by cheese, salad, etc. Afterward, we went down for a swim.

The monastery was built in the ravine above the river Herault. This river is really fresh, and just below the village, after a rather dangerous hike, there is a little swimming area. The water is beautiful and clear, and I’d imagine, rather cold. I’m really looking forward to a trip back so I can go in as well!

Every field trip is accompanied by a wine tasting of some sort. This one was especially exciting because we were able to visit the vineyard of Saint Saturnin. The wine wasn’t bad, and it was really cool to see the inner workings of the place. I especially liked where they stored the wine in the wooden barrels. It was basically a man-made cave.

We got there on the 28^th of June. It’s really a very pretty town. The central square is full of little cafés and shops, and the end is an Opera house. We ate at a place called La Riche the first night, and this was a favorite of mine, so we ate there once more before Mom left.

One of the things I really like about Montpellier is that, despite being a very small town, they have a really good public transportation system. They have two Tram lines, buses everywhere, and I think a subway system. I have a 2 month Pass to use any of the transportation here. I think it’s to encourage the University students to stay here through the summer vacation.

Speaking of which, here’s a bit of Montpellier trivia. It has one of the oldest and most respected Medical schools in France. The main part of the university is housed within a church, that’s survived the Wars of Religion, complete with battle scars.

There is also the most awesome bookstore I’ve ever been in. Its 5 stories, all split level so it feels like a lot more. It has huge selections on any topic, including travel, wine, food, literature, Scifi/Fantasy, etc. And, the architecture is pretty cool too.

The next day we went to look for my apartment and school. We found the apartment pretty easily. It looked like a nice neighborhood and all, though it was right next to the Tram tracks. I couldn’t move in at the time, because I couldn’t get a hold of the landlord. (Later I found out it wasn’t what I expected at all. The floors were dirty, the kitchen disgusting, and the shower moldy. Needless to say, I didn’t stick around, and am now living in a much better place.)

We also went to find the school. This was absolutely terrifying. We found the street the school was supposed to be on, and were looking for the numbers. This was fun, until we found the address of the school belonging to a T-shirt shop! I couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d been had. But, as it turns out, some streets are just numbered independently on both sides of the road. So, as in the case of the school, there are two addresses. And, we found the school shortly afterward.

That night, we also saw the Arc de Montpellier. It’s very much like the Arc de Triumph in Paris, but surprisingly enough, the Montpellier Arc came first. There used to be a gate around the city, and the arc was the only entrance. The walls, however, have been knocked down in more recent years.

That Monday, Mom left (very early), and I started school.

So I arrived in Paris around 7:30pm, on the 24^th of June. Charles De Gale is different from any other airport I’ve been too. It’s much bigger, and on top of the train station. Fortunately Mom was there early, and found me while I was getting my luggage. I’m not sure I would have found my way to our designated meeting place so easily.

By the time we got to the heart of the city, it was already around 10pm, so we didn’t get to see much. But our hotel was amazing. We stayed at the Westinn, in their amazing beds. I was ready to crash, but we decided to get some food. We ate at a nearby café, and I had a burger. Then back to the hotel. We both slept pretty late. I think it was nearly noon when we got up. J

The first day, we did a bit of window shopping, and a tiny bit of real shopping too. (^_^) I have a really nice black purse, with purple interior. I love it, but I also have discovered I need a bit more black in my wardrobe. Figures that shopping leads to more shopping. 笑

After lunch, we hit up the Louvre. This was really cool. It was definitely the biggest museum I’ve ever been in. I’m personally a fan of statues, and we got to see Venus de Milo. I was surprised at how many paintings I really liked. We’re not sure why, but we were allowed to take pictures when we went. I got to see the Mona Lisa up-close (or as close as is possible for a visitor to the museum). And my favorite painting, Verlumne et Pomone, is in the picture.

For dinner that night, we hiked up to Montmartre. It was really nice to walk, because this area is definitely an art quarter. It was cool to see the little shops and all, though I don’t really know how people live there with the hills so steep. We ate at a café up there, and then headed back to the Westinn.

The next day, we went straight for the Eiffel Tower. This is crazy high, the top level reaching 1,063 feet. We made it to the first level, which is 187 feet off the ground. Taking the stairs up is hard, wish there was an elevator in operation that day.

After the Tour, we saw the Arc De Triumph, which you could actually see from the Louvre’s arc. It’s really amazing that they to arcs are lined up exactly, especially considering it was built before the technology we have today existed. Mom said that it wouldn’t be easy to get them to line up as exactly with the technology we have today.

Then we did some actual window shopping in the area. This was a lot of fun. We stopped in the Nike store, and found a pair of shoes that had to be cut from the same fabric as the shirt I was wearing. We got in trouble for taking the picture, but I think the guy let us off when I tried to tell him that the shoe matched. 笑 We also stopped in the show rooms for Toyota and Renault. I was surprised by Toyota, because it really wasn’t as exciting as I expected. But I found my next car at Renault.

The next day we headed on our way, and that was our stay in Paris.

Just because I really loved this café, and I hope they never go out of business for lack of customers, I thought I’d tell as many people as possible about it in the event they are in 枚方市<Hirakata City> and are looking for a delicious meal.

Usually, the café had different set menus. My favorite was the after lunch menu. In this, you would get a salad, pasta, cake of your choice, and a drink for around 1200￥. (I think that was the price.) The food was truly delicious. My favorite was the eggplant past with tomato sauce.

They also had something of a bar available as well. There was a nice selection of liqueurs available, as well as a wine list.

The atmosphere of the café was very relaxed. There was always good music playing and you were rarely pressured to hurry. This is definitely a place you should visit if you find yourself in Hirakatashi. Be it as a Kansai Gaidai student, or another reason.

Address:

〒573-0031
大阪府枚方市岡本町2-2 
豊田ビル1F

Walking directions from the station:

Coming out of the station at the Starbucks/ Tsutaya Rental exit, turn left and walk up the little walkway. The very last street before you come to a crosswalk, turn right. (If you see SATY, a shoe-store to your right, you’ve gone too far.) You should see the entrance to M’s café on the right, but if you get to a parking lot, and haven’t seen it, then you’ve gone too far. I often used that parking lot to park my bicycle when visiting the café.

Tsubasa and I decided to make brownies (on the 15^th of June). This was a lot of fun, because we were following directions for America, and using equipment for Japan. So, while 1 cup in America equals 250 ml, 1 cup in Japan equals only 200ml. So, we spent time converting all the ingredients and temperature of the oven.

And we got to mixing the batter. Having used the smallest possible sewing scissors to open the package, it was almost surprising that the bowl was actually big enough to hold all of the batter.

After taste testing the batter, we poured it into molds to bake. The baking was almost torture, because it smelled so good, and we couldn’t wait to eat some! We had the idea of adding Hershey kisses to them as well. This provided some confusion when we tried to test them with a toothpick to make sure it was done, and it kept coming up wet.

But, in the end, they were really delicious. ☆

Hikone

June 14^th, I had finally made it back to Hikone to visit. It’s too bad that it took so long to work times out, and next time I’ll go back sooner. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to go back before the remaining members of the kendo-club graduate.

Anyway, I was able to meet up with Yasunori in the afternoon for lunch. Him and the rest of the club had just finished a kendo-match. Apparently, Yasunori hadn’t told anyone that I was coming to visit. It was obvious by the looks of comprehension followed by surprise that came over the different members faces after seeing me.

After meeting up with them, Yasunori and I went around Hikone. We also went to this truly amazing 茶店 <tea-shop> on the edge of 彦根城 <Hikone Castle>. It was very cool for me, because such tea-shops aren’t common anymore. Typically, they would serve Dango (see picture) and tea. We also had shaved-ice. They were also special in this, because they made the syrup for this themselves, from fresh fruit. It was delicious. Further, during Sakura season, the shop is surrounded with a beautiful view. While I didn’t get to see this in person, I did see pictures.

We also went over to the shore of 琵琶湖 <Lake Biwa>, the biggest lake in Japan. It’s such a beautiful view from Hikone, especially around Sunset. On that day, the wind was strong and the waves were huge. We got splashed a few times standing at least 15 feet away. This made for a great game (for approximately 5 minutes anyway).

I really liked Shiga while I was there. I should have gone to visit much sooner, and I’ll definitely make sure I get there on my next trip to Japan! Hopefully I can see more of my friends that time as well!

Mon grand-parents paternels s’appellent Bill et Irene. Ils on quatre enfants; une fille et trois garcons: Danny, Bill, mon père; et Denice. Mon tante Denice est mariée avec Jed. Ils ont quatre enfants: Nick, Brian, Mark, et Shannon. Mon oncle Danny est marié avec Peggy. Ils ont duex enfants:Geoffery et Kelly. Mon oncle Jimmy est marié avec Connie. Ils ont duex filles: Nikki et Christina. Mon parents ont divorsé. Mon père est marié avec Carolyn. Carolyn a une fille. Elle s’appelle Jenny. Ma maman est Maris. Le petit frère de ma maman est Rich. Il est celibataire. Le père de ma maman est Jeff. Je suis l’aimée. Mon petit frère a 16 ans. Il est Billy.

Friday, June 6th, I rejoined ZERO for dance project. ZERO is the name of the street-dance club. There are many different categories: Hip hop (girls/boys), Break Dance (girls/boys), Lock, House, etc. The type of dance I was in is called POP. To see it, look it up on YouTube. AFROISM is a pretty good three-man group、and a good way to get an idea.

Anyway, at Bunpaku, we had a show to do, and Bunpaku was that Sunday. So, I had essentially one day to learn the entire routine, as I had been away with my parents, and moving out of my apartment before that. Even so, I managed to learn most of the routine by practicing all of Saturday.

Our plan was to meet at the school at about 12 for practice, but I convinced some of the girls to meet me their earlier to teach me the steps. We practiced until 6pm at the school, and then Judy, Chise, and I went to the station for practice. At 8p, Soucho, our captain, showed up to help us out, and we practiced until 10:30pm.

To the right is the only picture I have that includes myself, but it’s really silly. We called it the “bust” pose. It’s mainly a joke for use because the only words in our music were “bust, bust, bust,” in the beginning and the middle.

Overall, the show was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed dancing with my friends in front of a lot of people. I understand why people love a cheering crowd anyway. I’m glad that they let me join in even though I had missed two straight weeks of practice, and it was a pain to get me caught up.

On June 1st, we left Okinawa to go to Tokyo. We got there around sundown, and got to see some fabulous night views from the really awesome hotel mom treated us to. Also, the rooms were really pretty and the beds comfortable.

Soon after we got there, we met Mitsu for dinner. We went to a really nice shabu-shabi restaurant. I think we all had pork, and beef, but I’m not so sure. For shabu-shabu, you receive a plate of raw meat, vegetables, and a couple small dishes with different sauces. The meat is really thin, almost see-through; you take one slice and put it in boiling water. The shabu-shabu name comes from the way you shake it around a little bit. Boiling it water this way is actually really healthy, because it cooks the meat and removes the natural fat without removing the flavor.

The next day, we went around sight-seeing. It was really interesting, because it was raining in Tokyo too! (lol) It didn’t really start to rain until the afternoon though, so we saw Tokyo Tower and the stuff under it, including the Guinness World Records Museum. We also went to the Imperial Garden and Shinjuku.

At night, we met Hideki. This was really exciting, because we all only sort-of knew where we were. So we had an adventure finding a particular sushi restaurant; this included asking the bored taxi drivers for directions. Hideki asked one, and then they all came over and gave advice on where to eat but not how to get where we were going. (lol)

But, the dinner we had was really really good. Everyone (maybe except Hideki) tried something new that night. I tried the roll with the big orange Roe. I think, in general, what Juan ate was a new experience. And mom tried some different types, including a special type of eel that’s really long, and kind of folds around the rice. It’s the nearest piece in the picture to the right.

That morning, we checked out of the hotel, and walked around a bit, and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, Tokyo. Then we returned to Osaka on the final flight of the night. Mom and Juan’s plane was early the next morning, so it was easier to go back then instead of the next day.

That was Mom and Juan’s trip to visit me in Japan! (From my point of view, of course (^_^))

{{ この作文も授業のために書いた。最後の分だけ変えた。}}

4月の18日に友達と3人でROCKROCKというクラブに行きました。金曜日だったのに、その日はイベントがなかったので、込んでいませんでした。早く着いたので、多分すぐ込んでくると思いました。そして、コンビニでチューハイを飲みました。

戻って来た時に、お客さんは7人いました。近くのテーブルにいたサラリーマンと話しました。友達の一人が「アブセンを飲みたい。」と言いました。サラリーマンの一人はCAFÉ・ABSINTHEというカフェを知っていました。5分ぐらい歩いて着きました。めっちゃ込んでいましたが、そのサラリーマンがこうしょうしてくれました。二人すわれるテーブルに7人すわりました。時間が早くたったのでめっちゃ遅くなりました。私はケーキ食べたいと思いました。キッチンは閉まったのに、スタッフが「あなたが皆を店から出させたら、ケーキをあげる。」と言いました。やっぱり、ケーキはおいしかったです。

それから、ROCKROCK戻った時、誰もいませんでした。皆はレストランに行くことに決めました。レストランで始発を待ちながら、ゲームをやろうと話しました。6時半ぐらいに帰りました。

19日に友達の一人は今日もROCKROCKに行こう。」と言いました。なぜなら、ROCKROCKの友達の誕生日だったし、かっこいい男の人もいるし、行きたいといいました。やっぱり、土曜日もROCKROCKに行きました。たくさんいい人と会えたし、音楽もいいし、行ってよかったです。

ROCKROCKは面白いクラブだと思います。日本にいるうちにそのクラブにまた行きたいと思いました。