First day of classes

Today was the first day of my classes. It started off ok. Neither of the two teachers we had spoke very much English, so everything is taught in Japanese, and for easier grammar patterns and structure it was easy to figure out what they were trying to describe. This was for structures using Yori, Dotira, and Hodo. Which they were able to draw a picture to describe them since we were basically saying in multiple different ways that a pencil is bigger than a pen. The was the first 2/3 of the first class. Then it kind of went downhill from there. We started learning some very advanced structural patterns. Like using Nantonaku, iroiroda, and dewa nai desyou ka. Plus patterns where we combine adverbs and nouns together to make some kind of adjective. I am pretty sure that very few people understood what was going on, and unfortunately even if we asked, I don't think she would have been able to explain it to us in English. Also as suspected, just about everyone had trouble with Kanji, on one page there much of been like 50 that the class didn't know, so she would write out how to read them, but couldn't really explain their meaning. I definitely prefer having a teacher that knows English as well. This way they can explain what we are trying to learn.

Then a similar thing happened during the listening class. We would listen to a question and have to pick an answer. When it came  time to go over everything, the teacher wasn't really able to explain why some of the answer were what they were. Some he could if the question was to tell what on the menu a person wants to eat, but not much else because there was so much vocabulary that no one knew no one really was about to understand the question or the answer.  Classes went from 9:00am to 12:30pm and no real homework was given. This is probably because they expect us to study the rest of the day until we sleep, and this will probably happen considering there is so much Vocabulary, and so many kanji we don't know.

But instead of going home and studying I went to the student club house and fumbled my way to finding out where and when the Kyudo club meets here. It was funny because I could barely explain what I wanted in Japanese, and they were trying to use English to explain what I couldn't understand. There is definitely a language barrier. Finally we figured it out, and someone volunteered to meet me outside the clubhouse around 6 to show me where they practice Kyudo on campus. So I kill time until then at the dorm, and pack up my Kyudo uniform and equipment I brought with me, just in case I got a change to shoot. I meet up with the person who offered to show me and we stumbled our way through conversation until  we got to the gym. They then told them who I was and that I was a foreign exchange student interested in watching them practice. They seemed hesitant at first because today was their free shoot practice day, not their full rotation with taihai practice day. But they consented and I was left to watch and talk with the people there. None of them knew English so it was a challenge.

The Dojo was very interesting. It is basically the entire top floor of the gym building, but everything is enclosed except for a long open strip where they have a full distance range. It was interesting, because since it was a free shooting day, they put out 6 targets for people to shoot on. Normally there are only 5. Other than that there wasn't much difference. It was a hard wood floor, and they had a sand yatsuji. Everyone yelled "Yosh" at the same time whenever anyone hit the target.

I was talking with some of the students there and mentioned that I had been studying Kyudo in America for nearly 2 years. They were very surprised. Then they started asking if I wanted to shoot, and if I had anything with me. I told them I had everything but a bow and arrow. So while I went downstairs to change They found me a bow and a set of arrows to use. They were surprised when I said I used an 18kilo bow in the states, and the heaviest they have was 15. It still worked out well. Since they were just line shooting today I got to do a lot of shooting. The main sensei even gave me multiple corrections. Most of which were corrections I had just started working on before I left for Japan. The main person that helped me was a girl  name Yasu (I think, I've met so many people its getting hard to keep track) She new a bit more English then the others, but even then there was still some struggling. I got to shoot about 50 arrows, and enjoyed myself. I attempted to ask if I could continue to attend the club. This is where I noticed a rather big difference between my old American Dojo and this one.

The main person teaching was a older man who went from person to person giving small corrections. He every helped me. I had no idea what he was saying some times but he used arm gestures and I was able to figure it out. It reminded me of the KyudoYasu to take me there to figure it out, but it was getting past 9, and all the lights in the gym started going out so we all had to run downstairs and change. It also turned out that I had my stuff in a different changing room as the rest, and once we got separated by that I could find them because it was so dark outside. So I will just go to the  International Student center to find out more information.

The club meets multiple times a week, Mondays are their line shooting practice days, while other days they do full rotations with taihai practice. So hopefully things can get sorted out quickly and I can start attending regularly. Also i mentioned to Yasu that I wanted to buy a bow and arrows while here, and I think she said she would tell me how to get to the closest store, but it is a bit far away.

It is the end of the day now and I am really tired, but it was a good way to end the day.