This semester is over, it was a lot less intense than I thought it would have been. Toyo arranged for some of us to visit a nearby elementary school to see what it was like and talk to the kids a little about our own elementary school experiences. We had to remove our shoes before entering and were given some guest slippers to use while we were there, they were a bit too small but we managed. First we spoke a bit with the principal and some of the other teachers there, then we were split up into groups and directed to different classrooms. I've never in my life seen such well behaved children before. They were all very polite and energetic. After watching their lesson a little bit it was time for lunch. It was amazing to see the students work together to move the desks and chairs in the classroom to turn it into a little dining room, then some of the other students went to the kitchen to help bring the food to the classroom. The food was really good compared to what I remember having in elementary school, it was some sort of western dish with potatoes meat and broccoli, but I'm not sure what it was called. The kids had all kinds of random questions about elementary school back in America and questions about things I like and dislike. I asked the teacher about when their semester ended, since I was already done with my own semester at Toyo and was surprised to hear that they went on till march, and would be back in school in April.
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Not gonna lie, I've been missing pizza a little more than I thought I would. The closest thing before yesterday that I had to good pizza was from dominoes, me and a friend split the cost a few months ago. It was very expensive, about 40 dollars, for a single large pizza and we were both pretty sure that the large here is smaller than a large back home. Either way, some friends and I made our way to Saitama, about an hour away, to go to Costco. I found out that I could use my Costco card internationally so we decided to head over there and see what kinds of American things we could pick up. We all ended up getting quite a lot overall. Muffins, mac'n'cheese, American style cheese, bagels, alcohol, that basics. The best part though, was the pizza. After checking out we stopped by the food court and it was basically the same as back home. There was only one item that was a little different, they didn't have a chickenbake, it was similar but had beef in it instead, still very good. The main star however was the pizza. It was the same size, price and greasy good taste as back home. We all regretted eating it though the next day.
Toyo had a cool event that let us meet the Sumo team at Toyo University and watch their practice, participate a little, and then eat lunch with them. It's incredible seeing how intense their practice is. It was really amusing watching some of the shorter people try and have a practice bout with some of the team members. My friend Alex from France did a really good job handling himself against one of them though. The food they made was really good. They had made karaage and a soup that I think they called chanko nabe. That looks right, when I looked it up just now it came up as sumo stew.
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Study abroad 2018-2019 blogAuthorMy name is John Webster and I'm a Japanese language and culture major at CSUMB. I studied abroad at Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan. Archives
August 2019
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