Oarai Aquarium (大洗水族館) & EC Groups

Even though money has been tight these last couple of weeks we (James, Kristine, Germaine and myself) have been still very active, trying our very best to see all that we can of Japan. Recently we were able to visit one of the prefecture's (Ibaraki) aquariums in Oarai. Oarai is a city nestled against the beach with a very beautiful Shrine and onsen that I have yet to see myself. In comparison to Mito, Oarai has more of a country-feel, and by this I mean much more farmland, which leaves room for more woodlands and nature as a whole to thrive. Our trip to the aquarium was a treat considering our means of transportation. Most of the time, we travel using the JR trains which, from what I have gathered so far, is a large company that owns most of the railway in Japan, but to travel to Oarai we had to take a private train line and the train itself was quite old looking and very small. This type of train also added to Oarai's country-feel.

The aquarium itself is small, but very well kept with many different things to see. They even have an indoor pool where dolphin shows are held every hour. Since Japan has one of the top aquariums in the world (Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa) I was really looking forward to visiting the aquarium and seeing what it had to offer. Of course, I was not at all disappointed with the amount of activities they had to do and see even though everything was in Japanese.

For the last three weeks we have been working for Tokiwa University as leaders for the EC groups or English Conversation groups that are held weekly. We normally have about 3 to 5 Japanese students that want to better their English skills and therefore are attending the EC groups. We were told during our EC orientation that many of the students who are in EC may not be able to speak well enough or may be too shy to speak at all. With this in mind we came (or tried to) as prepared as possible but I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we were all very surprised and relieved once we first started. The students, though very shy at first, have opened up to us and have been trying their bests to speak and practice English with us. At the same time, I have gained a bit of courage to speak more Japanese rather than relying on others to do it for me. I continue to feel my skill level improve even if it is little by little.

This coming weekend we will be helping out during Tokiwa's school festival, acting as ushers for their annual Speech Contest. I'm also very excited to attend a Japanese school festival, this being a very big event in all Japanese schools. I'm sure it's very different from our own "Welcome Back" day at CSUN so this will be a real treat.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoy your week!
Kristin Van De Yar