投稿者「FeinlandTamar」のアーカイブ

Tamar Feinland: Volunteering at the Kyoto Manga Museum

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For my CIP this semester, I chose to volunteer at the Kyoto International Manga Museum, as I enjoy reading manga to enhance my reading skills and Japanese and thought this would be a good opportunity to get better. I did some filing and sorting during my sessions, but most of my time there was actually spent preparing for and carrying out a gallery talk about one of their exhibits. My classmate Destiny and I were expected to follow traditional Japanese workplace manners like using keigo and excusing ourselves when we entered a room and such. However, as time passed we got more comfortable with our mentor who supervised the gallery talk and she eventually started using short form with us in our final weeks, and I was really glad she felt comfortable enough to do that, like I had made a real connection.

If any incoming students like manga and would like to volunteer at the museum, I’d definitely recommend it. It will take some time for both parties to loosen up when it comes to formalities, but after you get to know the staff, there’s not so much pressure and you can enjoy yourself a lot more.

Tamar Feinland: Volunteering at the Kyoto Animal Protection Center

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I decided to volunteer at an animal shelter for my CIP. I mainly took care of the dogs, and the members at the center would teach me how they walked, trained, bathed, and played with the dogs, as well as how they cleaned their enclosures.

I was able to interact with the other members quite a bit, as we would always take care of the dogs together, so if we were playing or walking them then I was able to engage in conversation with them. I also really enjoyed spending time with the dogs, and it was clear that the people at the center cared a lot about each of them.

I would advise future students to try starting a conversation with the people at your CIP. I was always nervous that maybe the other members wouldn’t want to talk to me because I’m a foreigner and my Japanese is far from perfect, but whenever I worked up the courage to ask them a question about themselves or the dogs we would always end up having a nice conversation, and it was a great opportunity for me to practice Japanese and connect more with the culture.