ボストンでは、子供と一緒に働いて、日本でも、これを続けたかったです。だから、CIPとして、京都大学病院にあるの「にこにこトマト」というボランティーアグループに参加することにしました。
一週間に一回ボランティアをしています。にこにこトマトでは色々なことをします。時には、うんざりするくらい長いこともあります。例えば、一回目はバレンタインデーのおかしとプレゼントを作りました。大変でしたが、すぐ気がついたのはにこにこトマトの目標です。子供達の幼少期を大事にしています。つまり、病気の子供達はずっと病院にいて、大変な日常生活を我慢しなければなりません。だから、大切なのは子供のために立派な思い出と幸せを作ることです。そのいうこととにこにこトマトのボランティアの真心にもものすごく感動しました。そして、次にバレンタインデーで、作ったプレゼントを子供達に渡しました。子供とご両親の笑みを見て、プレゼントを作った時間は全然くたびれ儲けではなくて、価値があると思いました。
にこにこトマトでボランティアを始めてもう一ヶ月になりました。一つの希望はもっと子供と一緒に遊ぶことです。
私は参加しているにこにこトマトというボランティア団体は、京大病院の小児科に入院している子供さん達のために色んなことをやっています。
ボランティアとしてやることは大体毎回変わります。例えば、2月28日のバザーをに向けてバザーで売るものに値段を付けてきれいに包装しました。火曜日のにこトマ文庫というプログラムでは、私達は本のカートを子供さん達の部屋まで回して、子供達は好きな本を選んで借りることが出来ます。私は返した本を消毒したり、カートを押したりしました。後は飾りを作ったり付けたりします。
子供達の病気はかなり重いです。初めてボランティアをしに行った時には子供さん達のための小さいコンサートがありました。その時すごく可愛い五歳ぐらいの子がプレールームを覗いて来ました。その子が部屋に入ると私は二つの機械がその子についているのを見ました。その子はこんなに大きい機械から離れてはいけないと気付いた時はすごく感動して涙がちょっと出ました。でも子供さん達の病気の重さを知って来たからこそもっともっと頑張りたいと思いました。
子供達と一緒に遊ぶのが好きです。やっぱり子供達の元気な姿を見ると勇気をもらいます。そしてボランティアの方々はみな優しくて暖かい人達です。にこトマをCIPにしてよかったと本気で思っています。
今学期も京都大学病院の「にこにこトマト」というボランティアを続けています。にこにこトマトには学生もいればおばさんもいるというように色々な人が関わっています。そのボランティアグルプの目的は入院している子供に元気になってもらうために楽しませることです。
私は水曜日しか行っていないけど毎日色々な活動があります。手作りの物を作ったり書道をしたり天気について習うというようにたくさんのことをします。その上、時々特別なもよおしがあることもあります。たとえばクリスマスパーティーやバザーがあります。そのもよおしは子供のためですがボランティアも参加することができます。だからこそお琴をひいてみる機会がありました。しかも、興味があると言ったらお琴の先生がレスンをしてくれることになりました。活動を手伝うとともに新しい経験をします。にこにこトマトはとてもいいCIPです。最近もバザーの準備を手伝ったりしました。仕事は大変ながらも手伝いながらお菓子を食べたり話したりして楽しいです。ここでボランティアをし始めてもう六月間だからにこにこトマトと言えば家族のようなものです。
私のCIPは京都大学病院のニコニコトマトのボランティアです。ニコニコトマトは「ニコトマ」と呼ばれて、ニコトマは子供病院のためのボランティアプログラムです。ニコトマのボランティアは病院でいろいろなことをしてあげます。
例えば、子供病院を飾ったり、特別な日のギフトを子供たちに手作りで作ってあげたり、子供が手作りのものを作るのを手伝うのなど子供のためにします。
ニューヨークで、病院でボランティアをしたことがありますが、ニコトマは初めての子供のためのボランティアです。
アメリカの病院に比べて、日本の病院はもちろん同様ですけど、違うこともあります。例えば、アメリカ人はマスクをあまり使いません。日本人は一般的にマスクをよく使うけどに、日本の病院でもよくにマスクを使う人が多いです。子供さえマスクを使います。そして、多分人によってですけど、ニコトマのボランティアは本当に一生懸命働きます。小さいことに気がついて、準備します。ニコトマのしていることに敬意をはらいます。皆は絶えず頑張って、子供たちを笑わせて、病院をきれいにします。
一ヶ月しかニコトマに行っていないけど、ボランティアするのはこれまでは楽しい経験です。他のボランティアと働きながら話すのと子供を手伝うのも楽しいです。ニコトマはすばらしいプログラムだと思います。CIPのために選んでよかったです。
弓道は京都武道センターで毎週２回の練習がある。練習は月、木曜日５時から６時まである。初めの２〜３回の練習は順番の練習で、弓を持たず形だけ練習する。順番を覚えた後、先生に弓の持ち方と矢を撃つ方法を教えてもらう。先生は優しくて、この道場で弓道を学ぶことは思ったほど威圧的ではない。
弓道の道場はとても寒いけど、練習の後いつも休憩室で皆一緒に暖かいお茶とお菓子を食べるのは、私が毎週弓道を楽しみにしている理由だ。
それに、私はメロティー・ウーさんと一緒に北野天満官で太鼓をしているグループにも参加している。練習は指定時間がないから、グループの担当人は皆にメールで練習時間を知らせてくれる。
私は太鼓をした経験は少しだけあったけど、全然上手と言う訳ではない。その状態でもそのグループとの練習はとても楽しかった。太鼓の練習時間は長いけど、後で、弓道の練習と同じように、皆一緒にお菓子を食べる！練習の後、お菓子を食べるのは普通の日本の文化かどうか分からない。でも、たくさんの美味しいお菓子を食べられると嬉しい。
今学期、私はCIPでDESAというサークルに入りました。 DESAは「Doshisha Exchange Student Association」の略語で、日本語で「同志社大学国際交流サークル」というサークルです。DESAの目標は同志社に留学している学生との交流を行って、京都を案内することです。他の京都の大学とKCJSと他の留学プログラムの学生が参加できますから、いろいろな人と会う機会ができます。
DESAの普通の会議は月一回で、将来のイベントについて話します。会議で、イベントのアイデアについて話し合って、イベントの担当メンバーを決めます。でも、今は春休みだから、二月は会議がありません。イベントはたいてい京都観光や飲み会で、時々もっと大きいイベントもあります。例えば、最近DESAはスキーのために、琵琶湖に行きました。DESAのイベントでいろいろな人がたくさんいるから、いつも楽しいです。
DESAのメンバーはたいてい外国に興味がある日本人ですが、英語はあまり話せません。でも、みんなは外国人と友だちになりたがっているので、とても友好的な人々だと思います。このサークルを通じて、私は日本人と他の留学生の友だちができて嬉しいです。次の二ヶ月を楽しみにしています！
My CIP experience, volunteering at NicoNico Tomato at Kyoto University Hospital (which I plan on continuing next semester), has been both relaxing and worthwhile. Every week would provide a respite from the seemingly never-ending workload. While I would help out with whatever activity or task needed to be accomplished, I always had the opportunity to communicate with others and actually use what I learned.
Having volunteered in a hospital in New York, it was interesting to note how the atmospheres and environments differ. NicoNico Tomato has a strong sense of community and volunteer base. Although it is volunteer run, they take their duties and commitment seriously. For example, they personally make handmade cards for most of the major holidays. They take several weeks to cut out paper in shapes of numerous characters and to create backgrounds for the card. I couldn’t wrap my head around the notion of spending so much time for one project. However, after I started distributing the cards to the children at a Halloween party and saw their reaction, I knew that it was time worth spent. It was occasions such as these where you realize the disparity between cultural mindsets.
In addition to realizing cultural differences, I have become less worried about making mistakes and to constantly engage in conversation even it if is just asking them questions about how to do something. While being the only foreigner at first made me uneasy, it naturally gravitated peoples’ attention and conversation to me (which was nice not having to always make the first initiative to engage in conversation). While the conversations ranged from talking with students, activity leaders, to other volunteers, conversations never ceased to be engaging—both interesting and allowing me use various vocabulary and formalities because of the varying range of situations. Engaging in conversation about varying customs to discussing similar music interests or even just hearing about someone’s day allowed me to not only to better develop my Japanese, but also allowed me to better connect and forge bonds with other members of the volunteer group.
I would imagine my CIP experience was very different from my fellow KCJS students, at least I would hope so. Coming to Japan I was really excited at the prospect of joining Doshisha’s orchestra, especially since I have not played in about three years. However that did not go as planned as detailed in my previous blog. Of course after that fell through I had to look for a different CIP to join which led me to the Doshisha Figure Building Club and the Music Game Club.
Doshisha’s Figure Building Club (模型研究会）seemed like an amazing opportunity to expand my already growing hobby of building Gundam. The emails went well enough, although I could not understand the phone call at all. This turned out to be a precursor for how the club would end up being, a complete lack of understanding. I went to the meeting with a Gundam in hand, knowing that at the very least I would come out of it with a new figure for my desk, but I did not expect the massively awkward atmosphere that lied in wait for me. While trying to make conversation with those around me in the three and a half hours I was there for, I was greeted with one of either two possibilities. Possibility one: a conversation would start and I would have no idea what the other person said or possibly two: I would be ignored. Either way, I did not leave the club a happy camper nor can I say I learned anything besides the fact that building Gundam is an excellent way to distract yourself from the awkward situations.
On to the Music Game Club (Do it!音ゲー) then. The meeting room is basically an ovular table, set up like a conference room, with no games set up. The members were really sweet though I could not understand them very well. I think that if I had another KCJS student with me it might have gone a lot better. I was just a little disappointing that the club does not actually play games at the regular meetings. What I learned here was that in America if I were to hear about a music game club, then I can assume that they play games during the regular meetings, unlike here where they just spoke about their interests.
The CIP that I have gone the most to is a language exchange meeting which I go to with a few other students. Those people are really nice and they make a huge effort in making sure we understand the conversation. Unfortunately, since it took about three months to finally settle on the 交流会 I have not had the chance to learn many new words or make new friends. The reason why it took so long is that coupled with our workload and the obvious desire to sight-see and experience Japan outside of classroom walls, I really did not have the time to actively search for something that fits our needs, schedule, and financial constraints. All in all the CIP program is a good attempt at giving us opportunities to expand our Japan experience, but at the end of the day the program is basically handing someone a book of school activities and saying, “Find something soon, because you’re being graded on it”. If you can not end up doing something you really want, in my case orchestra, then you still have to do something regardless of whether you are interested in it and I believe that is a pretty big flaw.
For my CIP I practiced with the Kyoto University Judo Club. In this club many of the members were black belts, meaning I got to practice with incredibly skilled Judoka. This paired with the strictness of a serious Japanese Martial Arts club made participating a little difficult at times. There was a very strict hierarchy within the club, with the older members generally running practice and teaching techniques, and the younger, newer members taking care of cleaning and setting up the clock along with any other menial tasks. In addition, teachers also occasionally came to class and taught techniques as well. At both the beginning and the end of practiced the members sat in line based on rank within the club. There was also a very strict order to the activities during practice. The hierarchical nature along with the strict schedule of the Kyodai Judo Club was much different than my experience with Martial Arts clubs in America, which are generally much more laid back and there is less of a strict member hierarchy. Occasionally, I was either standing in the wrong position, or doing something that would be OK in an American Martial Arts club, that was not OK at Kyodai. However the members were generally nice about telling me where to go and were understanding of my ignorance.
Originally, when I first started attending practices I was very much outside of the hierarchy and no one really bothered to explain things to me. However, as I continued to show up, as well as attempt to speak with members in Japanese I began to be treated more like a member of the club and less like someone who simply attended classes. Towards the end of the semester I was participating in cleaning duties along with the younger members of the closer. This meant I was at the bottom of the hierarchy, however this also meant I was at least part of the hierarchy and meant I was somewhat of a member and less of an outsider.
In addition to learning a large number of new Judo techniques I was able to see how a Japanese Martial Arts Club is run in comparison to an American Club. While difficult at times this was an invaluable experience which allowed me to not only experience the Japanese Language in greater way but a small microcosm of the Japanese community as well.
The Kyoto University Soft Tennis circle was definitely a new experience for me. It’s been years since I’ve participated in a sports team, let alone voluntarily involved myself in sports. However, after listening to my Japanese friends recommendations, I decided that a sports team would be the most authentic Japanese university experience.
I learned pretty quickly that I am not very good at soft tennis. The members of the soft tennis team had been playing since elementary school, so naturally compared to them I am just terrible. The circle itself has a lot of members from multiple different universities in Kyoto; even after going to so many practices I doubt I have met them all. The core group is comprised of many sempai who instruct us on our drills and yell things like “Nice shot!” “Good volley!” throughout practices. However, due to the constant change of people attending, I was always reintroducing myself and I found it harder to make close friends. The drills themselves were monotonous and mostly involved a lot of standing around and waiting, which enabled only short chats with other members. Though the circle is pretty relaxed, there is a definite differentiation from the older and newer members. Sempai typically inform the members of the drills. Everyone bows before every drill and we gather and bow after practice, which is definitely a little different from America.
One of the girls would walk home in the same direction as me after practice, and this would give us a chance to actually get to know each other better. Though these conversations were superficial, it was nice to have this opportunity. This led to more members greeting me when I arrived at practice, and there was more of an attempt to make me feel welcome. From this incident I found that just by communicating more with the members made them less hesitant to talk to me, and encouraged them to ask me questions. At first, they were nervous that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them, but when they found that I was capable enough I found that they were actually really curious. Personally, I learnt that it is important to be as friendly as possible and be open with people. I feel like this is an important component in getting people to want to talk with you, and therefore further the relationship from acquaintance to friend.
Overall, I wouldn’t say that my experience with the circle was a negative one. The members were very accommodating, I was allowed to join the circle without paying the entrance fee and a racket was lent to me each practice. However, it was difficult to become part of the group. Since I did not pay the entrance fee, I was not invited to join for prepaid nomikais, dinners and the circle weekend trip. Participating in the circle was definitely an interesting experience, however it was not as successful as I had hoped. However, this experience gave me a deeper view into a typical Japanese circle, and I learned a lot more about kohai/sempai relationships as well.