I wonder how many other people at the IUC are writing blogs about the year... because I want to read them all.
The other day, I went to do laundry at a laundromat. This was the first time I have gone to a laundromat since I have been here. I have a washing machine in my apartment. No dryer, but that is normal in Japan, and clothes are usually just hung out to dry. Which I am fine with, for the most part, and I actually like the way my clothes smell when they have been left outside to dry.
But sometimes, that's not the way it works. Sometimes, it rains for days, even though it isn't the rainy season, and even though you leave your clothes outside, they don't dry. So you try and just leave them inside to dry, which leaves them smelling very bad and moldy. which means you have to wash them again.
Usually, it is not tedious to do laundry. But sometimes you just want your clothes dry, and shrunk back to their regular size, and ready to wear three hours after you put them in the washing machine.
Well, I had a day like that a couple of weeks ago. So I packed up basically all of my clothes into my laundry basket and one of my suitcases, which is actually a big backpacker's backpack, and cycled precariously down the mountain in hopes of finding a laundromat. After getting some very unhelpful information from two different unhelpful people, I went to a police box to ask for directions, and was kindly pointed in the right direction of one.
This actually isn't an interesting story... I'm not sure why I'm writing about it...
IN A NUTSHELL, I did laundry, and then put it in a dryer, and it was nice.
I wrote down three goals at the end of the last post, and I am happy to report that, while none of them are actually FINISHED, per se, they are all going well. I have gotten almost halfway through SKIP. Actually, I can't get exactly halfway through, because there are 143 chapters. But I am on chapter 71, and I want to get to at least chapter 72, which I think is a very realistic goal.
Grad school applications are also going well. Lots of the application process I have halfway finished, so I just need to completely finish. Ideally, I would like to finish before leaving for Kumamoto, but we'll see if that will happen.
And then, the 'try extra hard in class' thing, also, has been going pretty well, I think. We had a sort of presentation competition thing at school (although it wasn't a competition. I just don't know how else to call it), and I think a did a pretty good job on that. Even though I talked about a subject that probably no one was interested in. But they SHOULD be because Rococo is amazing. Everyone got a kick out of the Spiegelsaal picture from Linderhof castle. I suppose it is a little over-the-top. Gotta love those Bavarians.
In other news, I can't wait to go to Kumamoto. I have so been looking forward to this. I really wish that plans had worked out and that there were other people from my year abroad time that would also be there. I guess I sort of have an unfair advantage, what with already being in the country, though, so I guess I can't be too critical. It's just been so long since I've seen people from then (that's not true... I saw Pippa a couple times when she was here, and I've seen Yudai a couple times, too, and will again this SUNDAY!), but it's different when we aren't all together. But someday we will be again... right?
We've also decided on having Christmas morning pancake breakfast!! It's gonna be really weird not being at home for Christmas for the first time ever, so to make it as unweird as possible, I'm hoping that being surrounded by friends will help. Or all the Americans will just be bummed out and the Japanese won't get why. But they'll try to understand, and will be empathetic, which is really all one can ask.
And we are doing secret santa because we are all to poor to actually get each person presents.
Other than that... I am going to Costco tomorrow! I hope that it is very very American, and I hope that they have cereal, and multi-vitamins. And then after that is a Yo La Tengo concert in Shinagawa!! Tomorrow is going to be a good day.
I hope everyone is doing well. Stay warm.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Changes in Aspect
So today, I hung out with a couple of friends.
One of them I had seen a couple of months ago, when I was in Kumamoto. She had just moved from Kumamoto to Tokyo to find a job (as many, many Japanese newly graduated people do). Aiko was aikawarazu genki (doin' fine as always), which was good.
The OTHER friend, Yoshiko, was a friend who I met when she came with the Kumamoto Kita-High School to Hellgate high school when I was a sophomore. That means that I haven't seen her in...
...
...
SEVEN YEARS!!
Before we met, I had actually not really thought about how long it had been, but of course it came up in conversation (over some delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki in Shibuya), and it's crazy how much time has passed.
The passing of time...
Speaking of which, it was the first time that I spoke to Yoshiko in Japanese. The first (and second) times that I met her- when she was in Montana for those 10 days, and then when I was in Kumamoto for those 10 days- I didn't speak any Japanese. Of course, we tried to use both English and Japanese, because I didn't want to hog all the learning all for myself, but the conversation just sort of... flowed into the direction of Japanese. It didn't feel weird, but it really showed me how much has changed. In these seven years, my life has gone from having this sort of "yeah, Japan is interesting, enough for me to sign up to host this student" to "yeah, Japan is interesting enough for me to save money to see my friends there," to "yeah, Japan is interesting enough to take at college while a senior in High School," to...well, you get the picture. I mean, I'm really pleased with where I am now, but it was really interesting to see just how much has changed.
Speaking of changing, I think it's funny that, in Japanese culture, as far as I can tell it's a GOOD thing to tell someone that they haven't changed at all, after not having seen them for a long time. Aiko said to Yoshiko "you haven't changed at all! You just put on makeup now!" and Yoshiko was happy about that!
"I'm glad!" she said.
I mean, I know that there are differences in the word "change," and that it can be both negative and positive, but I mean come on! Aiko and Yoshiko hadn't seen each other in TWO YEARS. I would think that it would be bad if the other person HADN'T changed a little, at least. Hadn't done anything in those two years to merit some sort of change in their personality, hopefully for the better.
I can't imagine anything worse than imagining myself having spent the last two years, and have nothing different about me to show for it.
But, I suppose that that's a cultural difference. I am glad they didn't tell me I didn't change. I was SUPER lame in high school.
Now I'm just cultivated... or something.
Other than that... Oh! I bought my ticket for Okinawa! I am going to Okinawa with some friends after New Years. We are only gonna go for a few days, but it's gonna be such a blast. More than anything, I want to learn a lot about the Ryukyu, the native Okinawan people. I realize that my friends may not feel the same way. But that's ok! I LOVE going out on my own on trips. I suppose I am like my parents in that respect. I think it's pretty common for all of us to split up on trips. It's actually one of my favorite things to split up, and then meet up the next day, or later in the day and talk about what we did that day. I love it.
I am also so excited for going to Kumamoto, which I will do a couple of days before Christmas, and will stay there until Okinawa, for the winter vacation. I decided to take the night bus, because an airplane ticket would have been around $400, and the bus was less than half of that! Plus I can sleep on buses no problem... I hope.
Now that I have the tickets, and that I know that there is not much time left until the break, I know that I have to try really hard for the rest of the time.
GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATIONS (gotta finish!)
KANJI IN CONTEXT (let's get AT LEAST halfway, Jamie!)
CLASSES (keep doing your best! But MORE MORE MORE MORE!!)
My new motto: Head down, power through.
...I feel like the path between me and the end of quarter is PAVED in candy bars and mikan oranges. And LOTS of tea.
I hope you are all doing well! Stay warm warm warm!!
Jamie
One of them I had seen a couple of months ago, when I was in Kumamoto. She had just moved from Kumamoto to Tokyo to find a job (as many, many Japanese newly graduated people do). Aiko was aikawarazu genki (doin' fine as always), which was good.
The OTHER friend, Yoshiko, was a friend who I met when she came with the Kumamoto Kita-High School to Hellgate high school when I was a sophomore. That means that I haven't seen her in...
...
...
SEVEN YEARS!!
Before we met, I had actually not really thought about how long it had been, but of course it came up in conversation (over some delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki in Shibuya), and it's crazy how much time has passed.
The passing of time...
Speaking of which, it was the first time that I spoke to Yoshiko in Japanese. The first (and second) times that I met her- when she was in Montana for those 10 days, and then when I was in Kumamoto for those 10 days- I didn't speak any Japanese. Of course, we tried to use both English and Japanese, because I didn't want to hog all the learning all for myself, but the conversation just sort of... flowed into the direction of Japanese. It didn't feel weird, but it really showed me how much has changed. In these seven years, my life has gone from having this sort of "yeah, Japan is interesting, enough for me to sign up to host this student" to "yeah, Japan is interesting enough for me to save money to see my friends there," to "yeah, Japan is interesting enough to take at college while a senior in High School," to...well, you get the picture. I mean, I'm really pleased with where I am now, but it was really interesting to see just how much has changed.
Speaking of changing, I think it's funny that, in Japanese culture, as far as I can tell it's a GOOD thing to tell someone that they haven't changed at all, after not having seen them for a long time. Aiko said to Yoshiko "you haven't changed at all! You just put on makeup now!" and Yoshiko was happy about that!
"I'm glad!" she said.
I mean, I know that there are differences in the word "change," and that it can be both negative and positive, but I mean come on! Aiko and Yoshiko hadn't seen each other in TWO YEARS. I would think that it would be bad if the other person HADN'T changed a little, at least. Hadn't done anything in those two years to merit some sort of change in their personality, hopefully for the better.
I can't imagine anything worse than imagining myself having spent the last two years, and have nothing different about me to show for it.
But, I suppose that that's a cultural difference. I am glad they didn't tell me I didn't change. I was SUPER lame in high school.
Now I'm just cultivated... or something.
Other than that... Oh! I bought my ticket for Okinawa! I am going to Okinawa with some friends after New Years. We are only gonna go for a few days, but it's gonna be such a blast. More than anything, I want to learn a lot about the Ryukyu, the native Okinawan people. I realize that my friends may not feel the same way. But that's ok! I LOVE going out on my own on trips. I suppose I am like my parents in that respect. I think it's pretty common for all of us to split up on trips. It's actually one of my favorite things to split up, and then meet up the next day, or later in the day and talk about what we did that day. I love it.
I am also so excited for going to Kumamoto, which I will do a couple of days before Christmas, and will stay there until Okinawa, for the winter vacation. I decided to take the night bus, because an airplane ticket would have been around $400, and the bus was less than half of that! Plus I can sleep on buses no problem... I hope.
Now that I have the tickets, and that I know that there is not much time left until the break, I know that I have to try really hard for the rest of the time.
GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATIONS (gotta finish!)
KANJI IN CONTEXT (let's get AT LEAST halfway, Jamie!)
CLASSES (keep doing your best! But MORE MORE MORE MORE!!)
My new motto: Head down, power through.
...I feel like the path between me and the end of quarter is PAVED in candy bars and mikan oranges. And LOTS of tea.
I hope you are all doing well! Stay warm warm warm!!
Jamie
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Hello! Remember that time that I didn't update this blog for a month and a half?
Yeah, sorry about that. But that just means that you'll get a really great one!
So, since I last posted, a lot has happened. But, at the same time, not a lot. By that I mean that my life essentially revolves around the program. Which is fine, and sort of to be expected in a kind of program like the IUC, but still... it's tough.
The morning classes consist mainly of review, but it's difficult review. We are already a couple of weeks into the second quarter, and classes and teachers change each quarter. I'll talk about the first quarter really quickly. I think that the classes were sort of split up into levels (although the teachers do not say that it is, which I can partly see as well, but I think there is at least a concious effort to keep people of around the same level in the same classes), and I was put into a class that was very difficult. I guess the hardest part was that, a lot of the people in the class were just so far ahead of my in their Japanese, especially their vocabulary and their usage of formal speech, both of which I need a lot of practice.
And I guess, instead of rising to the challenge, a lot of the time I decided to just sort of skate by; the main work that we were doing was stuff that I mostly knew already, and so I didn't have to do extra, so more often that not, I would not. I really regret that a lot now, but I've been sort of making up for this quarter. I think that my teacher realized that I wasn't putting as much effort in as I could. We had our little one-on-one meetings with our morning teachers at the end of the quarter, to talk about the classes and how we think it went. My teacher told me that she would have liked to see my try harder, and that she knew that I had the "power," so that I should try harder and use it. And I definitely think that she was right, and her words have really helped me this quarter.
Anyway, this quarter's morning class is... I mean, every class does the same material, just to what degree and at what pace is different. I don't want to say that the class moves slowly, but compared to last quarter, the class load is much smaller. I guess in a way, it is good, because instead of scraping to do all the work minimally, I have been having time to really put in a lot of effort into the basic things that we are doing, so I can at least use new words, grammar, etc., even in the more basic situations. The teacher (whom I really like a lot, Aoki-sensei), is really different from my teacher last quarter (whom I also enjoyed), and the students are pretty much all different (except one other!), so it's been a nice change. I just need to keep up the effort.
The afternoon classes are more based on reading than on speaking and grammar. What we mostly do is watch videos, or read newspaper articles, and then answer questions. We are also making speeches, each person does a 10-15 minutes speech, I think, on or to do with the topics that we talked about in class. This is for this quarter, by the way. This quarter's afternoon class I really like, and I am with a lot of people that really challenge me to do a lot better, but they are also people that I am already mostly friends with, so it's a really nice environment, instead of a nervous one, which is always nice for language learning. The topics last quarter were kind of, well... not exactly my interest, and we would do a new one every day, on different topics, sometimes two a day on different topics, so we never got very deep into any topic, which made it even harder to get interested in these topics (accidents, politics, economics, etc.). This quarter, though, are more societal topics, like young people in Japan, or Soft Power, etc., which are more interesting to me. Plus, we will spend the entire week on one topic, and read articles all to do with that topic, which I really like a lot more. And the teacher is a great one. His name is Matsumoto-sensei, and he is so funny. I find myself being, like, whisked away whenever he talks. His whole being is just amazing. I would go to this school just to meet him!
I've also gotten to know some more students, and get to know other students even better. It's really nice to make more friends, and people that you can go to lunch with, or karaoke or whatever. The time spent socially, and not studying or preparing, is really so important. Probably because the time that we can enjoy without the feeling of guilt that we aren't doing our homework sets in is usually in not too long, so we have to enjoy the time!
Speaking of enjoying our time, here's a little bit of what I've been doing outside of school. I haven't really been to many shows recently. The most recent was one I went to after about a month or so absence from seeing a show. I think the last one was Vivian Girls in Shibuya? Is that right? That seems so long ago... Anyway, my friend James (aka elevencolors on YouTube) plays in a rock band called Surgery Junction, and they played in an area of Tokyo near Shibuya called "Sangenjaya," which was my first time to go there. It was really fun. It had more of a "city feel" than a lot of places in Tokyo, just in the sense that it felt a little more, like, lived in, if that makes sense. The concert was really great. It was a thursday, so I couldn't stay the whole time, but I got to see the first band, called "Ed Woods." The entire time they were playing, there were previews and clips from all of these "classic" 1970s horror movies: Evil Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc... the really gorey movies like that. Splatterhouse? Is that what it's called? And at the end of the show, the guitarist/stand up bass-ist took off all of his clothes down to his underwear (batman briefs), and proceeded to pour water all over himself, then shampoo up his hair and body, then slide across the length of the bar/club/live house... over and over again. It was definitely something I have not seen a band do before, so it was fun to see. And James' band was really great, too. I hope they come to Yokohama sometime... getting to Tokyo can feel like such a hassle sometimes, even though from my apartment door to Shinjuku I can get there within an hour, so I really shouldn't complain. In fact, I think I am going there tomorrow!
Probably the highlight of the entire time abroad this year has been when my friend Charles came to visit for Autumn Vacation. Charles I have known for most of my life, over ten years; we used to play on the soccer team and tennis teams for little kids together. "Play" might be too strong. We spent most of our time not being team players. Our hustle was not something to make our parents proud! But since then we have been friends. Charles just graduated from Parson's, in New York, with a degree in Fashion Design (I'm pretty sure), and he is employed for Sue London, a very famous accessories maker. Fortunately, he was able to take some time off and visit. And since it was his first time to Japan, I really tried to make it as memorable as possible by going to as many places in that 10 days as possible.
As soon as Charles arrived, we headed back and stayed a short night in Yokohama, at my apartment, then the next morning headed to Kyoto. I didn't even bother to check the weather, or else I would have seen that it was completely terrible weather... oh well. It was still a blast.
Here are some pictures from that! Hopefully just clicking on the words will take you to the pictures... for some reason I can't upload right into the text right now...
'>Fushimi Inari Shrine in Tokyo
'>Fushimi Inari Torii GatesThen we spent to Kamakura, which is about 25 minutes from Yokohama, and we got to see the giant Buddha. We also rented assist bicycles, which are slightly electric powered, so we got to FLY all through the town. It was really fun. We even happened to find ourselves on the beach for the sunset! It was really beautiful.
'>Kamakura Great Buddha
'>Kamakura Great Buddha 2
'>Sunset of the Kamakura BeachWe spent most of our time in Yokohama, but we did a lot of walking all around Tokyo. We got to act like we were rich socialites for an hour by eating in Ladurée, the very posh macaroon and tea cafe. We also got to see a Louis Vuitton storefront in Harajuku all decked out, as well.
'>Ladurée
'>Louis Vuitton HarajukuBut, most of our time was spent in Yokohama. It was really fun, and we did so much. We went to Chinatown, we went to the top of Landmark Tower, the tallest tower in Japan (the weather was so clear we could see all the way to Tokyo, and even Mt. Fuji!
'>Chinatown in Yokohama
'>The view from Landmark Tower
'>Mt. Fuji from Landmark Tower
'>Minato Mirai at Night
'>Charles and I in Minato MiraiThis vacation was such a blast. I am so lucky to have such a great friend willing to come all this way to visit, and it was so much fun showing him all around. I love having guests stay and showing them places that I like, and the famous areas of town. It's really fun and such a nice feeling when you can share something like that. So thanks a lot, Charles! I'm glad you had such a good time!
That's about it, I think. I hope this length makes up for my lack of attention. I will try to write more. By that I mean I will try to lead a life interesting enough that I don't have to wait for a month and a half write a new blog! Just kidding.
It has gotten COLD here. It's such a different cold from Montana's dry cold. This is fly-through-your-coat-into-your-soul cold.
Everyone stay warm!!
Jamie
Monday, October 12, 2009
Pockets and bags of memories
This weekend was a long weekend. Monday was a national holiday called 体育の日, which means, like, physical fitness day, I guess? From what I gathered from asking one person about it, it pretty much means that some schools have the day off, and you are able to go to most of the gyms and physical fitness places around Japan for free instead of having to pay a fee. I guess it is supposed to be incentive to make people get out there and exercise, which is good... even for one day of the year.
Anyway, the reason that there was a holiday was important was because that, because of the holiday, I had three days off instead of two. Which was the perfect amount of time to give myself an excuse to visit my old stomping grounds a little south of Yokohama: Kumamoto. KK and Caty, two of my friends who are studying abroad in Kumamoto this year. They sort of convinced me to come on Thursday night, and by Friday after classes, I was on the bullet train and on my way to Kumamoto.
And just 7 short hours later, I was there!
I do not want to sound like I am complaining about the trains. I love trains. If I were to put more energy into learning about some other facet of life, it would probably be trains. They are so amazing. I like them a lot better than planes, and would take the comfort of trains and the fact that I stay (mostly) on the ground in a train over planes ANY day. Ugh... planes.
Anyway, I got there around 10 p.m. or so, and the old familiar places and feelings all came rushing back. The weather was nice and cool, which was great for Kumamoto. I remember how hot it was when I studied there. Maybe I just got used to the heat in Yokohama this summer, and am just comparing it to that instead. But Kumamoto can get VERY hot. We went to Joyful, which is the name of this, like, Denny's style restaurant near Kumamoto University, where Shannon and I (and others, too!) used to study kanji and grammar. Aww, the good old days. My friends Taiyo and Ichinose ended up picking me up from the station and then giving us a ride to Caty and KK's apartment, where we ended up hanging around the rest of the night, because we were going to wake up early and surprise a friend that I hadn't told I was going to be coming! But we ended up staying up late anyway, and being really tired the next day.
Which was fine, because I ended up seeing one of my best friends during my year at Kumamoto, Yudai! I had no idea that he was back in Kumamoto (he's from Oita, which is a different prefecture on Kyushu), and when we went to the study room where Mao was supposed to meet us, he was there working on his dissertation! So it was nice for us to be able to catch up, too, and then we got to make more plans for later. We met up with Mao and made a new friend, Yuka, and we all... well, I don't want to write about the entire weekend, but there was a lot of karaoke, a lot of me speaking fondly of the old days, and a lot of anticipation for Caty and KK and how much fun they are going to have for the year.
I think that was the most fun for me. It was great to see them getting to know Kumamoto, and seeing how they react and adjust to the things that may have given me lots of problems (and there were, because I realize now how much of, well, a 19 year-old I was then), and maybe the things that I was able to transition into more easily they might be struggling with (just because the person you're speaking to can understand English doesn't mean you can fall back on it!! 勇気を出してすべての言いたいことを日本語で言ってみようね！）. It was cool showing them how to walk through Kokaibashi to get a shorter walk to downtown from the campus, and showing them good places to eat (Komurasaki Ramen! Kumamoto Ramen is delicious! Although I may be biased).
Anyway, it was really nice to see that they were doing well, and I was glad that I could introduce some of my old friends to them, and I am glad that we got to share Kumamoto together (although Caty and I sort of did in high school already). I just know that they are going to have such an amazing time. And watching them create a connection to Kumamoto made me realize that, of course I am not going to have this immediate strong connection to Yokohama. I mean, I love the way the city is set up, and there are so many places to explore and things to do, and I am already interested by the concept of a city like Yokohama itself, but I just have to realize that that alone does not mean that making friends and finding places is going to be easy. I have to just give it some more time.
I'm excited to get to know Yokohama as well as I feel I know Kumamoto, and I am excited to for KK and Caty to get to know Kumamoto, too, and hope they will learn even more about it than me, so they can show me around next time I come!
Anyway, that's all for now. School in the morning and I need to get some rest. On the plus side, the weather looks good, which means CYCLING TO SCHOOL!!
And I found my camera. Oh, and I had lost my camera.
Anyway, the reason that there was a holiday was important was because that, because of the holiday, I had three days off instead of two. Which was the perfect amount of time to give myself an excuse to visit my old stomping grounds a little south of Yokohama: Kumamoto. KK and Caty, two of my friends who are studying abroad in Kumamoto this year. They sort of convinced me to come on Thursday night, and by Friday after classes, I was on the bullet train and on my way to Kumamoto.
And just 7 short hours later, I was there!
I do not want to sound like I am complaining about the trains. I love trains. If I were to put more energy into learning about some other facet of life, it would probably be trains. They are so amazing. I like them a lot better than planes, and would take the comfort of trains and the fact that I stay (mostly) on the ground in a train over planes ANY day. Ugh... planes.
Anyway, I got there around 10 p.m. or so, and the old familiar places and feelings all came rushing back. The weather was nice and cool, which was great for Kumamoto. I remember how hot it was when I studied there. Maybe I just got used to the heat in Yokohama this summer, and am just comparing it to that instead. But Kumamoto can get VERY hot. We went to Joyful, which is the name of this, like, Denny's style restaurant near Kumamoto University, where Shannon and I (and others, too!) used to study kanji and grammar. Aww, the good old days. My friends Taiyo and Ichinose ended up picking me up from the station and then giving us a ride to Caty and KK's apartment, where we ended up hanging around the rest of the night, because we were going to wake up early and surprise a friend that I hadn't told I was going to be coming! But we ended up staying up late anyway, and being really tired the next day.
Which was fine, because I ended up seeing one of my best friends during my year at Kumamoto, Yudai! I had no idea that he was back in Kumamoto (he's from Oita, which is a different prefecture on Kyushu), and when we went to the study room where Mao was supposed to meet us, he was there working on his dissertation! So it was nice for us to be able to catch up, too, and then we got to make more plans for later. We met up with Mao and made a new friend, Yuka, and we all... well, I don't want to write about the entire weekend, but there was a lot of karaoke, a lot of me speaking fondly of the old days, and a lot of anticipation for Caty and KK and how much fun they are going to have for the year.
I think that was the most fun for me. It was great to see them getting to know Kumamoto, and seeing how they react and adjust to the things that may have given me lots of problems (and there were, because I realize now how much of, well, a 19 year-old I was then), and maybe the things that I was able to transition into more easily they might be struggling with (just because the person you're speaking to can understand English doesn't mean you can fall back on it!! 勇気を出してすべての言いたいことを日本語で言ってみようね！）. It was cool showing them how to walk through Kokaibashi to get a shorter walk to downtown from the campus, and showing them good places to eat (Komurasaki Ramen! Kumamoto Ramen is delicious! Although I may be biased).
Anyway, it was really nice to see that they were doing well, and I was glad that I could introduce some of my old friends to them, and I am glad that we got to share Kumamoto together (although Caty and I sort of did in high school already). I just know that they are going to have such an amazing time. And watching them create a connection to Kumamoto made me realize that, of course I am not going to have this immediate strong connection to Yokohama. I mean, I love the way the city is set up, and there are so many places to explore and things to do, and I am already interested by the concept of a city like Yokohama itself, but I just have to realize that that alone does not mean that making friends and finding places is going to be easy. I have to just give it some more time.
I'm excited to get to know Yokohama as well as I feel I know Kumamoto, and I am excited to for KK and Caty to get to know Kumamoto, too, and hope they will learn even more about it than me, so they can show me around next time I come!
Anyway, that's all for now. School in the morning and I need to get some rest. On the plus side, the weather looks good, which means CYCLING TO SCHOOL!!
And I found my camera. Oh, and I had lost my camera.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Get into the groove!
It has now been two weeks of school.
How are you feeling, Jamie?
Well, I will tell you. Right... now.
School has been really good. That feeling of being really behind everyone else faded after a couple of days. Of course, there are still a lot of people that are better than me, but I am not the lowest. I feel pretty much the perfect amount prepared. That being said... it's hard! I think one of the most difficult parts is switching from everyday conversation Japanese to formal Japanese. The teachers at the center encourage us to speak in as formal a way as possible in class, which for me is pretty difficult, just because I'm not used to it. I can use slang like no other, but when it comes to using keigo... it's hard for me. That just means that I'll have to work HARDER. It is also a little bit weird to speak with the other students in Japanese still. Mostly because I have to think longer to word things in Japanese, and the kind of humor that I want to use may not translate into Japanese, and so on. But no big.
Other than studying, though, I have been spending a lot of time around the school area, and also around my neighborhood, just getting to know the area. I really like Minato Mirai, where the school is. It reminds me of the Jetsons; all futuristic. Maybe I'm just not used to big buildings. But see for yourself!
How are you feeling, Jamie?
Well, I will tell you. Right... now.
School has been really good. That feeling of being really behind everyone else faded after a couple of days. Of course, there are still a lot of people that are better than me, but I am not the lowest. I feel pretty much the perfect amount prepared. That being said... it's hard! I think one of the most difficult parts is switching from everyday conversation Japanese to formal Japanese. The teachers at the center encourage us to speak in as formal a way as possible in class, which for me is pretty difficult, just because I'm not used to it. I can use slang like no other, but when it comes to using keigo... it's hard for me. That just means that I'll have to work HARDER. It is also a little bit weird to speak with the other students in Japanese still. Mostly because I have to think longer to word things in Japanese, and the kind of humor that I want to use may not translate into Japanese, and so on. But no big.
Other than studying, though, I have been spending a lot of time around the school area, and also around my neighborhood, just getting to know the area. I really like Minato Mirai, where the school is. It reminds me of the Jetsons; all futuristic. Maybe I'm just not used to big buildings. But see for yourself!
Don't you except to see, like, a hovercraft floating by?
This might not be the best picture to describe it, but it really is nice. I've been around town more than this, but I just keep forgetting to take pictures. This weekend my friend JULIE is coming to visit, though, so I will take some pictures while being her tourguide.
I also have gone to a couple of concerts, which I love doing in any country. I went with a friend of mine that I made from YouTube named James to a show in Shibuya the first week of school; it was an all-girl group night, so about four girl bands played their music. It was really great. And there, there was a band from Portland in the audience named Kleveland, and they were paying a show in Yokohama the next week and invited me. So I went to that last night, and they were really fun. Shows in Japan are so funny sometimes; it is either everyone is really jacked up and all dancing and having fun (like most small shows in America), or everyone just stands there... and maybe nod their heads to the beat. I don't really like dancing, so it is totally fine with me, but it is just an interesting difference.
So all in all, I am feeling good. As the title suggests, I am getting into the groove. More pictures later (I know I promised that before but this time really because we finally have internet at our apartment!)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
SCHOOL
I am actually still in the building as I write this. I have about another hour to kill before my oral exam.
ANYWAY,
This morning was the first morning of school. I woke up at around seven, but was really tired because I was so nervous about today that I couldn't really sleep. Which is pretty ridiculous. BUT, I got to get up, walk to the store for a calorie mate (which are the best things ever. They are small but have a lot of calories in them so you are supposed to stay full for longer... I think) and some coffee, and got to get ready for the day slowly, which was nice.
About an hour before class started, I got on my bike, turned my iPod to Prince's "Dirty Mind," and headed out. I got to Yokohama station in about twenty minutes, and I thought that I was going to get to school a lot faster than I had planned to...
BUT, the road to get to school really threw me off. I only actually had come to school on my bike once before, and had forgotten how to get here, so I had to do a lot of going back and backtracking. I finally managed to, and with still fifteen minutes to spare.
The first thing we did was to have just a simple orientation: The teachers were introduced and all of us students did little self-introductions...
That is when I realized that everyone here is really, really, really good at Japanese.
There are so many people here who are pursuing their PhD, and so many other people who have lived here for a long time, or for whatever reason are just really really good at Japanese. Which is good to have a big group of students (there are 59 of us) who are all pretty high levels, but it is still very intimidating. Hopefully I will RISE TO THE CHALLENGE or whatever.
The teachers all seem really nice, and today we have an oral interview/test, one on one with the teachers for 15 minutes each. According to Sarah (who did the program a couple of years ago), the little meeting is put on video... here is where my YouTube video making pays off!
Let's hope this goes well. I think I will come to school early tomorrow and try to put up some pictures of the school and stuff on here! Yay!
Talk to you all later!
ANYWAY,
This morning was the first morning of school. I woke up at around seven, but was really tired because I was so nervous about today that I couldn't really sleep. Which is pretty ridiculous. BUT, I got to get up, walk to the store for a calorie mate (which are the best things ever. They are small but have a lot of calories in them so you are supposed to stay full for longer... I think) and some coffee, and got to get ready for the day slowly, which was nice.
About an hour before class started, I got on my bike, turned my iPod to Prince's "Dirty Mind," and headed out. I got to Yokohama station in about twenty minutes, and I thought that I was going to get to school a lot faster than I had planned to...
BUT, the road to get to school really threw me off. I only actually had come to school on my bike once before, and had forgotten how to get here, so I had to do a lot of going back and backtracking. I finally managed to, and with still fifteen minutes to spare.
The first thing we did was to have just a simple orientation: The teachers were introduced and all of us students did little self-introductions...
That is when I realized that everyone here is really, really, really good at Japanese.
There are so many people here who are pursuing their PhD, and so many other people who have lived here for a long time, or for whatever reason are just really really good at Japanese. Which is good to have a big group of students (there are 59 of us) who are all pretty high levels, but it is still very intimidating. Hopefully I will RISE TO THE CHALLENGE or whatever.
The teachers all seem really nice, and today we have an oral interview/test, one on one with the teachers for 15 minutes each. According to Sarah (who did the program a couple of years ago), the little meeting is put on video... here is where my YouTube video making pays off!
Let's hope this goes well. I think I will come to school early tomorrow and try to put up some pictures of the school and stuff on here! Yay!
Talk to you all later!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED
About a million things have happened since my last post and so I am going to try and list them all as concisely as I can, or else this post will be pages and pages long.
Since my last post...
I have gotten a bike, which is now my second favorite possession. My iPod is still my favorite thing. BUT ANYWAY, the bike is green, and has a big basket in the front and then a flat thingy at the back, so I can carry SO MUCH. And we rode our way to Yokohama station, and it only takes about 25 minutes to there, and then maybe another ten or fifteen minutes to school, so it`s really convenient. The bike tires got really low on air really quickly, so I took my bike to a gas station on the way home one night. The guy filled up my tires, but I think he may have filled one up too much, and... the tire exploded. The guy yelled in shock, and I yelled in shock. Then he said `I`m really sorry about that and we don`t have bike tire tubes, so here is 2,000 yen... bye`
But now my bike is fixed, so everything is fine. It`s even better than before, if that is even possible because I love it so much.
I am also pretty sure that the cockroaches are all dead. I think that the two that were in there were more of a mistake, or a fluke than an actual infestation. But when we were buying traps and bugbombs and stuff, there were all these signs that said `for every ONE you see... there are FIFTY!` So that was a little bit scary. But we haven`t seen any more since then. And everytime I come home I listen for scurrying of little feet, but I don`t ever see anything or hear anything. Let`s hope it stays that way.
BUT
Yesterday, when I was sitting in my room on my computer, I had all of my windows open, and my light in my room was the only one on. So I am minding my own business, trying to find the elusive wireless signal from somewhere in the neighborhood that we can sometimes get at our house, and notice a couple of little gnat/bug things around. No big deal. So after about an hour, the wireless signal goes away, and I get up to get some water. And when I turned and looked at my bed...
THERE WERE HUNDREDS AND MILLIONS OF GNATS ALL OVER IT.
And on my wall.
And on the light.
So I grabbed the vacuum and started sucking them all up. It was a massacre. Of course, they were still everywhere, but just a lot less of them.
By morning, though, they were all dead. I am hoping that there won`t be any more bug stories to tell. Because they are interesting, but they are not fun to experience. Well... vacuuming up all those gnats was a little bit fun.
I also got to go and visit my friend Julie in Gotemba, where she is an ALT. It was really fun. We went to a picnic with her co-workers at one of the schools where she teaches, and I got to see, in Julie`s words, "people with normal jobs and normal hair." And she was right, in a sense. I guess most of my contact with Japanese people has been with young people, or college age people, and not so much in the professional world. So it was interesting to see. And also to see that, like in every country, grown-ups are just kids with money. And a FEW more things to talk about, although mostly the topics are the same. We did get to play frisbee and catch, both of which were really fun. And in Gotemba, the U.S. army and the Japanese Defense Force or whatever apparently have this, like, joint base, and they were practicing their bombing not too far from where our picnic was. The bombs even shake Julie`s walls in her apartment from the middle of the city. I guess you would get used to it, but it just sounded like really close, loud thunder going no all day.
A lot of time has been spent making the apartment more like a real place to live, and it is finally turning in to one, which is great. There are still some things to be done and things to be bought, but it will all come in good time, I suppose. Also a lot of time has been dedicated to exploring Yokohama and also Mitsuzawa, which is where we live. The road that takes us to the station isn`t a main road, but it has a lot of neat little shops, and of course the Mintao Mirai area (where IUC is) is really beautiful, and right on the bay, and has a ton of cool places to explore.
Today, when I was lost on my bike for a good twenty minutes, I went by this temple. I suppose it was typical of a Japanese Shinto temple, but it was still so beautiful, and there was this great juxtaposition, because it was right across from the train tracks. I didn`t go in, but just seeing it there was nice. I mean, it`s not in my neighborhood, and probably I won`t go back (I had gone about three stations north of Yokohama station, whereas I live west of Yokohama station), but, I guess, seeing that made me realize that there will probably be many more places like that everywhere, and makes me even more excited to walk around my neighborhood more.
Speaking of which, there is a park next to our apartment that I think I will walk through tomorrow. I will bring my digital camera to the internet cafe tomorrow and see if I can`t get some pictures uploaded.
I also spent a nice afternoon biking all around Yokohama and Minato Mirai, and I also got to spend a long time in the stores around that area, which was so relaxing. I have been having so much fun in the preparation period before the IUC program starts, and I hope that the program will be fun, too. I know that it will probably be more challenging than anything I have done so far, but I am really looking forward to it.
Internet in our apartment hasn`t been installed yet, and I heard that it can take quite a while, so I might be coming back here quite often. Which I don`t necessarily mind, I just know that, even in this past week, there are so many things that I have forgotten about putting in this blog, which means that I`ll probably forget about it altogether. I should start writing things down more. ..
anyway, I suppose that that`s all for now. I hope you are all doing well. I know that the new semester just started at UM. I miss doing the Kaiwa Table with the JSA, and all the JSA events. There were really fun. I hope it`s even better this year!
Since my last post...
I have gotten a bike, which is now my second favorite possession. My iPod is still my favorite thing. BUT ANYWAY, the bike is green, and has a big basket in the front and then a flat thingy at the back, so I can carry SO MUCH. And we rode our way to Yokohama station, and it only takes about 25 minutes to there, and then maybe another ten or fifteen minutes to school, so it`s really convenient. The bike tires got really low on air really quickly, so I took my bike to a gas station on the way home one night. The guy filled up my tires, but I think he may have filled one up too much, and... the tire exploded. The guy yelled in shock, and I yelled in shock. Then he said `I`m really sorry about that and we don`t have bike tire tubes, so here is 2,000 yen... bye`
But now my bike is fixed, so everything is fine. It`s even better than before, if that is even possible because I love it so much.
I am also pretty sure that the cockroaches are all dead. I think that the two that were in there were more of a mistake, or a fluke than an actual infestation. But when we were buying traps and bugbombs and stuff, there were all these signs that said `for every ONE you see... there are FIFTY!` So that was a little bit scary. But we haven`t seen any more since then. And everytime I come home I listen for scurrying of little feet, but I don`t ever see anything or hear anything. Let`s hope it stays that way.
BUT
Yesterday, when I was sitting in my room on my computer, I had all of my windows open, and my light in my room was the only one on. So I am minding my own business, trying to find the elusive wireless signal from somewhere in the neighborhood that we can sometimes get at our house, and notice a couple of little gnat/bug things around. No big deal. So after about an hour, the wireless signal goes away, and I get up to get some water. And when I turned and looked at my bed...
THERE WERE HUNDREDS AND MILLIONS OF GNATS ALL OVER IT.
And on my wall.
And on the light.
So I grabbed the vacuum and started sucking them all up. It was a massacre. Of course, they were still everywhere, but just a lot less of them.
By morning, though, they were all dead. I am hoping that there won`t be any more bug stories to tell. Because they are interesting, but they are not fun to experience. Well... vacuuming up all those gnats was a little bit fun.
I also got to go and visit my friend Julie in Gotemba, where she is an ALT. It was really fun. We went to a picnic with her co-workers at one of the schools where she teaches, and I got to see, in Julie`s words, "people with normal jobs and normal hair." And she was right, in a sense. I guess most of my contact with Japanese people has been with young people, or college age people, and not so much in the professional world. So it was interesting to see. And also to see that, like in every country, grown-ups are just kids with money. And a FEW more things to talk about, although mostly the topics are the same. We did get to play frisbee and catch, both of which were really fun. And in Gotemba, the U.S. army and the Japanese Defense Force or whatever apparently have this, like, joint base, and they were practicing their bombing not too far from where our picnic was. The bombs even shake Julie`s walls in her apartment from the middle of the city. I guess you would get used to it, but it just sounded like really close, loud thunder going no all day.
A lot of time has been spent making the apartment more like a real place to live, and it is finally turning in to one, which is great. There are still some things to be done and things to be bought, but it will all come in good time, I suppose. Also a lot of time has been dedicated to exploring Yokohama and also Mitsuzawa, which is where we live. The road that takes us to the station isn`t a main road, but it has a lot of neat little shops, and of course the Mintao Mirai area (where IUC is) is really beautiful, and right on the bay, and has a ton of cool places to explore.
Today, when I was lost on my bike for a good twenty minutes, I went by this temple. I suppose it was typical of a Japanese Shinto temple, but it was still so beautiful, and there was this great juxtaposition, because it was right across from the train tracks. I didn`t go in, but just seeing it there was nice. I mean, it`s not in my neighborhood, and probably I won`t go back (I had gone about three stations north of Yokohama station, whereas I live west of Yokohama station), but, I guess, seeing that made me realize that there will probably be many more places like that everywhere, and makes me even more excited to walk around my neighborhood more.
Speaking of which, there is a park next to our apartment that I think I will walk through tomorrow. I will bring my digital camera to the internet cafe tomorrow and see if I can`t get some pictures uploaded.
I also spent a nice afternoon biking all around Yokohama and Minato Mirai, and I also got to spend a long time in the stores around that area, which was so relaxing. I have been having so much fun in the preparation period before the IUC program starts, and I hope that the program will be fun, too. I know that it will probably be more challenging than anything I have done so far, but I am really looking forward to it.
Internet in our apartment hasn`t been installed yet, and I heard that it can take quite a while, so I might be coming back here quite often. Which I don`t necessarily mind, I just know that, even in this past week, there are so many things that I have forgotten about putting in this blog, which means that I`ll probably forget about it altogether. I should start writing things down more. ..
anyway, I suppose that that`s all for now. I hope you are all doing well. I know that the new semester just started at UM. I miss doing the Kaiwa Table with the JSA, and all the JSA events. There were really fun. I hope it`s even better this year!
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