Pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
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Okay, so, first day of class...not as awful as I imagined it. I got into the class I was worried I wouldn't be able to get into - it's called Performance Studies in the catalog, but the teacher calls it "Acting Social Justice". Oh, another thing, this class is taught in English. The teacher is incredibly enthusiastic and friendly, so that's a huge plus. Because the school year at AGU actually starts in April, and I'm now starting in the second semester, I've missed the first half of the course. But apparently, they talked about the issues surrounding racism, ableism, and sexism. And not only discuss them but also some roleplay is involved and they learned theater techniques. We started out yesterday talking about heterosexualism, and other sexual orientation related matters. I think it's going to be a class I will enjoy. I'm sorry if my description doesn't make much sense - I'm a little unsure of exactly how we're doing things too but I'll find out soon!
However, there is also Nihongaku or Japanology that I have to take - all taught in Japanese. That's going to take some getting used to - I can't even summarize what I think he talked about, it'd be too disjointed and confusing.
So yeah. I won't be looking forward to that one as much...or maybe I will in time. We'll see.
Today, I'm finally getting a bank account! W00t!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
More than Your Average First-Day-of-School Jitters
Pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
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School starts tomorrow, Thursday the 24th. Not as excited as I hoped to be - the language barrier is starting to bother me a lot. So much is going right over my head. I still trip up over basic things, my brain freezes, I get embarrassed, and I feel like I've failed. Every day.
I met up with my friend, Jasmine, who I have not seen in eight years (it's a long story and the fact that we both ended up in Japan at the same time is beyond phenomenal) and after a dinner of delicious yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick), we went to her favorite bar called Orange County. It's full of American paraphernalia, (American) 60's/70's music and very friendly people. Jasmine told me ahead of time it's a great place to practice Japanese. I tried talking to the bartender. It didn't really work. I didn't understand what he was saying - it was all too fast. I looked to one of Jasmine's friends constantly for help, as she is much better. I felt so pathetic. And when I finally figured out what he was saying, it was a lot of piecing things together in my head to sound like a functional human being.
I know, everyone says, "you must think in Japanese" - telling me that isn't going to help me anymore. It's hard. Despite how long I've been trying to do this Japanese thing, I haven't managed to get it down. I'm pretty bummed about it. I'm worried about taking classes in Japanese. If I can't understand conversational Japanese, how could I possibly understand it in an academic setting? I just don't know what to do. The first few days of classes starting, like I said, are a look-and-see period. So, I guess I'll do just that.
And along with that issue, as you can imagine, I feel pretty out of place and more self-conscious than usual if I'm traveling on the train alone. It's not like I want to fit in but at the same time....I do. I sometimes wished I didn't look like so much of foreigner...or maybe, I wish Japan had more of them so I didn't look like such a random piece of the scenary. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I feel like everyone is watching me. Thus, I worry about every single thing that I do. I stand out too much. At least I think I do.
Maybe it's just because I'm in a lousy mood. Oy vey.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
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School starts tomorrow, Thursday the 24th. Not as excited as I hoped to be - the language barrier is starting to bother me a lot. So much is going right over my head. I still trip up over basic things, my brain freezes, I get embarrassed, and I feel like I've failed. Every day.
I met up with my friend, Jasmine, who I have not seen in eight years (it's a long story and the fact that we both ended up in Japan at the same time is beyond phenomenal) and after a dinner of delicious yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick), we went to her favorite bar called Orange County. It's full of American paraphernalia, (American) 60's/70's music and very friendly people. Jasmine told me ahead of time it's a great place to practice Japanese. I tried talking to the bartender. It didn't really work. I didn't understand what he was saying - it was all too fast. I looked to one of Jasmine's friends constantly for help, as she is much better. I felt so pathetic. And when I finally figured out what he was saying, it was a lot of piecing things together in my head to sound like a functional human being.
I know, everyone says, "you must think in Japanese" - telling me that isn't going to help me anymore. It's hard. Despite how long I've been trying to do this Japanese thing, I haven't managed to get it down. I'm pretty bummed about it. I'm worried about taking classes in Japanese. If I can't understand conversational Japanese, how could I possibly understand it in an academic setting? I just don't know what to do. The first few days of classes starting, like I said, are a look-and-see period. So, I guess I'll do just that.
And along with that issue, as you can imagine, I feel pretty out of place and more self-conscious than usual if I'm traveling on the train alone. It's not like I want to fit in but at the same time....I do. I sometimes wished I didn't look like so much of foreigner...or maybe, I wish Japan had more of them so I didn't look like such a random piece of the scenary. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I feel like everyone is watching me. Thus, I worry about every single thing that I do. I stand out too much. At least I think I do.
Maybe it's just because I'm in a lousy mood. Oy vey.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Not Dead Yet!
Pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
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Sorry I take forever to update and when I do, it's like 10 pages long. I've only had one day in which I did absolutely nothing but I never thought to do anything mildly productive. I needed a break from the usual, "let's go out for the entire day and come back home completely exhausted".
In the last few days I've managed to get a cellphone or keitai.
http://mb.softbank.jp/en/products/sharp/831sh.html It's really pretty and therefore, it is a win. The people from Softbank put it into English for me. Some exchange students keep their phones in Japanese as practice. I understand the idea of it and all....but it's weird enough using a different phone, I can't deal with it when I don't understand the language it's in. Or rather, not enough of the language to understand.
I've watched sumo wrestling as well. I was invited to come along for an all-day sumo tournament event by the Vander Haaks - the parents of a good friend of mine. They used to teach at Washington Christian Academy (where I spent middle school and high school) until their family moved to Japan six years ago. When I was 16, they provided a place for me to stay for my first trip to Japan (I spent Christmas with them!). It was a short 10 day trip and I wanted to come back to Japan the moment I got on the plane to leave.
And here I am now, in 5 years time! :D So yes, sumo. As you will see in the pictures at the top of this post, we got there super early to get tickets. We got some coffee after we purchased our tickets and after we ate, we went back inside to watch the preliminary rounds with the younger guys. They were still in training so they weren't massive yet, but they were quite entertaining to watch. After a while, we went back up to our seats (which were at the top of the arena), and I sort of passed out.
When I came back to consciousness, we went for a walk around the area we were in called Ryougoku. There were gardens, memorials, and museums and after some exploring, we had lunch. We came back to sumo again and after a while, I was getting a little bored honestly. I didn't have any favorites, as I never watched it before or taken interest really - I just knew I wanted to have the experience. But it got really exciting near the end when all the higher-ranking sumo came out and people started getting super enthusiastic. The cheering. I loved it - people screaming their favorite sumo's name, hearing kids yell "ganbare!" (good luck) at the top of their little lungs. A lot more fanfare was displayed when these sumo, called yokozuna, came out to wrestle.
There are all sorts of ritualistic things that go on in sumo, such as salt throwing to purify the ring (the ring is sacred by the way....so sacred, that women aren't allowed to set foot on it. To this day. Thanks guys.), stamping the ground to rid it of bad spirits, and drinking some water to purify their bodies as well. These are Shinto (an originally Japanese religion based on ancestor and nature worship, polytheism and animism - thanks Wikipedia!) based practices. At least they let non-Japanese men do sumo as well. There are a few guys from Estonia, Bulgaria, and Georgia (as in the country) and apparently, a lot of Mongolians as well. I cheered for Mr. Bulgaria (aka Katsunori Kotooshu...or his real name, Kaloyan Stafanov Mahlyanov) because he was the only one I knew of vaguely. He won his match! YES! Oh, by the way, his stable master (because sumo train and live in stables....) gave him his Japanese name.
So yeah. Less significant things I've done would have to be going to the 100 yen store (equivalent to a dollar store) and scoring big time on lots of cheap, but good quality stuff. Japan knows how to do it right. I'm going to take some time tomorrow (which is Wednesday for me) to get prepared for class starting on Thursday! But you know what is weird to me? We don't register for classes until the 29th - so, the time between the 24th and the 29th is like a look-and-see period....which is kind of nice but so different from UMD's system, I was a little baffled.
It's Silver Week here in Japan. The last little break before school starts. There are good and bad things about this Silver Week business. Sure, I get a few days to play and hang out before I have to buckle down and be a good student again. However, Silver Week is a holiday. And during holidays, the staff of the dorm disappear - including the cooking ladies and the maintenance ladies. No food and the facilities are not cleaned. The hair monsters that clog the drain and reside inside the showers are a huge turn-off, as you can imagine. Not to mention it reminds me of the Japanese version of The Grudge 2 (I know that the hair isn't going to start coming towards me, magically turn into a terrifying dead girl, make an awful sound and whisk me away to who-knows-where-but-I'm-definitely-dead-land but...my imagination is quite overactive. It's a blessing and a curse.) The food part isn't so hard to deal with as there are conbini or convenience stores. And they are so convenient. I've also discovered that there is a really nice Chinese restaurant next to the Eda train station, which is 15 minutes away from the dorm. Well, I always knew it was there, but I ate there for the first time with Nicole the other night and it was delicious!
All hope is not lost.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
--------
Sorry I take forever to update and when I do, it's like 10 pages long. I've only had one day in which I did absolutely nothing but I never thought to do anything mildly productive. I needed a break from the usual, "let's go out for the entire day and come back home completely exhausted".
In the last few days I've managed to get a cellphone or keitai.
http://mb.softbank.jp/en/products/sharp/831sh.html It's really pretty and therefore, it is a win. The people from Softbank put it into English for me. Some exchange students keep their phones in Japanese as practice. I understand the idea of it and all....but it's weird enough using a different phone, I can't deal with it when I don't understand the language it's in. Or rather, not enough of the language to understand.
I've watched sumo wrestling as well. I was invited to come along for an all-day sumo tournament event by the Vander Haaks - the parents of a good friend of mine. They used to teach at Washington Christian Academy (where I spent middle school and high school) until their family moved to Japan six years ago. When I was 16, they provided a place for me to stay for my first trip to Japan (I spent Christmas with them!). It was a short 10 day trip and I wanted to come back to Japan the moment I got on the plane to leave.
And here I am now, in 5 years time! :D So yes, sumo. As you will see in the pictures at the top of this post, we got there super early to get tickets. We got some coffee after we purchased our tickets and after we ate, we went back inside to watch the preliminary rounds with the younger guys. They were still in training so they weren't massive yet, but they were quite entertaining to watch. After a while, we went back up to our seats (which were at the top of the arena), and I sort of passed out.
When I came back to consciousness, we went for a walk around the area we were in called Ryougoku. There were gardens, memorials, and museums and after some exploring, we had lunch. We came back to sumo again and after a while, I was getting a little bored honestly. I didn't have any favorites, as I never watched it before or taken interest really - I just knew I wanted to have the experience. But it got really exciting near the end when all the higher-ranking sumo came out and people started getting super enthusiastic. The cheering. I loved it - people screaming their favorite sumo's name, hearing kids yell "ganbare!" (good luck) at the top of their little lungs. A lot more fanfare was displayed when these sumo, called yokozuna, came out to wrestle.
There are all sorts of ritualistic things that go on in sumo, such as salt throwing to purify the ring (the ring is sacred by the way....so sacred, that women aren't allowed to set foot on it. To this day. Thanks guys.), stamping the ground to rid it of bad spirits, and drinking some water to purify their bodies as well. These are Shinto (an originally Japanese religion based on ancestor and nature worship, polytheism and animism - thanks Wikipedia!) based practices. At least they let non-Japanese men do sumo as well. There are a few guys from Estonia, Bulgaria, and Georgia (as in the country) and apparently, a lot of Mongolians as well. I cheered for Mr. Bulgaria (aka Katsunori Kotooshu...or his real name, Kaloyan Stafanov Mahlyanov) because he was the only one I knew of vaguely. He won his match! YES! Oh, by the way, his stable master (because sumo train and live in stables....) gave him his Japanese name.
So yeah. Less significant things I've done would have to be going to the 100 yen store (equivalent to a dollar store) and scoring big time on lots of cheap, but good quality stuff. Japan knows how to do it right. I'm going to take some time tomorrow (which is Wednesday for me) to get prepared for class starting on Thursday! But you know what is weird to me? We don't register for classes until the 29th - so, the time between the 24th and the 29th is like a look-and-see period....which is kind of nice but so different from UMD's system, I was a little baffled.
It's Silver Week here in Japan. The last little break before school starts. There are good and bad things about this Silver Week business. Sure, I get a few days to play and hang out before I have to buckle down and be a good student again. However, Silver Week is a holiday. And during holidays, the staff of the dorm disappear - including the cooking ladies and the maintenance ladies. No food and the facilities are not cleaned. The hair monsters that clog the drain and reside inside the showers are a huge turn-off, as you can imagine. Not to mention it reminds me of the Japanese version of The Grudge 2 (I know that the hair isn't going to start coming towards me, magically turn into a terrifying dead girl, make an awful sound and whisk me away to who-knows-where-but-I'm-definitely-dead-land but...my imagination is quite overactive. It's a blessing and a curse.) The food part isn't so hard to deal with as there are conbini or convenience stores. And they are so convenient. I've also discovered that there is a really nice Chinese restaurant next to the Eda train station, which is 15 minutes away from the dorm. Well, I always knew it was there, but I ate there for the first time with Nicole the other night and it was delicious!
All hope is not lost.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
I Couldn't Be Happier
This one is a long post - sorry about that. And also, here is the link for pictures, as I promised:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
Wednesday was fantastic. It started out a little bit rough but it only got better.
The easier part of orientation had ended when course registration time came up. We will have our tutors to help us pick classes later but just looking at schedules on our own was very stressful. As expected, only a few classes are taught in English - everything else is in Japanese. Trying to find the right classes is stressful enough in American university. Not being able to understand the class names, their descriptions and the fact that you know you won't understand everything in class was upsetting.
*Sigh*
However, the day started getting better after orientation and some of my friends and I decided to eat at a kaiten-zushi bar or "sushi merry-go-round". The 2 pieces of sushi are on little, different colored plates (which indicate the price, ranging from 126 yen to 316 yen...which is close to $1.00 to $3.00 for a most basic conversion). The plates are placed on a conveyor that goes around the bar. You pick up which ever one you like and just eat! You can make requests as well! So far, my favorites would be salmon (shake - pronounced sha-kay), tuna (maguro) and eel (unagi). Eel is cooked with a special sauce poured on top and the other two are served raw. It was so delicious, I can't wait to go back again!
After that, we decided to go to a karaoke place. For two hours, the four of us sang to our heart's content and one free drink was provided. I had this overpoweringly sweet milk/caramel drink that I should have mixed together to make it less strong. Oh well, next time!
They had plenty of popular English songs (like Lady GaGa, Phantom of the Opera, Bon Jovi, etc.) and all the Japanese songs I love and know (like YUI, Younha, and Abindgon Boys School!!). Better yet, for those who do not read kanji very well, the screen provided the hiragana reading on top (which is called furigana) for those less educated as myself. XD So, I was able to read everything! I absolutely must go back to that place. Also expected, Japanese karaoke is much better than American karaoke place, even with basically the same set up.
Moving on! After karaoke, went to a party for the new exchange students (about 40 of us). Met some new people, international and Japanese - had a splendid time at a place called Dande Lion. A friend of mine, Elizabeth and I decided to head back early. All was going just as normal until we were waiting for the train to leave after we transferred. I think I was laughing about something and I threw my head back. My sunglasses promptly slid off my head...right into the gap between the platform and the train. Elizabeth and I just sort of stared in disbelief. My habit of laughing at unfortunate events such as this started and I was just so shocked. It just had to fall in between - not in the train, or not on the platform. I had already set up in my mind to get over it and just buy new ones - despite how much I loved those glasses and the fact that I bought them in Barbados when I visited family with my mom and grandma made me love them more. As I stared at it lying by the tracks, a woman sitting near us told us in English we could ask for help by the train officials
I knew that would require knowing Japanese I couldn't think of, so I told her I didn't know how to do it (feeling very pathetic). At that moment, she bolted out the train looking for someone. I was trying to tell her to come back and to please don't worry about it, but she proceeded to hit the SOS button and the alarm went off. Train officials started running and I wished so desperately that I hadn't caused a scene, thinking, "It's not like anyone jumped! No one is hurt! It's just my sunglasses! Please don't come over!" So embarrassing.
People started staring in my direction and the train officials asked me to step off the train. Elizabeth and I got off the train and as the train left, the woman who pressed the button was still with us. I started apologizing and bowing and she said it was fine. She explained to the train people that my sunglasses fell and a few moments later, one of them came back with a grabbing device. My sunglasses were neatly folded on the side, far away enough from the tracks to not be damaged in the slightest. One of the officials took it out for me and again, after I received them, I started apologizing and thanking them all again.
Everyone else left but the woman who essentially saved me from losing my sunglasses, turned out she was going to the same stop. We talked to her about how we were exchange students from America, how we liked Japan, and other things like that. We got on the train and continued to talk in a mix of Japanese and English (she kept responding in English, I guess she wanted the practice). We went our separate ways eventually and I thanked/apologized to her again, bowing several times. Again, she made nothing of it and just wished I had a good time in Japan!
I wish more people could be this kind. I wish I asked what her name was - she made my bad-to-good-to-much better day possible.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
Wednesday was fantastic. It started out a little bit rough but it only got better.
The easier part of orientation had ended when course registration time came up. We will have our tutors to help us pick classes later but just looking at schedules on our own was very stressful. As expected, only a few classes are taught in English - everything else is in Japanese. Trying to find the right classes is stressful enough in American university. Not being able to understand the class names, their descriptions and the fact that you know you won't understand everything in class was upsetting.
*Sigh*
However, the day started getting better after orientation and some of my friends and I decided to eat at a kaiten-zushi bar or "sushi merry-go-round". The 2 pieces of sushi are on little, different colored plates (which indicate the price, ranging from 126 yen to 316 yen...which is close to $1.00 to $3.00 for a most basic conversion). The plates are placed on a conveyor that goes around the bar. You pick up which ever one you like and just eat! You can make requests as well! So far, my favorites would be salmon (shake - pronounced sha-kay), tuna (maguro) and eel (unagi). Eel is cooked with a special sauce poured on top and the other two are served raw. It was so delicious, I can't wait to go back again!
After that, we decided to go to a karaoke place. For two hours, the four of us sang to our heart's content and one free drink was provided. I had this overpoweringly sweet milk/caramel drink that I should have mixed together to make it less strong. Oh well, next time!
They had plenty of popular English songs (like Lady GaGa, Phantom of the Opera, Bon Jovi, etc.) and all the Japanese songs I love and know (like YUI, Younha, and Abindgon Boys School!!). Better yet, for those who do not read kanji very well, the screen provided the hiragana reading on top (which is called furigana) for those less educated as myself. XD So, I was able to read everything! I absolutely must go back to that place. Also expected, Japanese karaoke is much better than American karaoke place, even with basically the same set up.
[By the way, a mini lesson on the writing in Japanese for those who don't know - bare with me as this is sometimes hard for me to explain. This could be long...:
The characters in Japanese that look like, 日本 (Japan)、青山学院大学 (Aoyama Gakuin University)、写真 (picture)、are called kanji or 漢字. These are Chinese characters that the Japanese borrowed forever ago to use as their written language. Unlike Chinese however, Japanese uses a syllabary (instead of an alphabet like English or Korean) to make the sounds. So, when you start learning Japanese you learn:
a i u e o / あ、い、う、え、お
ka ki ku ke ko/ か、き、く、け、こ
sa shi su se so/さ、し、す、せ、そ
ta chi tsu te to/た、ち、つ、て、と
And so on and so forth, with r, h, p, b, y, m, w, n, d, sounds. The characters used there are hiragana which is used for Japanese original words. So, you use different hiragana to build words such as, にほん (Nihon = Japan)、あおやまがくいんだいがく (Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku = Aoyama Gakuin University)、しゃしん (shashin = picture). As difficult as it is to read kanji a lot, it's weird to have everything written in hiragana as there is no space in between words. For example, 私の名前はタリアです which is "my name is Talia" or "watashi no namae wa taria desu." If it was all hiragana it would be, わたしのなまえはたりあです...this wasn't the best example, but I'm running out of ideas. Is this making any sense?
To make things more complicated, there is also katakana or カタカナ which is (mostly) identical to hiragana in sound but look a little different and used for foreign words.
a i u e o/ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ
ka ki ku ke ko/カ、キ、ク、コ
sa shi su se so/サ、シ、ス、セ、ソ
ta chi tsu te to/タ、チ、ツ、テ、ト
Words like bus, Harry Potter and America would be written like バス（basu), ハリーポッター（Harii Pottaa), アメリカ (Amerika).
So yeah, that's Japanese written language in a cracked nutshell... ]
Moving on! After karaoke, went to a party for the new exchange students (about 40 of us). Met some new people, international and Japanese - had a splendid time at a place called Dande Lion. A friend of mine, Elizabeth and I decided to head back early. All was going just as normal until we were waiting for the train to leave after we transferred. I think I was laughing about something and I threw my head back. My sunglasses promptly slid off my head...right into the gap between the platform and the train. Elizabeth and I just sort of stared in disbelief. My habit of laughing at unfortunate events such as this started and I was just so shocked. It just had to fall in between - not in the train, or not on the platform. I had already set up in my mind to get over it and just buy new ones - despite how much I loved those glasses and the fact that I bought them in Barbados when I visited family with my mom and grandma made me love them more. As I stared at it lying by the tracks, a woman sitting near us told us in English we could ask for help by the train officials
I knew that would require knowing Japanese I couldn't think of, so I told her I didn't know how to do it (feeling very pathetic). At that moment, she bolted out the train looking for someone. I was trying to tell her to come back and to please don't worry about it, but she proceeded to hit the SOS button and the alarm went off. Train officials started running and I wished so desperately that I hadn't caused a scene, thinking, "It's not like anyone jumped! No one is hurt! It's just my sunglasses! Please don't come over!" So embarrassing.
People started staring in my direction and the train officials asked me to step off the train. Elizabeth and I got off the train and as the train left, the woman who pressed the button was still with us. I started apologizing and bowing and she said it was fine. She explained to the train people that my sunglasses fell and a few moments later, one of them came back with a grabbing device. My sunglasses were neatly folded on the side, far away enough from the tracks to not be damaged in the slightest. One of the officials took it out for me and again, after I received them, I started apologizing and thanking them all again.
Everyone else left but the woman who essentially saved me from losing my sunglasses, turned out she was going to the same stop. We talked to her about how we were exchange students from America, how we liked Japan, and other things like that. We got on the train and continued to talk in a mix of Japanese and English (she kept responding in English, I guess she wanted the practice). We went our separate ways eventually and I thanked/apologized to her again, bowing several times. Again, she made nothing of it and just wished I had a good time in Japan!
I wish more people could be this kind. I wish I asked what her name was - she made my bad-to-good-to-much better day possible.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Whirlwind!
Hey! A lot has happened in the last few days. I've had the chance to get used to the area I live in, called Eda. There is a great store called Recycle Garden that sells everything for super cheap - I think I will buy a mini shelf because I don't have as much desk space as I did at UMD (I have a lot of books already from home!). There is a McDonald's and a 7-11 (it's called 7 & i Holdings over here though), and have gotten a little more used to buying things without feeling really nervous about speaking and understanding what people are saying to me. I love how polite people are here. The service is super fast and I feel like I'm a valued customer.
I've made friends with the other exchange students who from all over the world, such as Canada, Korea, China, Germany, Thailand, etc. It's a great mix of people - I haven't met everyone yet, but I still have lots of time! When I was at UMD, I always noticed how the exchange students stuck together - now I understand their feelings. It's comforting. We're trying to speak more Japanese with each other but for the most part, we speak in English. We help each other out though when we stumble through our Japanese. It's been easy making friends here. Everyone is so nice.
And speaking of friends, I was able to meet up and have lunch with my friend Ayane who came as an exchange student for the 2007-2008 year. She was my freshman year roommate and we became great friends. We kept in touch and we were both so excited that I would be coming to Japan. It was fantastic spending time with her and I can't wait to spend more time with her.
Yesterday was my first day of orientation. I had a tour around the campus (it's TINY compared to UMD's campus, by the way. I can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes) with Yuri, my wonderful tutor who I've been emailing for at least a month before my arrival. She's very nice and I know I'm going to have so much fun with her. I have orientation all this week to get prepared for school next Thursday.
I have so much to say, but I feel like I would be writing a book! So, for now, I will provide pictures. I have trouble uploading them to this blog, but it seems to work on Facebook. Fortunately, Facebook has a feature where I can share the album anywhere with a link. I will provide this link in each of my posts so you don't have to always come back to this one to see them. I take so many pictures, my album will probably have several new ones every day for a while. I'm still in tourist mode! I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
One more thing before I sign off - a little story about how the Japanese say no without saying no:
There are a lot of rules about shoes. We take off our outdoor shoes upon entering the second lobby. We put on indoor slippers. We must take off our indoor slippers before entering the shower room, the toilet room (other shoes are provided there), and the room where you can iron your clothes. Apparently, I'm not allowed to just not wear slippers either.
The first full day of living in the dorm, one of the kitchen ladies was concerned about my feet because I didn't have slippers at the time. She essentially told me it was dangerous. I bought some slippers that day but I have rather large feet and Japanese shoe sizes (for women at least) don't go up to my size. They're a bit uncomfortable, so last night, I just went without them. The same lady caught me again and asked whether I had bought them yet. I couldn't think of how to say they hurt my feet (of course, now I can, but at the time....not so much), so I just said I did buy them and that I forgot to wear them.
...
She told me again that I should wear them. That's when my Japanese culture lessons in my head kicked in and reminded me that essentially, she's demanding I wear slippers in the dining hall. I don't know that much Japanese yet, but it was obvious that not wearing them was not an option. She makes it sound like a suggestion, to be polite, but it's not just a request. So, until my mom sends me slippers my size, I'll just deal with the ones I bought.
I've made friends with the other exchange students who from all over the world, such as Canada, Korea, China, Germany, Thailand, etc. It's a great mix of people - I haven't met everyone yet, but I still have lots of time! When I was at UMD, I always noticed how the exchange students stuck together - now I understand their feelings. It's comforting. We're trying to speak more Japanese with each other but for the most part, we speak in English. We help each other out though when we stumble through our Japanese. It's been easy making friends here. Everyone is so nice.
And speaking of friends, I was able to meet up and have lunch with my friend Ayane who came as an exchange student for the 2007-2008 year. She was my freshman year roommate and we became great friends. We kept in touch and we were both so excited that I would be coming to Japan. It was fantastic spending time with her and I can't wait to spend more time with her.
Yesterday was my first day of orientation. I had a tour around the campus (it's TINY compared to UMD's campus, by the way. I can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes) with Yuri, my wonderful tutor who I've been emailing for at least a month before my arrival. She's very nice and I know I'm going to have so much fun with her. I have orientation all this week to get prepared for school next Thursday.
I have so much to say, but I feel like I would be writing a book! So, for now, I will provide pictures. I have trouble uploading them to this blog, but it seems to work on Facebook. Fortunately, Facebook has a feature where I can share the album anywhere with a link. I will provide this link in each of my posts so you don't have to always come back to this one to see them. I take so many pictures, my album will probably have several new ones every day for a while. I'm still in tourist mode! I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae
One more thing before I sign off - a little story about how the Japanese say no without saying no:
There are a lot of rules about shoes. We take off our outdoor shoes upon entering the second lobby. We put on indoor slippers. We must take off our indoor slippers before entering the shower room, the toilet room (other shoes are provided there), and the room where you can iron your clothes. Apparently, I'm not allowed to just not wear slippers either.
The first full day of living in the dorm, one of the kitchen ladies was concerned about my feet because I didn't have slippers at the time. She essentially told me it was dangerous. I bought some slippers that day but I have rather large feet and Japanese shoe sizes (for women at least) don't go up to my size. They're a bit uncomfortable, so last night, I just went without them. The same lady caught me again and asked whether I had bought them yet. I couldn't think of how to say they hurt my feet (of course, now I can, but at the time....not so much), so I just said I did buy them and that I forgot to wear them.
...
She told me again that I should wear them. That's when my Japanese culture lessons in my head kicked in and reminded me that essentially, she's demanding I wear slippers in the dining hall. I don't know that much Japanese yet, but it was obvious that not wearing them was not an option. She makes it sound like a suggestion, to be polite, but it's not just a request. So, until my mom sends me slippers my size, I'll just deal with the ones I bought.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
I Made It!
After a 2 hour flight to Toronto, a 14 hour flight to Tokyo, and a 2 & half hour bus/train ride to the dorm, I finally made it. Too much traveling! But I managed to have a bit of fun doing it :)
Each of the flights went smoothly, a little late, but nothing too bad. I slept for most of them so that was very good - except for the jet lag I'm experiencing. I woke up promptly at 4:30 this morning after I went to bed around 1:00 am. I was able to talk to my mom though, so I'm not too bitter about it.
It has finally sunk in that I'm in Japan. I've been anticipating this moment for years and now I'm finally sitting in my single room with my plethora of Japanese dictionaries, text books, and other miscellaneous things that will assist my learning. When I look outside my window, it's so obvious I'm in Japan from the architecture of the houses, the signs, etc. There is a vending machine full of various teas, coffees, water and juices in the lobby. We have to take off our shoes when we get through the front lobby and we put them in a little locker with our room number on it. It doesn't get more Japanese than that :D
We are provided meals Monday through Saturday, breakfast and dinner. The little old ladies that serve us are sweet and made me smile a lot. There is a public bathroom on my floor (with both Japanese toilets and Western toilets...pictures up soon for those who don't know the difference) and a shower room downstairs.
The internet is being a little bit iffy (no wireless, just an ethernet cord), so, I'll try again later to put up some pictures.
A lot of things in Japan are bilingual but of course, the emphasis is on Japanese. I'm not as proficient as I hope to be but I know that will change in a positive direction very soon. I'm already getting the hang of listening to instructions and keeping up with conversation, even though it is sometimes difficult to create a response. Everyone is really nice and patient when it takes me longer than it should to convey my thoughts. A lot of it goes over my head but so far, I understand enough. It can only go uphill from here :)
Each of the flights went smoothly, a little late, but nothing too bad. I slept for most of them so that was very good - except for the jet lag I'm experiencing. I woke up promptly at 4:30 this morning after I went to bed around 1:00 am. I was able to talk to my mom though, so I'm not too bitter about it.
It has finally sunk in that I'm in Japan. I've been anticipating this moment for years and now I'm finally sitting in my single room with my plethora of Japanese dictionaries, text books, and other miscellaneous things that will assist my learning. When I look outside my window, it's so obvious I'm in Japan from the architecture of the houses, the signs, etc. There is a vending machine full of various teas, coffees, water and juices in the lobby. We have to take off our shoes when we get through the front lobby and we put them in a little locker with our room number on it. It doesn't get more Japanese than that :D
We are provided meals Monday through Saturday, breakfast and dinner. The little old ladies that serve us are sweet and made me smile a lot. There is a public bathroom on my floor (with both Japanese toilets and Western toilets...pictures up soon for those who don't know the difference) and a shower room downstairs.
The internet is being a little bit iffy (no wireless, just an ethernet cord), so, I'll try again later to put up some pictures.
A lot of things in Japan are bilingual but of course, the emphasis is on Japanese. I'm not as proficient as I hope to be but I know that will change in a positive direction very soon. I'm already getting the hang of listening to instructions and keeping up with conversation, even though it is sometimes difficult to create a response. Everyone is really nice and patient when it takes me longer than it should to convey my thoughts. A lot of it goes over my head but so far, I understand enough. It can only go uphill from here :)
Monday, September 7, 2009
I Love Technology
I'm leaving in just a few days and the fact that I will be in Japan for a year, starting on Friday, is a bit overwhelming. I keep saying my last "see you laters" (because saying "goodbye" seems far too depressing) to friends and family and it gets harder every time. As happy as I am about the experience that awaits me, I still cry and wish I wasn't leaving the people I love.
Waiting for the 10th to come reminds me of how I feel before I go on stage for anything. That stage fright feeling. Butterflies in my stomach, my heart is racing, my palms sweat. But once I get out there, I start to calm down and everything goes smoothly.
I'm sort of hoping that will happen once I get on the plane...or at least, get into the country.
And while I'll miss people here in America, I know it won't be so bad, thanks to the internet! I'm grateful for services like Skype, which allow me make free (video) calls with people who also have Skype. I'm still connected to home. :)
Granny, my mom's mother who lives with me, got her first look at Skype a few days ago. I went to another part of the house and we talked for a few moments, explaining the concept to her. She's 86 years old. All she can say is, "what will they think of next?" and laughs.
In other news, I've finally finished packing! 0__0 Oy vey!
Waiting for the 10th to come reminds me of how I feel before I go on stage for anything. That stage fright feeling. Butterflies in my stomach, my heart is racing, my palms sweat. But once I get out there, I start to calm down and everything goes smoothly.
I'm sort of hoping that will happen once I get on the plane...or at least, get into the country.
And while I'll miss people here in America, I know it won't be so bad, thanks to the internet! I'm grateful for services like Skype, which allow me make free (video) calls with people who also have Skype. I'm still connected to home. :)
Granny, my mom's mother who lives with me, got her first look at Skype a few days ago. I went to another part of the house and we talked for a few moments, explaining the concept to her. She's 86 years old. All she can say is, "what will they think of next?" and laughs.
In other news, I've finally finished packing! 0__0 Oy vey!
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