Final Week! (...sad...)

As of tonight, I officially have one final week left in Japan.

I spent today doing some shopping in Sakae and seeing some more of the city with some friends.  Tomorrow I will try to get some studying and my homework finished, and then spend the night clubbing and drinking one last time.

My upcoming week includes 5 more classes of Grammar, which will all be included on our final exam on Friday, my last Seminar class, a short presentation in Society, some time out with our Society professor at a local izakaya, a Karate final, my last Kanji exam, and an interview.  Then there is also the Going Away/Christmas Party on Friday night.  Afterwards, there is rumor to be a "better" party for those of us in the Seminar House.  I am contemplating staying up all night since I have to check out at 9am on Saturday and catch a cab to the train station that will give me a train to the airport where I have three separate flights before I finally arrive in Portland.

My flight plan is as follows:
1:35pm - Nagoya to Tokyo  (arrive 2:45pm local)
6:25pm - Tokyo to Vancouver, Canada  (arrive 9:55am local)
1pm - Vancouver, Canada to Portland, OR  (arrive 2:25pm local)

The layovers are going to be killer!

"It's All Downhill from Here"

I don't think the original user of this quote quite grasped just how much it encompasses.  Yes, there is the typical feeling of everything becoming easier as the time in question comes to an end.  But I don't think anyone else has realized just how far downhill your brain goes, as well.

There are now 2 weeks left of classes for me.  The last 3 days being made up of a mixture of classes and tests (save the last day which happens to be 2 tests and no lessons).  And here I sit - not at this precise moment - in class failing to pay attention for the entire period.  My mind wanders so easily now; I am either thinking about what I need to do before I leave, what I wish I could have done, the worries that will haunt me until I either receive those emails I have been praying people send me or my return to Iowa for the Spring semester. 

I get out of class and hardly want to look at Japanese anymore.  My brain just wants to shut down and hybernate for a while.  My performance in class is getting worse, and I find myself not understanding questions that I could understand no problem two weeks ago.  The possible explaination is that I am just worn out.  13 classes a 5 days can really wear you down.

My upcoming test dates are as follows:
Wednesday, December 16th =  Karate (4th period)
Thursday, December 17th =  Kanji (1st period)
Friday, December 18th =  Grammar/Listening (2nd period) & Interview (3rd period)

I fly out on December 19th at 1:35pm Japan time and should arrive in Portland at 2:30(ish)pm Pacific Time on the same day.

From there I intend to spend my entire 1 month vacation NOT thinking, working out, and spending my free time either sleeping or hanging out with friends.  Personally, right now the sleep sounds like more fun.*


*It is currently 2:15am for me, and I have been unsuccessful in my attempts at sleep in the past 3 days.  I have a feeling it will only get worse from here...

3 Weeks and Counting...

The countdown to my departure has begun.  My usual feelings of "Let's get this semester over with" are in full swing, but that will also mean the end of my study abroad.  I would really love to stay here for another semester; in only the past 3 months I have improved my Japanese skills more than I could have with 2 full years of study in the States.  If I stayed until the end of the Spring Term (July), I would probably be easily ready to take one of the JLPTs (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) and pass without too much difficulty.

However, the path I have chosen for my education requires me to put off further studies in Japan until after I graduate.  I've considered trying to apply to a Graduate program in Japan, but I have no idea just how difficult that could be.  For now I will just have to focus on passing the rest of my college classes with decent grades.

There are three weeks before our final tests, and a lot of that will be filled with studying keigo (uber polite form), which is extremely difficult for me.  I would love to go somewhere other than Nagoya before I make the long flight home, but I don't know if I have the time and money necessary for that.  There is a possible chance to visit my friend in Kyoto for a day the weekend before I leave.  Right now he is in China, so he may not be back in time to hang out before the 19th.

*Sigh*  There are the thoughts that are currently on my mind.  Time to get back to my six pages of grammar, one-page report, blog essay, and 3 minute speech that I have to do for homework.  When I have days like this, I can't wait for Winter Break.

悪い！ "Bad!"

I just got my tests back, and now I have yet another test on Thursday!!  My teachers seem to have forgotten to mention it until class today.  So I will be spending all of my free time in the next two days studying to make sure I don't end up with another 66%.  Not to mention that my class right before this test involves a quiz on roughly 20 kanji.

Also, with all of the stress of setting up my return to the US, my boyfriend drama, and the problem of trying to finish a To-Do/To-Go List in the next 4 weeks...I still have not finished my mid-term report for my Society Class.

Could we freeze time so that I don't turn into a really bad student in my last month of classes?  I need to find time to finish everything.

Did I mention I don't do well with tests?

I have officially finished my midterms and received my test scores!

The good news is that I managed to pull a 90.7% on my Kanji exam!!  Essentially the first half of the test was spent identifying kanji and writing their simplified reading.  Then we have to hand over that sheet and write much of the same kanji based solely upon their readings.  This part really sucks, simply because many kanji have the same reading and you have to use sentence clues (mostly) to identify which kanji you are actually supposed to be using.

I'm still shocked by that score...

As for my grammar exam, which I explained in my last post was extremely difficult and I left quite a few blanks...well, that grade wasn't so good.

I ended up with a 66%.  In Japan, that counts as passing; which means that my school counts it as passing.  Personally, I don't consider that to be a very good passing grade.  But at least all of our scores were in the same range and it isn't as if I am the dumbest monkey in the tree.

Actually, that last comment might be wrong.  I am definitely at a disadvantage compared to the other students in my class, simply for the fact that in the 5 years of taking Japanese classes we never used a damn textbook.  How my teachers thought they could teach students their native language without the use of a structured learning base, I may never know.  But the teachers here are really great and I have learned so much more in the past 2 months than pretty much anything I learned in my previous classes.

Turns out I have another grammar test coming up next week.  At least, that is what the schedule says.  We are almost finished with our second textbook, so I can believe there is a test on the way.  This time I will ignore the "review sheet" that they give us and study some other way, because that was probably a factor in my test score.

Advice from Abroad

Some advice for people who go abroad in the future, and maybe some tips for their friends.


If you can at all help it, please avoid any and all drama that may try to work its way into your studies when you travel abroad.  This especially includes any relationship matters!

There can be a lot of drama when living with a large number of international students.  Lines are drawn, friends are made, and gossip can really work its way around.  Stay away from crap like that, unless you actually enjoy it, and try to focus on your studies.  Thankfully, I don't have to deal with that too much and most of the people I interact with don't seem to have any big problems with anyone.  Well...there is this one person, but everyone can't stand her, so it all works out fine! ^_^

Keep in touch with your friends who go abroad.  While they may not contact you, they will reply to any messages sent to them while they are away.  It's crazy to think that someone took time out of their day to think about you when you are running around trying to socialize and learn a completely different language.  It also makes us feel guilty about not contacting you sooner because we were so wrapped up in what we were doing.

Do everything you can to hang out with as many native speakers as possible!  It might suck your money lower than you would like, but you can consider it a school expense as long as you spend your time trying to learn about the culture and speak the language.  At least...that's what I tell myself when I have to ask the bank for money.

Study with classmates or other international students.  Usually, they can teach you something the teachers haven't or explain things in a way that makes more sense to you.  Especially when it comes to kanji!!  The more kanji you know in Japan, the better you will be able to get around on your own.

Okay, I think that is it for my random idea of advising people about things abroad.  Probably because I am currently typing this in English while chatting with some friends in Japanese.  My wires are getting crossed!! >.<

Tests!

I hate tests.  I always have, but here they are so much worse.  After finishing the second page of my grammar test this morning, all of the words started sounding the same.  I had random words pop into my head that I knew weren't the answers I was looking for, but I couldn't think of the actual word I was supposed to be using.

For instance:
"Please translate the following into Japanese...
The hospital is behind the bank."

I knew the structure (thank god) and everything else needed for the sentence...except the damn word for "behind"!  So my answer looked like this:

”銀行の_____ に病院があります。”

I am guaranteed at least 2 points off for simply missing that one word.

But that is the least of my worries, since earlier in the test I forgot an entire sentence structure!

Tomorrow is my Kanji exam.  Hopefully I will be able to memorize the many different readings and do relatively well.

After that, I have to start writing my Cultural Report for my Society class.

I have failed to update my blog in the past few weeks simply due to the stress of midterms.  My next post will contain all the details of our Field Trip to the mountains and the time spent in a traditional village.

Learning Through Experience

Seven women walk into a bar.  Three are Japanese, Two are American, One is Philippino, and One is Chinese.  One woman stumbles home drunk on the shoulders of her friends.

And I have the proud honor of not only being the person who ordered the drunken woman's drinks, but also had to carry her home.  Learning experience.

Some good things to know about the friend you are going drinking with BEFORE you let them order a drink:
1)  Have they recently had any alcoholic beverages?
2)  If so, what did they drink and how much?
3)  Do they have work the next day?
4)  Is it a job that is survivable with a hangover?
5)  What have they eaten recently and when?

For the somewhat idiotic reason that I didn't want to feel like I was interrogating my friend, I did not ask the above questions until it was too late.

Before we left for the bar, another friend had already given her a full glass of wine and 3/4 of a glass of tequila.  She had a sandwich and chips along with some other party snacks at the Halloween party we were coming from.  The next day she had to work at 10am teaching English to 2 and 4 year olds.

I know the strengths of a lot of the alcohol here, so when she told me I should order for her I made some conservative choices.  She started with a cup of sake and water, had a Lime Sour about 20 minutes later, did a shot of tequila (ordered by another friend), and finished the night by chugging down nearly a full glass of Umeshu (Plum Wine).  I did not order the Plum Wine...but it is most definitely what knocked her over the edge.

So I did my friendly duties and slung her arm over my shoulder for the walk to the subway and the trip home.  I have a feeling it is much easier to do when the other person can at least stand up on their own...but I guess I won't find that out until another friend gets really drunk.  The best thing that we accomplished was being home by midnight, where we learned of her commitments for the day.

Drunks are fun to be around...when they are buzzed.  But when you get slapped twice while you are carrying them back to your own place so they can pass out, you lose sight of all of the fun you were having earlier in the night.

....

That being said, I had a blast while we were at the izakaya.  It was a new location and they had amazing rooms, prices, food, and - of course - drinks.  With 7 people, we ended up spending ¥13,300 ($146ish); divided 7 ways, we spent about $20 a piece for nearly 4 hours of food, drinks, and fun.

I improved my Japanese speaking skills, learned some Japanese drinking songs from the large group of Japanese men next door (we could hear them through the holes in a dragon carving in the adjoining wall), and learned some more things about some of the friends I have made since coming to Japan.

There will most definitely be another trip to that particular izakaya, probably with several more people than we had during this past trip, and I will be sure to check that if anyone gets really wasted, they will be okay to sleep it off the next day.  Hopefully there will be more people to help carry them home and put them to bed.

The Art of Socializing

The Japanese nightlife includes the following:
Amusement and Pachinko (gambling and arcade gaming)
Izakaya (japanese drinking establishments)
Karaoke
All Night Sports Centers
Dance Clubs

In the past month of my stay here in Nagoya, I have experienced all of the above except for Pachinko and Dance Clubs.  I have to say that the Japanese really do know how to have fun at a cheap price.  Karaoke and Sports Centers are the cheapest, while Izakaya and Amusement depend on how much you want to drink/eat or how many games you want to play.

I have been out to Karaoke on two occasions; the latest happening on Friday night for a friend's birthday.  For ¥1,100 ($13ish) per person, you get 3 hours of nonstop karaoke and unlimited free drinks, alcoholic and otherwise.  Pretty good price for what you get.  There are American, Korean, Japanese and Chinese songs.  All non-Japanese songs have Japanese katakana above the words so that anyone who knows Japanese can still sing along.  Mostly, I stick to the American songs...because I haven't heard many Japanese songs.  One of my friends does an amazing "Anarchy in the UK", while another friend loves to imitate and make fun of Creed.  It's a lot of fun.

The Sports Centers are non-stop fun!  For ¥1,500 you can do anything you like all night until 9am.  They have batting cages, archery, mini-golf, golf driving ranges, basketball courts, arcade games that don't require extra money, a catch-and-release fishing pond, billiards tables, roller skating rink, bowling alley, mechanical bull, bb gun shooting range, tennis and soccer games, ball pits, and tons more.  I think I hit over 300 pitches in the batting cages, rode the bull twice, kicked ass at the gun range, was beaten to a pulp during a doubles billiards game, and killed a whole lotta zombies in the arcade.  I will definitely have to go back there again sometime.

As for Izakaya, I have only been out to one on a single occasion.  It is about a 10 minute walk from here and the old lady who runs it is one of the nicest people I have met in Japan.  We cleaned her out of all forms of meat, finished off her potatoes, and I seriously think she had to put in another order for sake and Asahi Beer.  She is an amazing cook and earnest hostess.  When I decide to go out drinking again, I will probably go back there, even if it is ¥450 a beer.

Okay, quick information on currency when you are in/traveling to Japan.
1)  Do NOT use traveler's checks - few banks will cash them, others will deposit them but you need a stamp of your name in kanji to set up an account
2)  Cash is King - few places take Debit or Credit cards, the only places that I know of are chain stores where everything is pretty expensive anyhow, and I have only used my card at an ATM to withdraw more funds
3)  Use your coins! - money less than $10 (¥1000) is all in coin form, and many places where you can exchange currency from ¥ to $ will NOT exchange the coins and you could end up with quite a bit of your money in ¥1 pieces that are never used

It Was Terrible

The typhoon was so terrible that I slept right through it this morning.  When I woke up after noon, it was one of the nicest days that we have seen around here.

Now for the real terrible.  Yesterday, my karate teacher decided to flip me onto the ground a few times for good measure.  Good thing I brought my wrist brace, bad thing is that it's for the wrong wrist!  No major injury, but when you have your wrist twisted back at an extreme angle that forces you to flip onto the ground...it tends to hurt for a bit, along with your pride.  At least I was able to learn how to do the same thing to other people.

After class my sensei came over and personally introduced himself and asked for my name (it's not like we do self introductions, mostly we are just nameless students).  He said I was doing very well, so I guess I got some pride back.  But it looks like my Thursdays are going to be filled with sore muscles for the rest of the semester.  It feels good to be back into some kind of sport.

Classes are going fine.  I have my first major test on Tuesday, so a lot of this weekend will be spent studying.  Oh boy!

TYPHOON!!! No classes!

Tomorrow a typhoon will hit Nagoya. It looks like it is coming up out of the southwest and will hit land near Osaka before heading over to us.  Even if it doesn't we have strong winds and constant hard rain that have been here the past 24 hours.  Classes are suspended (I think they have used these terms because they will be made up at a later date) for Thursday.  There is no word on if this will continue through Friday.

No major emergency procedure has been activated, so I am under the impression that we are safe from anything extensive when the typhoon hits the city.

Classes & Making Friends

As mentioned in my last post, I have started to take karate.  On top of that class, I am also taking Japanese Society and Seminar in Japanese Culture and Art.  Each of these three classes meets once every week, so I thankfully get a full week to complete my homework. 

My Japanese language class, on the other hand, meets seven times Monday-Friday; one of these sessions is on Kanji, the rest all focus on Grammar and Speaking.  So we always have homework and it is always due the following day.  I'm not really a fan of Monday or Thursday.  I mentioned my problems with Monday being the large gap between my class periods, but I don't like Thursday for an entirely different reason; on Thursdays I usually have three times the usual homework.  At least I am learning it quickly, but it keeps me so busy that I haven't really managed to go out and make friends with Japanese students.

In fact, I am still at the staring phase with the Japanese students here.  They see a pale blonde and seem to have no control over their impulse to stare at me.  I have yet to be approached, either due to the shy nature of the Japanese or the fact that I have an uncanny ability to intimidate without meaning to.  It is also a trend that those who study foreign languages in Japan are usually pretty good at reading and writing, but very poor at speaking (such is the case with a lot of Japanese students who are learning English).  Maybe they think I am in a similar situation.  Which is true...my communication skills suck!  Hahaha.  I just don't seem to have the vocabulary necessary to carry a casual conversation.  My classes are helping with that, though.

I was able to meet up with a friend of mine this past week.  Kengo is a student here at Nagoya Gakuin, and he spent two months at Coe College two years ago to study English.  He was shy at first and we didn't really get to know each other until his last two or three weeks.  My friend Kat and I were sitting at a table in a lounge area doing homework when Kengo walked by.  I'm assuming he spotted the blonde hair and heard me talking.  All I heard was, "Amy?" and I looked up to see a much more professional-looking Kengo. 

(It seems the last year or two of college, many of the NGU students lose their long, funky hair and start dressing nicer as they begin their job hunting.  Yes, it happens the same in America, but not to the same degree; most Japanese students have a very wild sense of fashion and even crazier hair colors and styles.  This is mostly because fashion and hair are the only ways they can really act out or even be individuals in such a strict environment.  At least, these are all things that I have learned in my Asian Studies and Japanese classes in the past.)

So this weekend I hope to get together with Kengo and improve my Japanese skills; maybe he could also introduce me to his friends later.  I will also help him with his English - which has improved quite a bit in the past two years - so that he has a greater chance at passing the English Communications exam so that he can be a pilot.  We have plans to go drinking, but we might grab some sushi first.  I have no idea how much I will actually drink, but I guess we'll find out.  (By the way, 20 is legal drinking age)

YAY! Contact!

Tonight I actually had someone contact me of their own free will!!  Thank God!  I was beginning to think that I had somehow become a social pariah by leaving the country for a couple months.  No idea if it was out of spite, or simply that I am only thought of when I force my presence upon people and friends.  But hey, I got contacted!!  Sure, it was only to see if I could swing up to Nagano and take pictures of the temples around there, but at least they took time out of their day to think of me!

Wait...now that I think about it...

He probably read something about the magnificent temples in the Nagano area and immediately considered sending me up their for photos "since [I'm] in the area".

Ah, whatever.  It made my day anyway!

Also, my first karate class was today and I feel really great about it.  Yay for fun classes!!

Speaking of classes...I have to wake up at what I call "way too frickin' early" for Kanji class.  So I guess I will comment on all of my classes in my next blog sometime tomorrow, since my first week of classes will officially be over.

(Yes, this particular post is highly informal and mostly stream of consciousness.  I thought I'd spice things up a bit - and tell you people to contact me!  If you don't, you obviously don't like me anymore... *sniffle*  My own mother wouldn't even reply to an email...  HAHAHAHA!  Honestly, though, it really doesn't bother me too much, I just hate having to filter through nothing but spam when I check my emails. :D)

Classes Have Begun

This past Thursday was our first day of class.  While I was looking forward to it, the 5-day weekend (thanks to 3 different national holidays) really made me hate having to wake up at 8 in the morning.

I started the day with a class on Kanji (complex Japanese characters) and immediately followed that with Japanese Grammar and Speaking class.  The Kanji class is relatively easy at the moment, since most of it is review, but I am glad we are going over some of the kanji that I already know, because the lessons here are a lot more specific when it comes to the different ways the kanji is read (some kanji have 5 or more ways to say it, and it all depends on context).  The Grammar and Speaking is easier because it is mostly going over what I already know about structuring a sentence in Japanese; so I am mostly working on improving my vocabulary in that class.

My weeks work out to where I have at least one Grammar/Speaking class each day (for instance, I had two today - before and after lunch) and one kanji class every Thursday.  During 4th and 5th periods are the elective classes that are offered.  I am required to take at least 2 electives, but I plan on taking three.  Fifth Period on Monday is a Seminar on Japanese Studies, Fourth Period on Tuesday is Japanese Society, and Fourth Period on Wednesday is Beginning Karatedo.  So I have yet to experience these classes.

The sad part is that 5th period goes until 6:15pm.  My Monday schedules is a blessing and a curse; I have 1st Period Grammar/Speaking at 9:10am - 10:45am..........and then nothing until my 5th period class starts at 4:45pm.  The great part is that I will have all day to myself between classes.  The crappy part is that I will be forced to wake up on my least favorite day of the week at 8am and then have nothing to do for the rest of the day.  I have a feeling that will make me very irritable until I have other repsonsibilities added into my schedule.  No work found as an English Tutor as of yet.  :(

My brain feels fried already, and I've only had two days of classes.  So tonight I'm headed out with some friends to a sports center that they found.  For $15 you get unlimited bowling, archery, golf, etc from 11pm to 9am.  That's not a bad deal at all, and I know that once classes really start going I will have tremendous amounts of homework.

Just today I had to turn in Kanji and Grammar/Speaking homework from yesterday's classes that took me about 3 hours yesterday to finish.  I have another four pages of intense homework for this weekend and another quiz on Monday (we will have a quiz every day).  One can only guess how much homework I will be doing next week and the weeks to follow.

My Meeting with the Japanese Police

After I had already made pancakes for dinner (yes, I surprisingly found pancake batter in Japan) I was informed by some of my fellow international students that we were having a cookout.  For some reason, most people had been previously informed, but it didn't matter much that I didn't have anything to cook since I had already eaten with two of my friends.  But I thought I would be sociable so they wouldn't think I'm some hoity-toity bitch.

Unfortunately, the security guy didn't like us cooking on the grill in the smoking area right next to the Seminar House where we live.  He asked us to move it to the park behind campus.  Now, according to "Master" Yobi - he's the guy with all the information, so he has sort of become Yoda for the rest of us - they had numerous cookouts in the park, in that exact spot, last semester without any problems.

It must not have been our lucky night, however, because when we were about on our second round of burgers and hot dogs (found at an import store across the river from campus) the cops showed up.  Honestly, I didn't even notice them at first.  There were so many of us that we were all having our own conversations, and it wasn't until I turned around that I noticed one group was having a conversation with two Japanese policemen.

Thankfully, we had an RA there with us to follow along with what was going on.  I didn't fully catch everything, but it sounded like someone from the apartments behind our Seminar House called saying we were setting a fire in the park.  They took down our RA's name (no word yet on if he was busted for something) and a count of how many of us were there.  But they were nice enough to let us finish cooking what was still on the grill before we left; they didn't even stick around to make sure we left (which is very strange that they were so trusting).

Shibata-san, one of the two major International Student officials, mentioned that there is a crazy person living in the apartment building who likes to complain a lot about noise and other typical complaints.  He constantly apologizes to this person, but they keep bitching to him, and half of the time it hasn't been us who have been noisy.

As I mentioned before, the smoking area is right next to the Seminar House.  People show up throughout the night, including our security guard, to have a smoke and chat.  Sometimes they make noise, other times I swear the crazy person looks out their balcony, sees people, and decides to complain.  It really pisses off those of us who are getting punished with increasing rules.  We have to leave the smoking area by 10pm now, instead of the initial 11pm, and the security guard pretty much tells us to get inside if it is after 9pm.  We can't even stand in our stairwell or outside our rooms and talk.  And there is a ridiculous rule about not having anyone of the opposite sex in your room after 11pm.  So those of us who make friends with the opposite gender are restricted in when we can talk to one another.

We are pretty sure where this crazy person lives, so we keep our eye on their balcony to see if their light is on.  If it's on, we pretty much act as belligerent as possible up until 9pm, which is about the average time people in that building go to bed; it's not as severe as that sounds, really, we just don't watch our noise level until it hits 9pm.

BAKA! (Idiot)

There has been so much information the past three days.  Orientation was full of bad news.  First, I had to pay $100 for a housing deposit that I was never informed of before our entering the classroom.  Then I learned about the extra money that I needed to pay for the National Heath Program.  Followed by the amazing news that I had a 3 hour exam on Wednesday and a 4 hour exam on Thursday.

Well, that 3 hour exam is over.  I feel like a complete idiot, now.  But at least I will be put in a class level that I can benefit from.  I am not looking forward to the exam tomorrow.  The more advanced students are required to write an essay in Japanese; those of us who are not that advanced will be participating in an interview.  Other than that, I have no idea what the allotted 4 hours will be used for.

I know that tons of things happened between the orientations of the past 3 days, so I will probably edit this post when I can recall them.  For now, I will work on my spoken Japanese for my interview tomorrow.

Study! HA! What Was I Thinking?

This weekend wasn't devoted to studying.  In fact, the past four days haven't devoted to saving money, either.

Saturday was a surprise group trip out to Don Quixote and a ¥100 shop.  I simply walked outside and ran into a mass of IJS (International Japanese Studies) students. I was told that it was about an 8 minute walk, but I think Yobi accidentally misspoke, and instead I walked 25 minutes through Nagoya in what quickly became heavy rain.  Few of us owned umbrellas, let alone had them with us, and we were drenched by the time we arrived at our destination.

Not knowing we would be walking so far, and being too lazy to switch out my arch supports, I went through this experienced in my water absorbing converse shoes.  Did you know that the material of the shoe actually shrinks as it becomes wet?  I didn't.  Until my pinky toes were screaming at me in agony.  Although the streets are clean here, I was not confident enough to walk back without my shoes on like one of my friends did.  I've been wearing my waterproof hiking boots ever since.

My first order of business was to buy an umbrella at the ¥100 shop, along with laundry detergent, slippers for inside my dormitory, chapstick, and the bare essentials.  No money was on me, so Kat let me borrow ¥1,000 so that I could buy what I needed.  The only thing I still feel I need is a laundry basket.

Don Quixote was a small place that was crammed with tons of products.  I mean, it took up almost the entire top floor of the building, but Japanese buildings are not large in comparison to American architecture.  The aisles and spaces between the aisles was maybe 4 feet wide, and there were electronics, housewares, makeup, and grocery departments.  The prices were pretty decent, too, but I had was I needed.

Character from a childhood Anime

My shoes were nowhere close to being dry by the time we left, but at least I had an umbrella.  The cafeteria doesn't seem to be open on the weekends (at least not yet), so everyone made plans to go to Sushi Row for dinner.  After changing into dry pants and putting my boots on, I headed off with the group to find the way to this cheap sushi restaurant.  Of course, there was a wait, but it's located right next to a large video game arcade.  So I perused the several floors of Japanese gaming devices for about a half hour.

Some of that stuff is pretty cool.  They have online RPG gaming consoles, and photo booths where you can draw on your pictures with your friends before printing them out as mini stickers.  There were some strange pods that I think had something to do with virtual gaming, too.  Also, about half of the place was some kind of casino, and another 1/3 was filled with grabbing machines - those money-eating games where you have to use a three-pronged claw to grab impossibly heavy/poorly shaped objects - filled with anything from giant boxes of candy to huge stuffed animals to toast.  Yes, really, they gave you a chance to win pre-cut loafs of bread!  Welcome to Japan!

The Toast

The sushi was amazing (-ly cheap, too)!  Basically, you are seated at a booth next to the conveyor belt that carries around plates holding different kinds of food.  There is a picture menu with all of your food and dessert options with prices next to them.  If you don't see what you want going 'round and 'round, you can call your order in to the kitchen and it will come down on the conveyor belt on a special plate that tells everyone that it is special order and not to touch it.  Most of the plates are ¥105 and even things like udon noodles or salads are only ¥280.  Green tea is freely dispensed from a tap at the table and not charged.

Our Food-Delivery System

 

Green Tea Anyone?

  

The food was delicious, the green tea is growing on me (very slowly), and I spent very little money.

Speaking of money, let me go over that.

With the current exchange rate ¥100 = $1.10.  So when I said I borrowed ¥1,000, I borrowed roughly $10.  So the exchange rate isn't too terrible; it's the cost of some things that make living here expensive.

My Saturday ended with a scenic walk back to campus from Sushi Row and a couple hours of drinking and getting to know my classmates.  It seems that most of us will get along just fine, so long as I behave myself.

Sunday was even busier.  I was in the shower when someone knocked on my door, so I had no idea what was going on.  At the time, I had thought Kat was coming by to hang out and study together, so I got ready to head over to her place or the lounge to do just that.  It seems I was just in time for a group trip out for brunch.  One student who has been here previously knew of a great place to get okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes), and I thought I would tag along since I have never actually tried okonomiyaki.  We had to buy ¥600 day passes for the subway, simply because it was cheaper in case we went elsewhere, and head over to Kanayama (a part of Nagoya).

It turned out that the restaurant that we were going to was small, and full of people, so there was the option to wait outside or head back to the mall-like area of the train station where some bands/people were performing for some judges for something.  Like most mobs no one spoke up and took any initiative, so everyone was just standing there aimlessly.  I decided that I would walk around the block and see a bit of Nagoya.

A Japanese man fell into step next to me and began speaking to me in Japanese.  He asked the usual things like where I was from.  I tried to tell him that I was from Nagoya Gakuin University and tell him the story of the okonomiyaki restaurant being full and how I was wanting to look around Nagoya.  My conversational Japanese is lacking since I am so out of practice, but my point was made.  I guess.  He offered to drive me around and show me Nagoya.  It was at this time when I had fully circled the block, so I politely refused and informed him that my friends were over there and I was headed back with them.  So he smiled, said the equivalent of "Later," and I headed back in time for everyone to make the decision that we should ditch okonomiyaki and go get Miso Tonkatsu (which is a well-known dish in Nagoya, I suppose).

We had the Tonkatsu (breaded pork over rice, covered lightly in a miso sauce) at a small restaurant above a Dulce & Gabbana outlet that had some really bad models in their posters.  Afterwards, we headed across the way to Oasis 21.  It's a pretty amazing place.  At ground level, there is a park surrounding a hole in the ground.  Said hole in the ground is actually filled with a staircase system and elevator which lead to the top of the structure.  About 50 feet (I could be exaggerating) above the park is a strange oval-shaped level that holds a fountain that takes up most of the level, leaving a thinner outter walkway that overlooks the city.  The fountain is very shallow and has a few small jet streams of water shooting straight up down the center of it for the length of the oval.  If that wasn't cool enough, below ground is a two-story mall.

We didn't really check out the higher of the two stories, but the bottom-most story is not just an underground mall.  It actually stretches out underneath the major intersection and connects with the subway and nearby bus stops.  There is a store for all the Shojo lovers (girl manga/anime) right by a store for Shonen fans (that would be the male manga/anime that's full of ninjas, violence, and not crammed with lovey-dovey crap).  I didn't even look inside the Shojo store.  I did, however, enter the store that was in between the Shojo and Shonen; it was the store for Ghibli Studio.  This is the famouse anime studio that brought things like Domo and all of the Miyazaki films to America and the rest of the world.  Right across from all of this was an honest-to-god group of otaku (roughly "geeks") playing the Pokemon card game on the ground.  Not far from them was the Pokemon Center; it looked like some kind of massive command center that was literally filled with fans, kids, parents, and tons of Pokemon merchandise.  It was a sight.

I didn't have a camera on me, as it was a spontaneous trip, but I will be going back to the area in the future.  Pictures will be had at that time.

After we were done at Oasis 21, we all thought we would stop by the local SoftBank down the road.  SoftBank is a place where we can purchase cheap cell phone plans, and the one in Sakae always has English brochures and an English-speaking representative on staff.  Once finished there, we walked to a Maruzen bookstore.  Many of us became interested in the study material for the JPLT (Japanese Proficiency Language Test), and I think a few people purchased the next level of their Japanese textbooks that they used at their regular colleges.

We split up at that point.  Some people decided to head back to campus, since all of our feet were screaming from all of the walking we had done in the past 48 hours.  Those of use who stayed headed back to the subway to go to Osu Kannon.  Osu is basically the Akihabara of Nagoya.  Most of us were looking for an electronic dictionary to help us translate between the languages easily.  A lot of them also have an input for drawing a kanji so that it can give you the definition for kanji you don't know.  It would be a lot easier than me trying to count/guess how many strokes are in the kanji and look for it that way in my regular dictionary, praying to find it quickly.  I could have bought an electronic dictionary at home or online before I came over, but it is usually cheaper to buy nearly any kind of electronic if you buy it in Japan.

We only spent about an hour there before heading back to campus, but I would not mind heading back there later in the semester.  I saw mechanical robots, a huge anime/manga city-store, tons of really tasty looking food, and some very interesting clothing stores.  If anything, it is a great place to spend the day and explore.  I mean, the place is huge!  It covers numerous city blocks and has thousands of stores, restaurants, and pachinko places.  It would also be nice to find an electronic dictionary for easy research and kanji help.

Needless to say, I passed out upon my return to my room.  Orientation began at 9:30am the next morning.

My First 24

Quite a bit has happened, so let's do this in stages.

Flight:
The flight up to Vancouver, B.C. was easy enough to handle, but the flight from Vancouver to Tokyo was 9 hours and 30-some minutes long on Japan Airlines.  Now, a lot can be said about Japan Airlines to the positive; their service is excellent and the food delicious.  However, their seats are not designed for long-legged people, nor anyone with any kind of hips/curves whatsoever.  My knees were giving me some issues, and my unfortunate runny nose caused me to have to get up several times throughout the flight.  Of course, I was in a middle seat.  But the Chinese man next to me was very polite about constantly having to get up (I did usually try to wait until the end of his movie or before he fell asleep).

There was a bit of a scare in Tokyo, however.  My baggage wasn't on the baggage claim!  When I checked into Air Canada in Portland, I was told that they could check my bags to Tokyo, as that was my displayed Final Destination, but they could not give me my boarding pass for my flights with Japan Airlines.  In fact, I had to go through customs in Vancouver, exit the terminal, check in again with Japan Airlines, and go through Security (in about 2 hours time).  Going with the Vancouver tangent, I was expedited through Customs and that helped me to make my flight on time.  It turns out that when I checked in with Japan Airlines, they were able to tell the baggage carriers to stamp a tag on my luggage that would get it straight aboard my flight to Nagoya.  So it turns out my luggage was safe and sound after all!

My flight to Nagoya from Tokyo was 45 minutes long, and I could barely keep my eyes open.  We flew in a 777 with probably 50 passengers total, so there was plenty of room.  This plane, unlike the 747 double-decker that I flew from Vancouver to Tokyo, was very comfortable!  There were contoured headrests that were adjustable to my height, my butt had plenty of space, and I was in an aisle seat with plenty of space to myself.  I honestly didn't want to get out of my seat when we landed.  But the girl  in the window seat couldn't get off the plane fast enough and I had to let her out.

There were about 15 students from Nagoya Gakuin University waiting to meet me in the Greeting Area once I made it through Customs, yet again.  It was nice; I have never had a welcoming party at an airport before.  Some of the students are friends with some of the NGU students I met at Coe, so we chatted about the people we both knew and introduced ourselves.  The girls almost immediately admired my hair for it's color and softness, and have voiced their desires for hair like mine.  There were several other American students from colleges across the U.S. that I also was able to meet.  We took a bus back to campus and I was given keys to my new home.  My roommate is from Shanghai and studying Japanese.   Unfortunately, my Japanese is rusty and so is her English.  We seem to get along fine, though.

MY BEDDING IS PINK! 

Now that I've voice that complaint, it was also free.


My First Day:
I woke up around 9:30am Japan Time and was able to work my way through taking a shower (which is a little cramped) and starting to study for my exam.  I went for a walk through the neighborhood a little before noon and picked up a drink from a local vending machine.  Almost as soon as I returned, Yobi (a student from Canada who has already been here 1 semester) came to see if I wanted to join a few of the other students for lunch in the cafeteria.  So I learned the ins and outs of how to order a meal and where to drop off my tray once I finished.  I had tempura udon (breaded and deep fried vegetables with buckwheat noodles) and it was delicious.

After lunch, Yobi showed us around a little bit; the official tour isn't until Tuesday.  We went to the IJS office, where most of our professors like to hang out, and were shown our mail boxes (I'm still not sure about what my mailing address is yet, but I will let you know when I know).  Then I passed out for several hours before deciding I should probably wake up and study in the Lounge.  On my way, I ran into several of my fellow IJS students who were headed to the grocery store.  Not knowing where it was, I thought that I would tag along and find out.  All of us hung out in the eating/smoking area outside before deciding we should probably get dinner.  The cafeteria was closed, so those of us who weren't too tired went to grab dinner at the 7 Eleven (yes, there is a 7 Eleven here).  When we returned, my friends and the other IJS students had arrived.  I am finally reunited with my Coe classmates!  :)

And that is my first 24 hours.  This weekend will be devoted to studying.  Hopefully.