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)