So not only do I have to decide if I'm going to enter a Smash tournament or a soccer tournament November 3rd, but now I have a few more decisions to make, too.
On Nov 17th I have the option to travel to a soccer tournament with the team. I don't know exactly where we'd go or how the tournament would be run, but it sounds fun nonetheless. Since I always played rec soccer with my friends and my dad as the coach, I never got to experience traveling around with a team to a tournament before. I've heard plenty of stories from my friends that were on competitive teams and it always sounded like a lot of fun. However, the only drawback is that it costs $200 per person to go (apparently that includes the cost to get there, to enter the tournament, and other miscellaneous fees). Kind of a lot for a soccer tournament. Also, I know that the other keeper on the team, Guchi, is an "okanemochi", or rich person, so I'm sure it'd be no problem for him to go, and since he'd probably be going, I don't know how much playtime I'd have. Also, I'm still faced with the same situation - I'd be really anxious about actually playing with the team, since I really would not want to let them down in a tournament. It's one thing to be a midfielder or defender and not live up to your expectations, but when your keeper and you're off your game and you let a simple goal go by, that's huge. Granted, I do like to be able to rise to the challenge, but I would just really hate to let down the team and have them lose the tournament due to a goof on my part.
However, if I do go, then it makes my entering the Smash tournament instead of the soccer tournament an intelligent choice, because I'd still be able to a soccer tournament later on. Also it'd be like a mini-vacation, and seeing as how I've only really traveled once since I've been here (if you don't count trips to Tokyo and a pending trip to visit my friend Doug up north), it might be a good experience.
Aside from the new soccer decision (that's probably the most important new one), I'm trying to figure out a few more things. We didn't go to the elementary school today, so four of us volunteered to go to a different elementary school tomorrow (Thursday, though it's 1AM so technically 'today'). We're supposed to do something special after we give our jikoshoukai (self-introduction). It can be a game, a dance, a magic trick, whatever. I'm not really sure what to do...a few of us talked about doing heads-up-7-up (we're each in different rooms), which was always a fun game when I was a kid, and shouldn't be too hard to explain in Japanese. That'll be my fall-back if I can't think of anything as I doze off tonight.
I also need to figure out what kind of Halloween party games to host for our tutors for our Halloween party. We'll do the toilet paper mummy-wrapping game and a costumcontest, but what else I'm still undecided on. I'm trying to find someplace that sells pumpkins for Jack-o-lantern carving, but I have no clue where to look (I did see an honest-to-goodness pumpkin in a store on display, so they must have them somewhere). I might do the gross-food party game where you make food look like bugs or goblin guts or whathaveyou, or where you blindfold the person and have them feel grapes and tell them it's eyeballs or something, but we'll see what I can do with what Japanese grocery stores offer me (that might actually go over really well with the girls and their elementary-kid-like-nerves-of-mush).
Okay, I'm done procrastinating now...time to get back to studying. I realize that I only have about 50 days left here in Japan, so I'm really trying to kick-up the afterburner and study. My Japanese has definitely improved since I've been here, but I know that there's still so much more I can learn. At the same time, though, I don't want to miss out on social opportunities, which are the main source of all my best memories here. And on top of that I'm trying to put myself on a much more rigorous diet to get in better shape for my return back to America. My friend Whitney is helping me figure out an exercise and dietary regime to maximize muscle gain with fat loss in hopes of obtaining more prominent abdomen muscles, but I've been feeling kind of crummy lately (very tired, head hurts, a lot of naps), so we'll see just how far I'm able to push myself.
So yeah, that's about it. Nothing really new, just going about my Japanese life day-by-day. I've still got about 2 months left, so I've got quite some time here left to sharpen my Japanese skills and hew it into my head. At the same time, though, I've "nareta", or grown accustomed to, the Japanese lifestyle now. I "get" Japan, or at least the part of it that I live in. The fact that it's descended from "wow this is all so new" to "okay what's something new that I haven't done, guess I'll just focus on studying" is a little disheartening and makes me think about home and everything it has to offer a bit more often, but that's not to say that I'm not having fun here. I definitely am, and I'm definitely learning something new every day, consistently making new friends and memories. I think that it's just (unavoidably) descended a bit into normality, which is slightly disappointing, but hey, that's what happens when you live in a place for 3 months instead of just visit it for a week :)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Smash or Soccer - Doushiyoukana....
So we get November 1st and 2nd off (Thurs/Fri) due to Tsurubun's (Tsuru Bunka Daigaku ryaku'd (abbreviated)) omatsuri (school festival). From the 1st till the 4th they have neighboring schools come to compete in sports tournaments, such as basketball, tennis, and soccer. Also, all the clubs put on performances, bake sales, and the like. It's supposed to be a lot of fun, and hey, we get two days of school off, so I can't complain ^_<
My soccer team, Los Bianco, is going to compete in the tournament. Last year they won 1st place, and they intend to do so again this year (1st place for any sporting competition is a bunch of beer to celebrate with...hey, this is the alcohol-centered Japan we're talking about!). The team captain said that I can definitely play with them in the tournament. It's a little nerve racking...I don't think I've ever entered a soccer tournament as a player, only as a referee, and it's single-elimination, so if I mess up and let a goal go by and we lose because of it, I've let the entire team down. The other keeper is really good. I wouldn't say he's miles ahead of me skill-wise, but he's definitely played more than I have and taken goalkeeping seriously longer than I have - it shows in his form, his anticipation, and his kicks.
But, despite being nervous, I think it'd still be really fun to enter the tournament...who knows, maybe I'd do well and help my team out ^_< It'd certainly be a lot of fun to enter the tournament, as well as to watch my friends compete in the other sporting events. Shikashi (however)...
...
...the same day as our soccer tournament, November 3rd (Saturday), is Japan's last great Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament. For those that don't know, Smash (or SSBM) is my game. I'd estimate I've invested months worth of hours into that game and it's predecessor, Super Smash Bros. I've gone to countless tournaments, and I'm an important moderator on the online community boards. I've only gotten to play Smash once since I've been here, and that was with Captain Jack, Japan's best SSBM player and my good friend (I believe I talked about him in a previous update). Seeing as how I didn't get to enter America's last big SSBM tournament, and since I haven't entered any tournament in Japan, this would certainly be a great opportunity. Also, an Israeli from the online forums contacted me, informing me of the trip he'll be taking to Japan soon (if he's not already here). We figured we could team up at said tournament, representing the world's competitive Smash scene :) Honestly I doubt we could win, but it'd probably be a lot of fun, and I could do a lot of networking, spreading the name of our American online community to the Japanese, trying to tie their community with ours for the online-battle-enabled sequal, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, coming February 10th.
The tournament is in Kariya, which is located in the Aichi prefecture, about half-way between Tsuru-shi and Oosaka, near Nagoya, so it's not like I could do the tournament then hurry on back for the soccer tournament. Also, if I were to go, I'd probably need to leave Friday and I'd arrive back on Sunday, which means that I'd really only be present at the festival for Thursday. One plus side, though, is that I can make a trip out of it, visiting a few places in Nagoya. There's a theme park called "Edo Wonderland" that's centered around ninjas, offering tricky mazes, obstacle courses, and the such. That'd be a lot of fun to go to, and that 4-day weekend would be a perfect time to go.
---
So, I'm forced to pick between two loves, Smash and soccer. Do I go to the last great Japan Smash tournament and mingle there, teaming up with the 2nd best player in all of Israel, sacrificing the matsuri held at Tsurubun? Or do I forgo the Smash tournament and instead stick around for the matsuri, competing in the soccer tournament with my new Los Bianco teammates? Too hard of a decision to make...>_< I figure I'll do some research into the tournament to see just how many people are actually going to attend. I'll also ask around and see just what else goes on during the matsuri...if all I'd be doing is playing soccer on Saturday and on the other days simply watching a few of my friends play basketball, well, then I might pass it up...we'll see, though the deadline for my decision draws ever nearer...doushiyoukana (I wonder what I should do)...?
My soccer team, Los Bianco, is going to compete in the tournament. Last year they won 1st place, and they intend to do so again this year (1st place for any sporting competition is a bunch of beer to celebrate with...hey, this is the alcohol-centered Japan we're talking about!). The team captain said that I can definitely play with them in the tournament. It's a little nerve racking...I don't think I've ever entered a soccer tournament as a player, only as a referee, and it's single-elimination, so if I mess up and let a goal go by and we lose because of it, I've let the entire team down. The other keeper is really good. I wouldn't say he's miles ahead of me skill-wise, but he's definitely played more than I have and taken goalkeeping seriously longer than I have - it shows in his form, his anticipation, and his kicks.
But, despite being nervous, I think it'd still be really fun to enter the tournament...who knows, maybe I'd do well and help my team out ^_< It'd certainly be a lot of fun to enter the tournament, as well as to watch my friends compete in the other sporting events. Shikashi (however)...
...
...the same day as our soccer tournament, November 3rd (Saturday), is Japan's last great Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament. For those that don't know, Smash (or SSBM) is my game. I'd estimate I've invested months worth of hours into that game and it's predecessor, Super Smash Bros. I've gone to countless tournaments, and I'm an important moderator on the online community boards. I've only gotten to play Smash once since I've been here, and that was with Captain Jack, Japan's best SSBM player and my good friend (I believe I talked about him in a previous update). Seeing as how I didn't get to enter America's last big SSBM tournament, and since I haven't entered any tournament in Japan, this would certainly be a great opportunity. Also, an Israeli from the online forums contacted me, informing me of the trip he'll be taking to Japan soon (if he's not already here). We figured we could team up at said tournament, representing the world's competitive Smash scene :) Honestly I doubt we could win, but it'd probably be a lot of fun, and I could do a lot of networking, spreading the name of our American online community to the Japanese, trying to tie their community with ours for the online-battle-enabled sequal, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, coming February 10th.
The tournament is in Kariya, which is located in the Aichi prefecture, about half-way between Tsuru-shi and Oosaka, near Nagoya, so it's not like I could do the tournament then hurry on back for the soccer tournament. Also, if I were to go, I'd probably need to leave Friday and I'd arrive back on Sunday, which means that I'd really only be present at the festival for Thursday. One plus side, though, is that I can make a trip out of it, visiting a few places in Nagoya. There's a theme park called "Edo Wonderland" that's centered around ninjas, offering tricky mazes, obstacle courses, and the such. That'd be a lot of fun to go to, and that 4-day weekend would be a perfect time to go.
---
So, I'm forced to pick between two loves, Smash and soccer. Do I go to the last great Japan Smash tournament and mingle there, teaming up with the 2nd best player in all of Israel, sacrificing the matsuri held at Tsurubun? Or do I forgo the Smash tournament and instead stick around for the matsuri, competing in the soccer tournament with my new Los Bianco teammates? Too hard of a decision to make...>_< I figure I'll do some research into the tournament to see just how many people are actually going to attend. I'll also ask around and see just what else goes on during the matsuri...if all I'd be doing is playing soccer on Saturday and on the other days simply watching a few of my friends play basketball, well, then I might pass it up...we'll see, though the deadline for my decision draws ever nearer...doushiyoukana (I wonder what I should do)...?
Another Random Pix Update (Yay!)
The Japanese gangstas
Okay, so I'm not the world's best chef...I guess I missed a step when I tried to marinade this chicken. I thought it went:
1. Marinade
2. Cook
3. ??????
4. Profit!!
Pot merchandise is really popular for some reason in Japan. It's extremely rare here, and simply being associated with it can you get locked up for a long time. In actuality, it's the pot leaf icon is what's more popular here than the actual narcotic itself. The Japanese also love to sport the Playboy bunny, believing it only means the colloquial "that guy's a Playboy" versus the actual magazine (I don't think they even know about the ecchi zasshi (porn magazine)). The Stussy symbol is also very popular...that was big back when I was in Jr. High.
Hahaha, they tell you straight up what this is ^_<>
These aren't your regular Pringles, oh no...these are gourmet Pringles we got ourselves here (and at a gourmet price too...). They actually weren't half bad. The other "gourmet" flavor they offer is garlic and cheese.
I <3 style="font-weight: bold;">best investment I've ever made in my entire life. It's pretty long (note the pen for a size comparison), very cushy, and extremely cuddly. I don't know how I lived without it back in B.S.P. (Before Stitch Pillow).
So I've re-arranged my room a little bit since the last time I showed pictures. I swapped out the table I had the TV resting on for my spare chair that was rarely used - it's a perfect height and size for a TV stand. I took one of the extra couches off of the hands of another ryuugakusei, though actually I just swapped the one shown here for a different one since he preferred this one and I'm just a borrower =P The table in the center is very convenient for doing homework and studying. I forget the Japanese name for this type of table, but what's really cool is that you can plug the table into an electrical outlet and have it heat your feet underneath it. Great for these chilly winter days. And, speaking of winter, it has indeed got much colder here, though there isn't much precipitation as had been forewarned about. Thankfully there's not much wind either, so as long as the sun's shining and you have on long pants, you don't get too cold. It's about as cold as Santa Cruz gets in the winter. It does make waking up for soccer practice at 6:30 AM Mondays and Wednesdays a little more troublesome, but you warm up as soon as you start practicing :) But, you might look at this picture and think, "Well, where's Xander's bed now?" Also, look in front of my bookstand..what are all those plastic bags for?...
...so I put my bed up in my former sotrage space loft. It's pretty nice, and it stays a little warmer than the floor, which is nice for these winter days. Also, I've yet to encounter those pesky bedbugs again, probably partly due to keeping my bed elevated and not on the floor where all creepy-crawlies have access. As for the plastic bags...
...well, they used to be my system of organizing my schoolwork. I had one of the tutors come over to help me with my children's literature class (the class that's a regular Japanese class, so it's near impossible to actually understand what's being said). She couldn't stop laughing at my nice system for storing papers...hey, I'm a guy, what do you expect me to be, organized? Anyways, when we went to Fujikyu Hailando they had a Warner Bros. store, so I bought 8 paper organizers, 6 of which are old Batman comic covers, 2 are Superman. I figured that they were cool enough (being Batman and all) that they warranted the purchase. Also, since I'll be needing to bring all my schoolwork back with me to America to turn into the central EAP office so they can judge my class workload and determine how many credits I receive per class, I figured it was worth the 100en an organizer to keep my papers nice and crisp.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Fujikyu Highland Amusement Park
On Saturday I went to the famous amusement park, Fujikyu Highland. It's known for having the tallest roller coaster (though that might have been bested recently), the fastest roller coaster (though again, might have been beat by an American attraction), and for having a world-famous haunted house. It's very close by to Tsuru, only about a 20 minute train ride and you get dropped off right in front.
My friends I went with (from left to right): Saeko-chan, Azusa-chan, and Tei-chan
A beautiful picture of Mt. Fuji...it's really spectacular when you're at the peak of a roller coaster or Ferris wheel :)
It wasn't very big, maybe about the size of the boardwalk, though more spread out. They had some fun rides, but the most fun I had was on the Fujiyama roller coaster (not shown here, it's the one that was a Guinness record holder when it was made, at 79 meters high). Not only was it the longest roller coaster ride I've ever been on, but it was the most fun roller coaster - no - amusement park ride that I've ever been on in my entire life. I definitely have to go again before I leave.
Yes, it's known for their 3 big roller coasters: Fujiyama, Dodonpa, and Eejanaiga. This bag of "Garric chips" tries to capitalize on that =) I like how even if I show this picture to the Japanese, and even if I point out the word "Garric", they still don't get what's wrong with it.
They also sold grape-flavored Kit-Kats. Oh Kit-Kat, what flavor don't you come in?
This was the kiddie section of the amusement park...
...though since I'm 19 I'm still technically a "kid" here, so it's okay :) Actually, the amusement park had a lot of company sponsorship, including Warner Brothers (hence Loony Tunes and the old Superman / Batman), Thomas the Tank Engine, Licca (the Japanese version of Barbie), Hamtaro, and more.
While we didn't have time to go inside the famed obakeyashiki (haunted house), we did go investigate something a lot more horrifying...
...a lifes-size replica of a 'Licca' doll-house. *gulp* I'd take a haunted house any day over this!!
"But it's...pink."
The middle area during midday. For some reason it wasn't very crowded, we were able to get on all the rides within about an hour or so of waiting.
At night the place lights up, it's really pretty.
Oooohh awwwww eeeeeee
Me and Ham-friggin'-taro! Yeahzzz!
They're undecided if you should actually watch out for deer.
Japanese girls being girly...
...and Xander being Xandery...o.O
Fixing last post - about the elementary school
So for some reason my last post goofed and cut off a huge paragraph of two right in the middle of it, blending my rant on the past bug infestation with the kids I work with here (how fitting ^_<). So, sorry if there was some confusion. Let me clarify my work with the kids here:
So every Wednesday morning since school started we go to one of the local elementary schools. We were distributed to the different 6 grades, with some getting two ryuugakusei since there are 10 of us. I got 3rd grades, by myself. All the ryuugakusei and the students were in the gymnasium when we were allocated. When my name was called for the 3rd graders one of the boys jumped up and down enthusiastically, echoing back my name...can't say that was done for anyone else ;)
We basically just play around with the kids for an hour. The first week we gave jikoshoukai (self introductions) and played a little game akin to musical chairs. The second week my group had the entire gym to ourselves, we played a few games and listened to the TA play the sax (which was at an extremely high level, as most Japanese musicians are). The third week, last week, I was given a set of 7 cards, each with an animal written on it. I had to make the sound that animal makes in English, then the kids would write down what animal they thought it was, and at the end they tallied up how many they got right. Then they taught me what the accepted cry is in Japanese. From what I can recall: Frog = gero gero, Cat = nyaa, Dog = wan wan, Lion = gao, either cow or pig make the sound "buu", and a rooster says kokekoko, or something to that effect. After that I explained to them (in Japanese, of course) what kids in America do for Halloween. I don't think they really do anything here other than sell themed Kit-Kats and Disney merchandise, and it gives college students an excuse to party.
For some reason this week they don't have school on Wednesday, so four of us volunteered to go to a different school on Thursday morning instead to help out. The kids get really excited when we come, either because their happy to see gaijin or their happy that they get to play and goof off for an hour. Somethings I've noticed though are that Japanese kids are much much more rowdy than American kids. I thought they would have been very polite and docile, but nooooo, they're little monsters, these guys. Now, I usually work with kids out in the playground after school or during summer, the times, I imagine, when they let loose all their bundled up energy, so I'd like to think I've seen kids at some of their craziest hours. Yet these Japanese kids the classroom are at least 3x as worse, if not more so. There's constant hitting, badgering, running around, and screaming, all while the teacher's trying to give an explanation. I even saw one kid smack the TA quite hard in the arm and she just rubbed it and lightly scolded him. The kids will run up to the teacher and tug on her sleeve and say "hey hey teacher teacher what are we going to do now huh?" (said with extreme casual and disrespect word usage) and instead of telling him to sit back down she'll respond. Note this is from both sexes, though guys do it more often. It's mind-blowing, and I can only imagine what it's like during recess.
Now, whether or not this misbehavior stems from me being there or it's the norm I'm not sure. Probably a little bit of both. I constantly feel like I should be helping to crowd control, but then I realize it's not my place to do so and I don't know if having a guest try to help keep order in your classroom is showing the right kind of respect I want to give to the sensei. Which brings me to another good point - the teacher. Being an elementary school teacher seems to be one of the most sought-after and coveted jobs in Japan. About half of the people at my school intend are becoming a teacher and are currently taking such courses. The pay is more decent than an American's elementary school or junior high school teacher, sure, but it's wayyyy tougher to become a teacher here than it is in America. I feel like our elementary school teachers are often under-educated and not quite up to the quota as they should be. Usually if you ask someone who doesn't know what they're going to do with their life, perhaps because they're only attending a tandai (community college), they'll say "Eh, I guess I'll just become a teacher or something, I kinda like kids." You don't have to be at the top of your class to become a teacher. But here, the path to becoming a teacher seems to be full of difficult classes and tests to make sure that you're up to the task.
Yet, from what I've seen, being an elementary school teacher here is much more about crowd control than it is actually teaching. It's like running a day care and trying to teach math and history on the side (interesting note: a lot of the kanji I thought are basic were written in hirigana (the Japanese alphabet) on the kokuban (blackboard). I asked one of my friends and he said that we probably know about as much kanji as a junior high kid, if not a little more :)). Again, this could be due to my presence in the classroom, the time of day we spend with the kids (right before lunch), or a whole host of other confounding variables (oooh busting out the statistics here folks).
But, despite me feeling tired from just sitting there and observing these kids for 50 minutes, it's still a great amount of fun, and I look forward to it each week. It's really interesting to see how these kids are learning our language over their own, and so passionately, too. It almost makes it seem like some kind of 3rd-world country. Actually, the increasing usage of American words has become a big problem for Japan, because older generations aren't able to understand the younger generations as readily. In fact, one of the Japanese tutors was doing a study on it, so she gave all us ryuugakusei an anke-to (a questionaire) with a bunch of borrowed American words, asking us if we had heard them used before, understood their meaning, and used them ourselves. Most of them I was able to guess the meaning of, but maybe only about 10% I actually had heard before, I used maybe one or two, and there were a host full where I couldn't even figure out what English word it derived from.
So yeah...that's about it for my update on the kids. I'll try to take some pics when I can, but since I'm pretty busy the entire time (and also since it'd be kind of weird) I can't promise anything. I'm sure on the last day I can take pictures, but until then, I dunno.
So every Wednesday morning since school started we go to one of the local elementary schools. We were distributed to the different 6 grades, with some getting two ryuugakusei since there are 10 of us. I got 3rd grades, by myself. All the ryuugakusei and the students were in the gymnasium when we were allocated. When my name was called for the 3rd graders one of the boys jumped up and down enthusiastically, echoing back my name...can't say that was done for anyone else ;)
We basically just play around with the kids for an hour. The first week we gave jikoshoukai (self introductions) and played a little game akin to musical chairs. The second week my group had the entire gym to ourselves, we played a few games and listened to the TA play the sax (which was at an extremely high level, as most Japanese musicians are). The third week, last week, I was given a set of 7 cards, each with an animal written on it. I had to make the sound that animal makes in English, then the kids would write down what animal they thought it was, and at the end they tallied up how many they got right. Then they taught me what the accepted cry is in Japanese. From what I can recall: Frog = gero gero, Cat = nyaa, Dog = wan wan, Lion = gao, either cow or pig make the sound "buu", and a rooster says kokekoko, or something to that effect. After that I explained to them (in Japanese, of course) what kids in America do for Halloween. I don't think they really do anything here other than sell themed Kit-Kats and Disney merchandise, and it gives college students an excuse to party.
For some reason this week they don't have school on Wednesday, so four of us volunteered to go to a different school on Thursday morning instead to help out. The kids get really excited when we come, either because their happy to see gaijin or their happy that they get to play and goof off for an hour. Somethings I've noticed though are that Japanese kids are much much more rowdy than American kids. I thought they would have been very polite and docile, but nooooo, they're little monsters, these guys. Now, I usually work with kids out in the playground after school or during summer, the times, I imagine, when they let loose all their bundled up energy, so I'd like to think I've seen kids at some of their craziest hours. Yet these Japanese kids the classroom are at least 3x as worse, if not more so. There's constant hitting, badgering, running around, and screaming, all while the teacher's trying to give an explanation. I even saw one kid smack the TA quite hard in the arm and she just rubbed it and lightly scolded him. The kids will run up to the teacher and tug on her sleeve and say "hey hey teacher teacher what are we going to do now huh?" (said with extreme casual and disrespect word usage) and instead of telling him to sit back down she'll respond. Note this is from both sexes, though guys do it more often. It's mind-blowing, and I can only imagine what it's like during recess.
Now, whether or not this misbehavior stems from me being there or it's the norm I'm not sure. Probably a little bit of both. I constantly feel like I should be helping to crowd control, but then I realize it's not my place to do so and I don't know if having a guest try to help keep order in your classroom is showing the right kind of respect I want to give to the sensei. Which brings me to another good point - the teacher. Being an elementary school teacher seems to be one of the most sought-after and coveted jobs in Japan. About half of the people at my school intend are becoming a teacher and are currently taking such courses. The pay is more decent than an American's elementary school or junior high school teacher, sure, but it's wayyyy tougher to become a teacher here than it is in America. I feel like our elementary school teachers are often under-educated and not quite up to the quota as they should be. Usually if you ask someone who doesn't know what they're going to do with their life, perhaps because they're only attending a tandai (community college), they'll say "Eh, I guess I'll just become a teacher or something, I kinda like kids." You don't have to be at the top of your class to become a teacher. But here, the path to becoming a teacher seems to be full of difficult classes and tests to make sure that you're up to the task.
Yet, from what I've seen, being an elementary school teacher here is much more about crowd control than it is actually teaching. It's like running a day care and trying to teach math and history on the side (interesting note: a lot of the kanji I thought are basic were written in hirigana (the Japanese alphabet) on the kokuban (blackboard). I asked one of my friends and he said that we probably know about as much kanji as a junior high kid, if not a little more :)). Again, this could be due to my presence in the classroom, the time of day we spend with the kids (right before lunch), or a whole host of other confounding variables (oooh busting out the statistics here folks).
But, despite me feeling tired from just sitting there and observing these kids for 50 minutes, it's still a great amount of fun, and I look forward to it each week. It's really interesting to see how these kids are learning our language over their own, and so passionately, too. It almost makes it seem like some kind of 3rd-world country. Actually, the increasing usage of American words has become a big problem for Japan, because older generations aren't able to understand the younger generations as readily. In fact, one of the Japanese tutors was doing a study on it, so she gave all us ryuugakusei an anke-to (a questionaire) with a bunch of borrowed American words, asking us if we had heard them used before, understood their meaning, and used them ourselves. Most of them I was able to guess the meaning of, but maybe only about 10% I actually had heard before, I used maybe one or two, and there were a host full where I couldn't even figure out what English word it derived from.
So yeah...that's about it for my update on the kids. I'll try to take some pics when I can, but since I'm pretty busy the entire time (and also since it'd be kind of weird) I can't promise anything. I'm sure on the last day I can take pictures, but until then, I dunno.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Dieting insect kids play soccer with an injured leg
So, a few things to update on:
Last weekend I fumigated my room while I went to Tokyo. While in Tokyo I met up with a friend I made via the internet about 4-5 years ago (we both are moderators at a popular forum for the videogame series Super Smash Bros., at www.smashboards.com). He's now studying abroad at Temple University, which is located in Tokyo (though all their classes are taught in English, so as opposed to only having 10 gaijin, about 40% of the school population are foreigners). He came with a big group of his friends, so we all ate dinner then went to a club, where he knew one of the rappers, so we were able to get for cheaper.
And, when I had returned, my room was bug free :) I haven't had any more bites on my hand since then, so I'm very relieved. Of course, I did think it was weird that the next day after my return, while eating dinner, I had a big fly land on my hand. Then, no more than 3 minutes later, another fly flew right in front of me. Killed that bugger. I look to my left - a bug on my curtains. Squash. I stand up spin around. On the wall right behind me is the biggest praying mantis (at least I think it was) I've seen. Although he put up a good struggle, in the end, I was victorious.
At this point I'm thinking "What the...I just fumigated the place, and now there are more bugs than ever!?" Well, that night I'm sitting on my little couch, doing my homework, when I catch something moving in my peripheral vision - it's the curtains on my window. I open the curtains and, low and behold, the window is ajar. Doh! >_<>.< style="font-style: italic;">stay that way), I can't imagine they're little angels when I'm not around.
Interesting difference indeed. I know that young kids in Japan (I believe before the age of 5) are given a lot of freedom - they're able to talk back to their parents, hit them, be as loud and obnoxious as they want to be, but when they get older, the hammer's supposed to be dropped on them. Though, even at age ~8-9, they still seemed boisterous, at least compared to American kids.
That being said, it's nice to be able to be around kids and not be in charge of them, so I'm able to enjoy their company, and I always look forward to our next meeting :)
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So, the shokudou (cafeteria) is a great place to meet new, random people. I try to eat there every day for lunch, though now that I've had most of the things offered on the menu, I'll probably be bringing my own lunch. By doing that, I save money, it's healthier, and plus I'll get more stares, since I'll be eating a *gasp* peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, and *no way!* a raw carrot (they think that's the weirdest thing). You order food in the cafeteria by inserting the proper amount of money into a vending machine, picking your meal of choice, then exchanging the ticket it gives you for the dish up at the counter. They have a lot of tasty things, like curry, katsu curry (curry w/ meat), udon, soba, pasta, daily specials, etc.
Anyways, last week sometime a fellow ryuugakusei and I sat down and ate lunch. We decided to make some new friends, so we talked to the trio of girls sitting next to us. They asked me what circles I wanted to join (remember, those are the "just for fun" Japanese clubs) and I replied that I wanted to join the soccer circle. Well, it turned out that one of the girls' boyfriend was on the soccer circle, Los Biancos, so she contacted him for me and got me the practice information. That's what I like to do most here - make new friends and new connections, because you never know what will result from it.
Anyways, last Friday I went to their practice, from 6:30 PM to around 9:00 PM. I was really nervous since I had heard from a different friend that Los Biancos actually wasn't a soccer circle, but the soccer club instead, so I thought my level was going to be well below theirs. As it turns out, Los Biancos isn't really a circle, nor is it the Tsurubun's (Tsuru Bunka Daigaku shortened) soccer club. The two soccer circles that exist (one of whom I might go play with in about an hour) are for both sexes, don't have keepers, and just seem to be purely to go kick a ball around. Sounds alright, but also sounds like the 5 v 5 intramural sports at UCLA. Los Biancos, however, is exactly what I would look for in a soccer circle.
What it is is a guys-only circle where they're all better than the average player, but still only play for fun. They're not as intense as the club, but they have around 25 members, and most people turn out at the practice, so they play full 11 v 11 games. Also, apparently each semester they tend to have ryuugakusei join, so they're used to us foreigners :) I brought all my keeper gear and asked if I could get some keeper practice in. I was really worried about being rusty, but I was able to pick up my old skills pretty readily. They're also really supportive - they always say "Tsuank you!" to each other and they'll say "Nice-u keepa!" every now and then (okay, for those I didn't write in romaji [way to write Japanese in the roman alphabet], just by how it sounds, so anyone who knows Japanese, I do know how to actually write that in Japanese ^_<). They do stretches and drills for the first hour and a half, then in the final 30 minutes they scrimmage. I personally wish they'd scrimmage longer, but scrimmaging doesn't seem to be as important to the Japanese as it does in America. Even on the basketball circle, we'd do a lot of drills, then scrimmage for the last third or so of practice. Whereas, in America, we do the minimal amount of stretching and drills we can to allow more time for scrimmaging, since that's the most fun. Beggars can't be choosers, though, and I'm really happy with the group of guys. One of the other ryuugakusei, Toby, also joined with me (he's a striker), so that just makes it even more fun. Practices are Mon/Wed/Fri, each day from 6:30 to 9:00....though, that's AM on Mon/Wed and PM on Fri 0_0
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I didn't make it this Wednesday since I had somehow managed to extremely cramp my right leg. One Monday morning I woke up and suddenly my right leg was under such intense pain that it brought tears to my eyes. That lasted for about 3 minutes, and after that, whenever I took a step it hurt, especially when walking down stairs. Merely touching the muscle also caused a lot of pain. I took a lot of pain killers, massaged it, and let it soak in warm water, and it's been getting better each day since then; it should feel good enough tomorrow to play. I really want to try to go to every practice, since I love playing full 11 v 11 soccer games, and since I came to UCLA I haven't done that; unfortunately, there isn't enough soccer interest in my fraternity to warrant a steady 11-man team to enter in the 11 v 11 intramural soccer. So, I'm really, really excited to be playing!
I haven't forgot about my friends on the basketball circle or my host dad's basketball team. I'm planning on playing with the circle every Monday and with my host dad every Wednesday, and I'm still lifting every Tuesday and Thursday, doing a chest/shoulders work out Tues and a back/biceps workout Thursday, with all the soccer and basketball counting as my legs.
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While I'm on it, a bit about my physique and eating habits. I don't think I've gained nor lost weight. I've lost muscle mass everywhere, but I'm able to keep the major muscles (with the exception to my legs) from atrophying too bad thanks to what small gym the city has. Despite not thinking I've lost weight (at least, I'm pretty sure my belly is a bit flabbier than before ^_<), one of the guys I played basketball with a lot over the summer and just yesterday met up with said that my face looks like it's gotten thinner...why, I don't know, maybe I had a really good shave that morning :-/ I've also, for the most part, abandoned my goal to finally obtain a six-pack. I had originally figured since they didn't have any gym (or so I thought) I'd just focus on losing fat. Well, since they do have a gym, I'm able to retain most of my muscle mass, and thus, the time that would be spent doing more curls and sit-ups is spent doing benches and military presses. However, my friend Whitney has a new ab routine that he says has been giving him results, and since I'd like to come back to the states with a more tone stomach (or one at least as tone as I had before I came here), I'll probably pick that up soon. It's just hard since there are so many things I want to do with my spare time here - play more sports with the Japanese, play Zelda, study Japanese, fix my computer, watch anime...lots to choose from. As for food, I've severely slowed down my "I must try one of every Japanese sweet" mentality (mainly since I've already tried most of the delicious-looking ones, heh). So, I'm now eating a lot healthier, with my daily diet consisting of eggs (I still am terrible at making them over-easy >_<) and a whole grain English muffin, lunch is a PB&J with an apple, banana, and / or carrot, and dinner is usually some meat dish, either a chicken breast or some kind of meat and veggie stew I concocted the night before, served along with rice. I always have Pepsi Zero (Diet Pepsi) or some "Active Diet Sports Drink", which tastes like flavored water (really good though), and soy milk to mix in with my protein shake after I work out. To snack on I buy various Japanese healthy-looking snacks, so I'm still trying to experiment with that - there are these little spicy cashews and crispy things that are really delicious. Every now and then I'll make a run to the conbini (convenient store) to get a bar of chocolate or something, but not too often :P
---
So, that's about it for my big, long, pictureless update. Next one will be more interesting, I promise :) Just thought I'd throw one out there for the parents ^_<
Last weekend I fumigated my room while I went to Tokyo. While in Tokyo I met up with a friend I made via the internet about 4-5 years ago (we both are moderators at a popular forum for the videogame series Super Smash Bros., at www.smashboards.com). He's now studying abroad at Temple University, which is located in Tokyo (though all their classes are taught in English, so as opposed to only having 10 gaijin, about 40% of the school population are foreigners). He came with a big group of his friends, so we all ate dinner then went to a club, where he knew one of the rappers, so we were able to get for cheaper.
And, when I had returned, my room was bug free :) I haven't had any more bites on my hand since then, so I'm very relieved. Of course, I did think it was weird that the next day after my return, while eating dinner, I had a big fly land on my hand. Then, no more than 3 minutes later, another fly flew right in front of me. Killed that bugger. I look to my left - a bug on my curtains. Squash. I stand up spin around. On the wall right behind me is the biggest praying mantis (at least I think it was) I've seen. Although he put up a good struggle, in the end, I was victorious.
At this point I'm thinking "What the...I just fumigated the place, and now there are more bugs than ever!?" Well, that night I'm sitting on my little couch, doing my homework, when I catch something moving in my peripheral vision - it's the curtains on my window. I open the curtains and, low and behold, the window is ajar. Doh! >_<>.< style="font-style: italic;">stay that way), I can't imagine they're little angels when I'm not around.
Interesting difference indeed. I know that young kids in Japan (I believe before the age of 5) are given a lot of freedom - they're able to talk back to their parents, hit them, be as loud and obnoxious as they want to be, but when they get older, the hammer's supposed to be dropped on them. Though, even at age ~8-9, they still seemed boisterous, at least compared to American kids.
That being said, it's nice to be able to be around kids and not be in charge of them, so I'm able to enjoy their company, and I always look forward to our next meeting :)
---
So, the shokudou (cafeteria) is a great place to meet new, random people. I try to eat there every day for lunch, though now that I've had most of the things offered on the menu, I'll probably be bringing my own lunch. By doing that, I save money, it's healthier, and plus I'll get more stares, since I'll be eating a *gasp* peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, and *no way!* a raw carrot (they think that's the weirdest thing). You order food in the cafeteria by inserting the proper amount of money into a vending machine, picking your meal of choice, then exchanging the ticket it gives you for the dish up at the counter. They have a lot of tasty things, like curry, katsu curry (curry w/ meat), udon, soba, pasta, daily specials, etc.
Anyways, last week sometime a fellow ryuugakusei and I sat down and ate lunch. We decided to make some new friends, so we talked to the trio of girls sitting next to us. They asked me what circles I wanted to join (remember, those are the "just for fun" Japanese clubs) and I replied that I wanted to join the soccer circle. Well, it turned out that one of the girls' boyfriend was on the soccer circle, Los Biancos, so she contacted him for me and got me the practice information. That's what I like to do most here - make new friends and new connections, because you never know what will result from it.
Anyways, last Friday I went to their practice, from 6:30 PM to around 9:00 PM. I was really nervous since I had heard from a different friend that Los Biancos actually wasn't a soccer circle, but the soccer club instead, so I thought my level was going to be well below theirs. As it turns out, Los Biancos isn't really a circle, nor is it the Tsurubun's (Tsuru Bunka Daigaku shortened) soccer club. The two soccer circles that exist (one of whom I might go play with in about an hour) are for both sexes, don't have keepers, and just seem to be purely to go kick a ball around. Sounds alright, but also sounds like the 5 v 5 intramural sports at UCLA. Los Biancos, however, is exactly what I would look for in a soccer circle.
What it is is a guys-only circle where they're all better than the average player, but still only play for fun. They're not as intense as the club, but they have around 25 members, and most people turn out at the practice, so they play full 11 v 11 games. Also, apparently each semester they tend to have ryuugakusei join, so they're used to us foreigners :) I brought all my keeper gear and asked if I could get some keeper practice in. I was really worried about being rusty, but I was able to pick up my old skills pretty readily. They're also really supportive - they always say "Tsuank you!" to each other and they'll say "Nice-u keepa!" every now and then (okay, for those I didn't write in romaji [way to write Japanese in the roman alphabet], just by how it sounds, so anyone who knows Japanese, I do know how to actually write that in Japanese ^_<). They do stretches and drills for the first hour and a half, then in the final 30 minutes they scrimmage. I personally wish they'd scrimmage longer, but scrimmaging doesn't seem to be as important to the Japanese as it does in America. Even on the basketball circle, we'd do a lot of drills, then scrimmage for the last third or so of practice. Whereas, in America, we do the minimal amount of stretching and drills we can to allow more time for scrimmaging, since that's the most fun. Beggars can't be choosers, though, and I'm really happy with the group of guys. One of the other ryuugakusei, Toby, also joined with me (he's a striker), so that just makes it even more fun. Practices are Mon/Wed/Fri, each day from 6:30 to 9:00....though, that's AM on Mon/Wed and PM on Fri 0_0
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I didn't make it this Wednesday since I had somehow managed to extremely cramp my right leg. One Monday morning I woke up and suddenly my right leg was under such intense pain that it brought tears to my eyes. That lasted for about 3 minutes, and after that, whenever I took a step it hurt, especially when walking down stairs. Merely touching the muscle also caused a lot of pain. I took a lot of pain killers, massaged it, and let it soak in warm water, and it's been getting better each day since then; it should feel good enough tomorrow to play. I really want to try to go to every practice, since I love playing full 11 v 11 soccer games, and since I came to UCLA I haven't done that; unfortunately, there isn't enough soccer interest in my fraternity to warrant a steady 11-man team to enter in the 11 v 11 intramural soccer. So, I'm really, really excited to be playing!
I haven't forgot about my friends on the basketball circle or my host dad's basketball team. I'm planning on playing with the circle every Monday and with my host dad every Wednesday, and I'm still lifting every Tuesday and Thursday, doing a chest/shoulders work out Tues and a back/biceps workout Thursday, with all the soccer and basketball counting as my legs.
---
While I'm on it, a bit about my physique and eating habits. I don't think I've gained nor lost weight. I've lost muscle mass everywhere, but I'm able to keep the major muscles (with the exception to my legs) from atrophying too bad thanks to what small gym the city has. Despite not thinking I've lost weight (at least, I'm pretty sure my belly is a bit flabbier than before ^_<), one of the guys I played basketball with a lot over the summer and just yesterday met up with said that my face looks like it's gotten thinner...why, I don't know, maybe I had a really good shave that morning :-/ I've also, for the most part, abandoned my goal to finally obtain a six-pack. I had originally figured since they didn't have any gym (or so I thought) I'd just focus on losing fat. Well, since they do have a gym, I'm able to retain most of my muscle mass, and thus, the time that would be spent doing more curls and sit-ups is spent doing benches and military presses. However, my friend Whitney has a new ab routine that he says has been giving him results, and since I'd like to come back to the states with a more tone stomach (or one at least as tone as I had before I came here), I'll probably pick that up soon. It's just hard since there are so many things I want to do with my spare time here - play more sports with the Japanese, play Zelda, study Japanese, fix my computer, watch anime...lots to choose from. As for food, I've severely slowed down my "I must try one of every Japanese sweet" mentality (mainly since I've already tried most of the delicious-looking ones, heh). So, I'm now eating a lot healthier, with my daily diet consisting of eggs (I still am terrible at making them over-easy >_<) and a whole grain English muffin, lunch is a PB&J with an apple, banana, and / or carrot, and dinner is usually some meat dish, either a chicken breast or some kind of meat and veggie stew I concocted the night before, served along with rice. I always have Pepsi Zero (Diet Pepsi) or some "Active Diet Sports Drink", which tastes like flavored water (really good though), and soy milk to mix in with my protein shake after I work out. To snack on I buy various Japanese healthy-looking snacks, so I'm still trying to experiment with that - there are these little spicy cashews and crispy things that are really delicious. Every now and then I'll make a run to the conbini (convenient store) to get a bar of chocolate or something, but not too often :P
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So, that's about it for my big, long, pictureless update. Next one will be more interesting, I promise :) Just thought I'd throw one out there for the parents ^_<
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Kouki (Second Semester)
So, tomorrow (Friday) marks the last day of my first week of school! Up until this point it's just been us UC students studying only the Japanese language, with most of the town deserted due to everyone returning home for summer break. Well, now the gloves are off, and we're completely immersed in the school system!
"So, what's that entail?" you might ask. Well, we have 8 classes, with each one meeting once a week for an hour and a half. We are now taking classes with the Chinese and Korean ryuugakusei as well, who clock in at about 6 people total. We all have to take three Japanese language classes (reading and writing, everyday life Japanese (which is really useful), and writing and presenting research papers in Japanese), as well as Japanese society class, history and culture class, and a politics and economy class, all taught in Japanese. Then we have to take two electives, which are, quite literally, two classes we need to take out of the regularly offered classes. Uhhh...yeah...0_0
This week we pretty much just did jikoshoukai, or self-introductions, so I can't really comment yet on how the classes will go, though from the looks of it things should be alright. The new teachers need to have time to adjust their manner of speaking to match our level of comprehension. And by new teachers I mean, of course, the teachers from the 6 core classes; the teachers from the actual class don't hold back any punches.
So, as far as electives go, we didn't have too much to choose from. The school is really focused on comparative culture (between English and Japanese especially), literature, and preparing students to become teachers, especially for elementary school. A lot of the seemingly fun and interesting classes unfortunately have time conflicts with our main classes, so we can't take those. However, a lot of us are taking a shodou (calligraphy) class, which is pretty chill. A lot of us will also be attending a literature class tomorrow morning about reading children's books and then applying the hidden meaning to Japanese society (like if it actually comments on religion or politics or whatnot). Despite being centered around children's books, it's still supposed to be rigorous and tough, even for Japanese students. The teachers will make exceptions for us ryuugakusei, grading a bit easier, but the grade we receive here is the one that transfers over to our respective UC, so we have to really make sure we kick it into gear and try.
Thankfully, due to the Japanese take on colleges, effort is considered in part of your grade. In America your professor couldn't care less if you had "really tried" on your test - that C+ is still a C+. However, here in Japan whether or not you actually tried does get factored in. And two more sidenotes about the Japanese collegiate system (at least for Tsuru Bunka Daigaku): times are separated into 6 slots throughout the day, starting at 9:10 - 10:40, then 10:50 to 12:20, and so on, with an hour break for lunch. This sort of makes the entire thing feel like we're back in high school, where a student will say "I have a 5th period class." Also, the school is only about 3,000 students large, and the campus isn't very big, so the entire thing has a very high school-like atmosphere to it. Already we're beginning to see faces we recognize around campus, which is nice, since it makes it feel like one big family, and there's always the ryuugakusei lounge we can go to in case we need to get help or just relax.
The other thing about the Japanese college system is that there are no grades. Students really just care about passing and getting credit for the class - there's no real reason to get an A versus a B versus a barely-passing C. Admittance into a Daigakuin (graduate school) is based on ningenkankei (human relations); it's all about having one of your teachers you studied under in undergrad to recommend you to another teacher that you want to study under in graduate school. Unfortunately, as our grades to matter, we can't be as leisure with our classes, and actually have to put in the effort :( However, this IS a Japanese college, so the workload is about comparable to a high school class, and we have an entire week to do each assignment, so in actuality the workload isn't that bad. What makes things tough is the fact that most of us are constantly out socializing, joining clubs or hanging out with new friends, that homework time mysteriously vanishes.
So, yeah, that's about it on the school. I'll try to get some pictures up soon, though now that class has started, I really don't want to look like a foreigner and take pictures of the campus...maybe on the weekend I will :P
A few other things to note:
I didn't get to play with the basketball circle this week, nor my host dad, due to random events popping up. However, Friday afternoon another ryuugakusei and I will be going to play soccer with the soccer circle. If things go well I'll probably end up playing with them regularly. Also on the list of clubs/circles-of-interest are rugby and handball. If I join the rugby club, since they only have a club and not a circle, I'd get the perks of joining a club, which means free membership into the gym (instead of paying $1.50 each time) and access to team shirts / jackets, if they make it my size. So, if I can't get that through the soccer circle, I'll probably do that. Also, since we don't have any kind of professional handball league (at least, not to my knowledge) in America, I want to try that out here. I'll keep you posted on those as they progress.
Final note - So, I was running a few days ago when I noticed a store called Shimamura. It looked like your regular small department store...kind of like a Ross. I decided it couldn't hurt to look around. I enter and head to the men's section, where instantly I see a nice looking button down shirt. At first glance it seemed kind of wide...that's odd. I check the tag - 3L. WHAT!? I spin around, looking at the shirts that encompass me. I look up and see a sign - it reads "Ookii fuku", meaning "big clothes". SCORE! They have 3L to 4L shirts, both nice-looking shirts and Engrish T-shirts. I was sweaty at that time and in no condition to try on shirts, so I plan on going back soon with one of the female ryuugakusei to help me pick out some nice clothes. Finding this store made me honto ni ureshii (truly happy) ^_^ They also carry rugs, and they have the most totally awesome (woah hoo, surfer dude language!) Stitch rug. I forget the exact size, but it's pretty big, cute, and comfy...I just might have to get it, even though I can't think of any real good place to put it back home. Mom, Dad, any suggestions? :P
"So, what's that entail?" you might ask. Well, we have 8 classes, with each one meeting once a week for an hour and a half. We are now taking classes with the Chinese and Korean ryuugakusei as well, who clock in at about 6 people total. We all have to take three Japanese language classes (reading and writing, everyday life Japanese (which is really useful), and writing and presenting research papers in Japanese), as well as Japanese society class, history and culture class, and a politics and economy class, all taught in Japanese. Then we have to take two electives, which are, quite literally, two classes we need to take out of the regularly offered classes. Uhhh...yeah...0_0
This week we pretty much just did jikoshoukai, or self-introductions, so I can't really comment yet on how the classes will go, though from the looks of it things should be alright. The new teachers need to have time to adjust their manner of speaking to match our level of comprehension. And by new teachers I mean, of course, the teachers from the 6 core classes; the teachers from the actual class don't hold back any punches.
So, as far as electives go, we didn't have too much to choose from. The school is really focused on comparative culture (between English and Japanese especially), literature, and preparing students to become teachers, especially for elementary school. A lot of the seemingly fun and interesting classes unfortunately have time conflicts with our main classes, so we can't take those. However, a lot of us are taking a shodou (calligraphy) class, which is pretty chill. A lot of us will also be attending a literature class tomorrow morning about reading children's books and then applying the hidden meaning to Japanese society (like if it actually comments on religion or politics or whatnot). Despite being centered around children's books, it's still supposed to be rigorous and tough, even for Japanese students. The teachers will make exceptions for us ryuugakusei, grading a bit easier, but the grade we receive here is the one that transfers over to our respective UC, so we have to really make sure we kick it into gear and try.
Thankfully, due to the Japanese take on colleges, effort is considered in part of your grade. In America your professor couldn't care less if you had "really tried" on your test - that C+ is still a C+. However, here in Japan whether or not you actually tried does get factored in. And two more sidenotes about the Japanese collegiate system (at least for Tsuru Bunka Daigaku): times are separated into 6 slots throughout the day, starting at 9:10 - 10:40, then 10:50 to 12:20, and so on, with an hour break for lunch. This sort of makes the entire thing feel like we're back in high school, where a student will say "I have a 5th period class." Also, the school is only about 3,000 students large, and the campus isn't very big, so the entire thing has a very high school-like atmosphere to it. Already we're beginning to see faces we recognize around campus, which is nice, since it makes it feel like one big family, and there's always the ryuugakusei lounge we can go to in case we need to get help or just relax.
The other thing about the Japanese college system is that there are no grades. Students really just care about passing and getting credit for the class - there's no real reason to get an A versus a B versus a barely-passing C. Admittance into a Daigakuin (graduate school) is based on ningenkankei (human relations); it's all about having one of your teachers you studied under in undergrad to recommend you to another teacher that you want to study under in graduate school. Unfortunately, as our grades to matter, we can't be as leisure with our classes, and actually have to put in the effort :( However, this IS a Japanese college, so the workload is about comparable to a high school class, and we have an entire week to do each assignment, so in actuality the workload isn't that bad. What makes things tough is the fact that most of us are constantly out socializing, joining clubs or hanging out with new friends, that homework time mysteriously vanishes.
So, yeah, that's about it on the school. I'll try to get some pictures up soon, though now that class has started, I really don't want to look like a foreigner and take pictures of the campus...maybe on the weekend I will :P
A few other things to note:
I didn't get to play with the basketball circle this week, nor my host dad, due to random events popping up. However, Friday afternoon another ryuugakusei and I will be going to play soccer with the soccer circle. If things go well I'll probably end up playing with them regularly. Also on the list of clubs/circles-of-interest are rugby and handball. If I join the rugby club, since they only have a club and not a circle, I'd get the perks of joining a club, which means free membership into the gym (instead of paying $1.50 each time) and access to team shirts / jackets, if they make it my size. So, if I can't get that through the soccer circle, I'll probably do that. Also, since we don't have any kind of professional handball league (at least, not to my knowledge) in America, I want to try that out here. I'll keep you posted on those as they progress.
Final note - So, I was running a few days ago when I noticed a store called Shimamura. It looked like your regular small department store...kind of like a Ross. I decided it couldn't hurt to look around. I enter and head to the men's section, where instantly I see a nice looking button down shirt. At first glance it seemed kind of wide...that's odd. I check the tag - 3L. WHAT!? I spin around, looking at the shirts that encompass me. I look up and see a sign - it reads "Ookii fuku", meaning "big clothes". SCORE! They have 3L to 4L shirts, both nice-looking shirts and Engrish T-shirts. I was sweaty at that time and in no condition to try on shirts, so I plan on going back soon with one of the female ryuugakusei to help me pick out some nice clothes. Finding this store made me honto ni ureshii (truly happy) ^_^ They also carry rugs, and they have the most totally awesome (woah hoo, surfer dude language!) Stitch rug. I forget the exact size, but it's pretty big, cute, and comfy...I just might have to get it, even though I can't think of any real good place to put it back home. Mom, Dad, any suggestions? :P
More random pix! Yay!
Japanese gum cases are slick. Not only do you get the gum, but you get an equal number of little slips of paper to throw your gum away in.
.....?
An impressive line-up of cakes
Oishisouda...(looks tasty...)
Hmm, I wonder what they sell here. Anyone willing to take a guess?
"You got the power! Niigata!" *Sigh* More Billy Blank (or "Billy-B") obsession.
Not just fried chicken inside a sushi roll, oh no - this is now fried chicken and some kind of fish (I think? I cant' read the kanji) stuffed together in a mega roll. Oishikattayo! (It was delicious!)
"Ages 15 & up" - lolz. I was tempted to buy this - a really nicely crafted Stitch figurine. However, the $30 price tag left me mulling the purchase over.
Hmm? Korenani? What's this? What kind of Burger could Xander have bought...?
They call it - "The Mega Mac". It's a 4-patty 3-bun goodness incarnate. Offered only for a limited time.
Yum...of course, I felt as sick as a dog after eating a McDonald's burger (actually, twice in one day - during lunch I had wanted to get the Mega Mac but accidentally ordered the Big Mac, and since I had to try the Mega Mac before I left Tokyo and returned to McDonaldless Tsuru-shi, I had McDonald's again for dinner).
Thought the paper on the tray was interesting, advertising the new uniforms that employees get to wear. I have the feeling that working at McDonald's or any other fastfood joint here in Japan isn't as looked down upon as it is in America, though ironically enough the person who served me my Mega Mac was Indian :P
And now it's time to play everyone's favorite game - How Stupid Is Xander? Here's the question:
"Why did Xander buy three 1.5 liters of Pepsi Zero (aka Diet Pepsi) all at once?"
a) He really likes Pepsi Zero
b) There was a buy-2-get-1-free deal at the local grocery store
c) Because he was going to conduct a massive mentos & Diet Pepsi experiment
d) Because with each 1.5 liter you got a free Spongebob clip, and since he couldn't decide on which out of the three he liked which one he liked the most, he bought them all
And the answer is....*drullroll*
.
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.
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.
.
It was so worth it.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Osaka - Shopping & Random Events - Part 2
Ooh, cool turning escalator!
The entrance to a big shopping arcade in Osaka. These are like the equivalent of our big malls...just out in the open :P Malls inside the train station are also really popular.
Mos Burger - Japan's very own fastfood burger joint. The burgers are alright, though they're heavy on the condiments and light on the meat :( I still prefer Burger King. One would wonder why they don't bring this chain over to America. I mean, come on - with a name like Mos Burger, how could you possibly go wrong?
Because no shopping arcade is complete without a Hitler (and Hitler's canine) clothing store.
Yes, that is indeed what love looks like. I have yet to try it though...next time I go to Tokyo!
Bustling shopping district in Osaka.
>.< *Squint*
Spidey-sense tingling! Spider-Man is seemingly popular in Japan...there are a lot of Spider-Man tchotchkes available, much more so than any other superhero.
A giant crab...'nuff said.
Yes, this is indeed an "Otaku's Sanctuary". Note that otaku means geek / nerd. Inside they sold a variety of little anime and videogame goodies. Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time in there.
This is inside the famous store Super Potato. They specialize in old videogames, both new and used.
Look! Old school NES Ice Climbers! They had a lot of old games playable on TVs, similar to how GameStops and EB Games will have the newest titles available to demo.
Lots old games...I made a few purchases here :P
...with one of those being an unopened copy of Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64, Japanese edition. Only set me back ~$35...not too shabby for a mint copy of an old, extremely popular game.
The entrance to a big shopping arcade in Osaka. These are like the equivalent of our big malls...just out in the open :P Malls inside the train station are also really popular.
Mos Burger - Japan's very own fastfood burger joint. The burgers are alright, though they're heavy on the condiments and light on the meat :( I still prefer Burger King. One would wonder why they don't bring this chain over to America. I mean, come on - with a name like Mos Burger, how could you possibly go wrong?
Because no shopping arcade is complete without a Hitler (and Hitler's canine) clothing store.
Yes, that is indeed what love looks like. I have yet to try it though...next time I go to Tokyo!
Bustling shopping district in Osaka.
>.< *Squint*
Spidey-sense tingling! Spider-Man is seemingly popular in Japan...there are a lot of Spider-Man tchotchkes available, much more so than any other superhero.
A giant crab...'nuff said.
Yes, this is indeed an "Otaku's Sanctuary". Note that otaku means geek / nerd. Inside they sold a variety of little anime and videogame goodies. Needless to say, I spent a good amount of time in there.
This is inside the famous store Super Potato. They specialize in old videogames, both new and used.
Look! Old school NES Ice Climbers! They had a lot of old games playable on TVs, similar to how GameStops and EB Games will have the newest titles available to demo.
Lots old games...I made a few purchases here :P
...with one of those being an unopened copy of Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64, Japanese edition. Only set me back ~$35...not too shabby for a mint copy of an old, extremely popular game.
Osaka - Shopping & Random Events
What our hotel rooms looked like. Bunk beds? It reminded me of a middle schooler's bedroom.
The bathroom was pretty nifty. You simply turn the faucet to either use the sink or fill the tub (there was a shower too, of course).
Hehehe...I'm so mean.
Bags of Agility + 3, anyone?
SC Represent!
One-Thousand Years of Pain!!! (Poking people like that in their assholes is apparently a common silly act by kids, though I forget the term).
Interesting light fixture
Someplace in Osaka
This is Takoyaki, Osaka's famous food. They have a plethora of merchandise around these things, including a lot of brand tie-ins (like Winnie the Pooh dressed in a takogaki outfit). The flakes on top are called katsu wo bushi. They're essentially fish-flakes (at least that's what they taste like). I loathe them with a passion, and unfortunately I didn't realize that they came standard with the takoyaki, so when I ordered mine...bleh. I ate one and gave the rest away to my friends. But just what exactly IS takoyaki...?
Tako is octopus. If it wasn't for the katsu wo bushi, it wouldn't have been half-bad.
Shortly after eating takoyaki, two Japanese guys approached us, asking if one of us would sumo-wrestle them. Todd, who had done wrestling in high school, declined, so I went ahead and accepted. We walked over to the little town square and sumo wrestled while one of their friends recorded. Perhaps it was for the newest episode in the series Baka Gaijin?
I didn't really know what to do, and I couldn't be too rough since the ground was cement, so I just sorta grappled them and put them on the ground.
Nope, sorry, you can't move me :P
Next victim! Note the people in the back watching...musta been really random for them (or is wrestling gaijin commonplace in Japan? Who knows).
RAWRRRR! LORD XANDAR SMASH!!!
You...Win! /StreetFighterVoice "Xander, now that you've won the championship title, what are you going to do now?"...
..."Well Greg, I top off each of my matches with a nice, cool Ice Dog!"
Yes, an Ice Dog. Half ice cream, half warm hotdog bun, all goodness. Most random food I've eaten here yet.
The bathroom was pretty nifty. You simply turn the faucet to either use the sink or fill the tub (there was a shower too, of course).
Hehehe...I'm so mean.
Bags of Agility + 3, anyone?
SC Represent!
One-Thousand Years of Pain!!! (Poking people like that in their assholes is apparently a common silly act by kids, though I forget the term).
Interesting light fixture
Someplace in Osaka
This is Takoyaki, Osaka's famous food. They have a plethora of merchandise around these things, including a lot of brand tie-ins (like Winnie the Pooh dressed in a takogaki outfit). The flakes on top are called katsu wo bushi. They're essentially fish-flakes (at least that's what they taste like). I loathe them with a passion, and unfortunately I didn't realize that they came standard with the takoyaki, so when I ordered mine...bleh. I ate one and gave the rest away to my friends. But just what exactly IS takoyaki...?
Tako is octopus. If it wasn't for the katsu wo bushi, it wouldn't have been half-bad.
Shortly after eating takoyaki, two Japanese guys approached us, asking if one of us would sumo-wrestle them. Todd, who had done wrestling in high school, declined, so I went ahead and accepted. We walked over to the little town square and sumo wrestled while one of their friends recorded. Perhaps it was for the newest episode in the series Baka Gaijin?
I didn't really know what to do, and I couldn't be too rough since the ground was cement, so I just sorta grappled them and put them on the ground.
Nope, sorry, you can't move me :P
Next victim! Note the people in the back watching...musta been really random for them (or is wrestling gaijin commonplace in Japan? Who knows).
RAWRRRR! LORD XANDAR SMASH!!!
You...Win! /StreetFighterVoice "Xander, now that you've won the championship title, what are you going to do now?"...
..."Well Greg, I top off each of my matches with a nice, cool Ice Dog!"
Yes, an Ice Dog. Half ice cream, half warm hotdog bun, all goodness. Most random food I've eaten here yet.
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