Culture shock is a bitch. No other way to describe it. It hits at just the wrong time, in just the wrong place, throws all of your plans to crap, and leaves you feeling helpless and alone.
It hit me tonight as choir practice ran. Unfortunately for me, it came in small waves.
The first wave hit when we were in sectional (side note: because of the practice methods they apply, the first hour is sectional - the second is full group practice). We're singing a spiritual - "Soon ah Will be Done" by name - and we are taking apart this one section to figure out what we can do to fix the little things - fine trim to polish the piece. I took that time to mention that, when singing in English, consonants are important, and to make sure that when a ending consonant is there, to enunciate it. The overwhelming collective reply from the rest of the tenor section was, "Ok. In America. Anyway, let's keep going." This hurt, not only because they didn't take my advice, but also because (and this was probably the culture shock thinking for me) they didn't take advice from the Gaijin.
The second wave hit when we met as a group. We were lucky enough to have the City choir's director visit us and treat the session as a form of master class. As we were getting started, she looked directly at me, smiled, and gave this "hello, little one" wave. That hit me very negatively - as though she was thinking, "Oh, look. That's so cute. It's trying to sing. Let's throw it a bone." Again, the culture shock torturing my mind.
Needless to say, even though that was how I felt, I gave 125% singing tonight. By the end, I was sore, out of breath, and ready to collapse. Nobody really took notice of this, but I didn't expect them to. That didn't bother me too much.
The last, and probably strongest, wave hit when we were adjourning the meeting. We meet up as sections again to discuss what is upcoming and to get last-minute organizational details out of the way. By this time, I was so tired I could barely make out what they were saying, much less understand it. That's when it hit me: I don't need to understand it. They don't really want me here for my voice - I'm just the choir's pet. Their little plaything; something for them to amuse themselves with. While everyone sat and talked after we all adjourned, I walked back to the apartment tired, offended, and most painfully, alone.
I understand that I'll feel better tomorrow, and that I'll probably feel bad for even thinking that way. However, it's my first real big encounter with culture shock, and it needs to be written down. A lot of it is probably my imagination running wild, and most likely 75% of it is not true in the least, but it still hurt, and I needed to get it out of me.
25 May, 2007
21 May, 2007
Yes, I'm still here.
Sorry about not posting for a while. As things have gone, life has been pretty normal around here. Normal, that is, for being in a country where you can only read and understand about 10% of what there is to actually take in.
Let's see... I left off on 7 May. Today's the 22nd. What's happened since then?
The triplets had their birthday on the 16th. That was a bit interesting. As the 'designated singer,' I was chosen to lead everyone in "Happy Birthday." They really enjoyed the outfits that mom picked out for them. I've got a picture of everyone in their clothes, and as soon as I remember to start taking my camera to places, I'll put them up on flickr.
Last Friday-into-Saturday, the 18-19th, I was unofficially kidnapped by the members of the choir. We had a full night of getting to know everyone, and just general section bonding. And when I say a full night, I mean a full night - We talked, cooked, and questioned each other from 9PM Friday to 8AM Saturday... No sleep available. We started by cooking dinner - yakiniku, meaning fried meat. Essentially, this involved the Tenors getting together around three camp stoves, opening 3 huge packages of pork meat, and throwing them into frying pans, 3-5 tenors to a pan. Once it had fully cooked, you were to take it out of the pan, dip it in the sauce (of which I want ingredients for - it's delicious), and then chow down. We must have (as a section of about 12 people) taken down at least 10 pounds of pork that night. It was awesome.
After the pork fest, we went into Q&A time. This involved listing a set of categories on a board (things like: queen, teacher, girlfriend, wife... I think you get the idea), and then we were to take turns listing which women in the choir fit those roles best in our minds. Apparently, all of the tenors have a huge crush on our pianist. :)
This was fun, but I wasn't aware of the one detail that I had missed: two of us would be sent out as 'tenor ambassadors' to each of the other sections to relay what we thought of the categories. For those that haven't guessed it yet - that means that anyone we were also questioned by those who were on our list. It's a bit harrowing to tell someone you picture them well as a girlfriend or wife when they're standing right in front of you. :)
That didn't go to badly, though, and now I've found that a couple people are a bit interested in me as well. In fact, I've now found a walking partner for walking home from practice - Mayu-chan. We both live in the same part of the city, and so we take the extra 10 minutes to walk from campus to a common intersection, and then each go to our houses. I can't tell if she's interested in me like that or not, but I have to say - I really wouldn't mind if she was.
Saturday afternoon was spent with a group from the JASIN program (read: other gaijin) going to Glover Gardens. Glover Gardens is basically a large garden created as a replica of the original British settlement of Nagasaki. The buildings that are there are some of the originals, and some have been moved from their original positions to the hill where Glover Gardens now stands. It was an interesting trip - we met at one of the city malls with Seb, our history prof. (he's awesome. More like a buddy than a teacher, but it's cool - he knows exactly what he's talking about.) We then took a 25-minute stroll around the bottom half on the city, with Seb pointing out important stuff along the way (what country first landed here, what type of boat that is, this bar is very gaijin-friendly, things like that).
Speaking of gaijin, I'd like to enlighten you all in the US that I have these special Gaijin Powers. It's like I'm a mini-superhero. You can read all about it here.
So long for now - hopefully I'll put some more up soon.
Let's see... I left off on 7 May. Today's the 22nd. What's happened since then?
The triplets had their birthday on the 16th. That was a bit interesting. As the 'designated singer,' I was chosen to lead everyone in "Happy Birthday." They really enjoyed the outfits that mom picked out for them. I've got a picture of everyone in their clothes, and as soon as I remember to start taking my camera to places, I'll put them up on flickr.
Last Friday-into-Saturday, the 18-19th, I was unofficially kidnapped by the members of the choir. We had a full night of getting to know everyone, and just general section bonding. And when I say a full night, I mean a full night - We talked, cooked, and questioned each other from 9PM Friday to 8AM Saturday... No sleep available. We started by cooking dinner - yakiniku, meaning fried meat. Essentially, this involved the Tenors getting together around three camp stoves, opening 3 huge packages of pork meat, and throwing them into frying pans, 3-5 tenors to a pan. Once it had fully cooked, you were to take it out of the pan, dip it in the sauce (of which I want ingredients for - it's delicious), and then chow down. We must have (as a section of about 12 people) taken down at least 10 pounds of pork that night. It was awesome.
After the pork fest, we went into Q&A time. This involved listing a set of categories on a board (things like: queen, teacher, girlfriend, wife... I think you get the idea), and then we were to take turns listing which women in the choir fit those roles best in our minds. Apparently, all of the tenors have a huge crush on our pianist. :)
This was fun, but I wasn't aware of the one detail that I had missed: two of us would be sent out as 'tenor ambassadors' to each of the other sections to relay what we thought of the categories. For those that haven't guessed it yet - that means that anyone we were also questioned by those who were on our list. It's a bit harrowing to tell someone you picture them well as a girlfriend or wife when they're standing right in front of you. :)
That didn't go to badly, though, and now I've found that a couple people are a bit interested in me as well. In fact, I've now found a walking partner for walking home from practice - Mayu-chan. We both live in the same part of the city, and so we take the extra 10 minutes to walk from campus to a common intersection, and then each go to our houses. I can't tell if she's interested in me like that or not, but I have to say - I really wouldn't mind if she was.
Saturday afternoon was spent with a group from the JASIN program (read: other gaijin) going to Glover Gardens. Glover Gardens is basically a large garden created as a replica of the original British settlement of Nagasaki. The buildings that are there are some of the originals, and some have been moved from their original positions to the hill where Glover Gardens now stands. It was an interesting trip - we met at one of the city malls with Seb, our history prof. (he's awesome. More like a buddy than a teacher, but it's cool - he knows exactly what he's talking about.) We then took a 25-minute stroll around the bottom half on the city, with Seb pointing out important stuff along the way (what country first landed here, what type of boat that is, this bar is very gaijin-friendly, things like that).
Speaking of gaijin, I'd like to enlighten you all in the US that I have these special Gaijin Powers. It's like I'm a mini-superhero. You can read all about it here.
So long for now - hopefully I'll put some more up soon.
06 May, 2007
Q & A time, Part 2
Well, I was going to start off by saying I left it alone for a half-week extra because no one asked anything, but, lo and behold, come the finishing of last weekend, there were more questions than I expected. So it turned out to be a good thing for me to leave the extra time.
So, here we go.
---
Even though you have only been gone for about a month, what is the most you miss about Illinois and Iowa?
Are kids in Japan just as individual as here in the United States? Do they have funky hairdos too? :)
Do you spend a lot of time with your home family?
April 25, 2007 5:39 AM, Mom, Dad, & Grandpa
Well, as amazing as the food has been over here, pastas are done without much justice. I'd love to go sit at an Olive Garden and pull out a gorgeous Caesar Salad. Other than that, it gets kinda troublesome when I can only understand half of what's going on - especially with jokes. Humor completely escapes me, and it makes me feel stupid.
Everyone's an individual. Everyone has their own separate personality, and ways of acting. About hairstyles though: I used to believe anime hairstyles were exaggerated. They aren't. At all.
My host family and I spend a lot of time together. We went out on Thursday to a citywide celebration in another town, and spent the day there. It was a blast.
---
What weird questions do you get asked from 'the natives'?
Will you get to see a tea ceremony?
Any fun fashion trends you've noticed?
Do you take showers or baths?
Do people ask to talk to you in English just so they can practice their English speaking? I've heard this happens.
What kinds of songs does your choir sing? How many people are in it? SATB?
Am I getting annoying yet?
April 30, 2007 8:10 PM, Kerrie
Well then. Starting from the beginning...
The questions that I'm asked by most people have revolved mostly around food. As in, "What do you think the best Japanese food is?" I've been asked that by just about everyone. Apparently, it's kind of a big deal.
I will get to see a tea ceremony. There's a class on campus featuring Traditional Japanese arts, which focuses on kimono wearing, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement.
Fashion trends: I'm currently working in them. I'm slowly but surely becoming more and more used to the fashion here (although it should be interesting when I come back home).
I take both showers and baths, depending on what I need. Most of the time, a quick shower in the morning (5 minutes maybe), and a nice, hot, long bath at night.
I've been asked to help with other's English. The most notable being when I was asked by a guitarist to check his pronunciation as he sang and played Simon and Garfunkel. So naturally, I sang along, throwing in harmonies when I could, which only added to the bemusement of the musician (and everyone else around).
The choir is singing around 4-5 songs, mostly in Japanese. There's one song that's a spiritual, so they all look to me for pronunciation. It's all SATB music.
Of course. Not. :)
---
Since you have classes once a week like that, do you usually do your homework from that days class or do you wait until the night before or what? Doesn't it make it hard to remember what you learned the week before?
April 30, 2007 8:16 PM, Anonymous (anyone care to claim this?)
I'm a bit of a procrastinator by nature. That being said, most of our work has been large projects due by the end of the term, so the work load hasn't been bad. I'm an extensive note taker, so that helps in the remembering. Plus, I can use my laptop for notes in class, so that's nice.
---
Are there any plans for concerts with your choir?
May 1, 2007 10:51 PM, Megan S
We've got a concert scheduled for the 10th of June. Anything past that, I don't know. We'll see.
---
I don't know how much Japanese you are using. Do you speak it mostly or "American"? Let us know.
May 2, 2007 2:42 PM, Cassy
Well, it depends on the situation. Most of the time, I'll practice furthering my Japanese ability. However, if the person I'm talking to wants to speak English, if it's easier to communicate in English, or if I just want to frustrate someone :), I'll speak in English (or, in Japanese, 英語 (Eigo).
---
Completely unrelated, but you got elected as secretary of Computer Club for next year. :)
May 2, 2007 4:57 PM, Brian
Sweet. A position of power. Me likey. :) Thanks of thinking about me, guys.
---
j00|2 534|2(|-| - http://offtonippon.blogspot.com/ - c|1c| |\|07 |\/|4+(|-| 4|\|y c|0(V|\/|3|\|+5. 5|-|17!!!!
this is actually what it said when i searched in google with the hacker language on!!!!!!
May 3, 2007 4:05 PM, Calvin (my brother)
Hrm... maybe I should put some meta tags into the heading for the blog. I figured that it would be advertised better than that, since Blogger is owned by Google. Sad news indeed.
For those who can't read the l33t, it says:
"your search: http://offtonippon.blogspot.com/ - did not match any documents."
---
What is the best thing you've eaten while over there?
How often do you actually eat rice?
Does the water swirl in the toilet clockwise or counterclockwise?
How is the climate? Get sunburned yet?
Meet any interesting ladies? ^.^
What is your favorite word that you've learned while over there?
Will you support my ban on pants between the hours of 1am and 6am in the apartment? This seems random, but trust me, it's crucial.
What time do you land in Chicago on the return trip, and on what day? (It may be the same day as me, in which case we'll have to set up a rendezvous).
Speaking of French, I have one final very important Question:
Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men?
May 3, 2007 10:36 PM, Jesse
Ahh... Back on the food. :)
Actually, my favorite meal so far has been a big heaping bowl of udon, a thick-noodled pasta soup, with various other ingredients. Other concoctions have been quite tasty as well:
as you can plainly see. I ate this after you guys went out for DQ...pwn'd.
Rice is served with almost every meal. Breakfast is the one exception.
I'm still in the Northern hemisphere, so water still swirls...*goes to check*...counter-clockwise.
I've sunburned a couple times, but it hasn't been that bad. It's rainy a lot here, so that stops the sun a bit.
Onna, ne? Well, there are a couple that have me interested. Ai-chan and Natsu-chan. Here's a photo of both of them together:
Ai has to be the first person I've actually used the word kawaii "eng: cute" for: she does the whole "Squint your eyes while giggling" anime-thing, and it works flawlessly. However, of the two, I'll probably ask Natsuki out first, because I've talked to her more, and we seem to get along well.
Favorite word? Let's see... The most amusing one I've heard so far has got to be "tabenai-yo" (lit. "Don't eat that.") Heard most often around in the home stay, towards the triplets. Another good one is "sugoshi" (lit. "a bit"). Shiritori (a word game) comes in handy a lot, and I play with my host family. The most fun to say: "tsukareru" - "to become tired."
A ban on pants... I am an early riser, so I would say push it back to 5AM and it'll be all right. Feel free to be more lenient with the weekends though.
I land back in O'Hare at 1:50 on 4 August. I do have a connecting flight to the Quad Cities, though. I think that we should have a party somewhere (Davenport, maybe?) on the 5th or 6th, giving us enough time to get sleep and get rid of the jet lag. Scott, Mom, Cassy, Brian, and Sean: I leave the planning up to you guys. Jesse, grab some of your own people to plan out, too. :)
"It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!" God... that's gonna be in my head for days..... :)
---
Well, thanks everyone for participating in Q & A time. I'll probably throw another one of these up towards the end of the trip (July, probably).
Until next time!
So, here we go.
---
Even though you have only been gone for about a month, what is the most you miss about Illinois and Iowa?
Are kids in Japan just as individual as here in the United States? Do they have funky hairdos too? :)
Do you spend a lot of time with your home family?
April 25, 2007 5:39 AM, Mom, Dad, & Grandpa
Well, as amazing as the food has been over here, pastas are done without much justice. I'd love to go sit at an Olive Garden and pull out a gorgeous Caesar Salad. Other than that, it gets kinda troublesome when I can only understand half of what's going on - especially with jokes. Humor completely escapes me, and it makes me feel stupid.
Everyone's an individual. Everyone has their own separate personality, and ways of acting. About hairstyles though: I used to believe anime hairstyles were exaggerated. They aren't. At all.
My host family and I spend a lot of time together. We went out on Thursday to a citywide celebration in another town, and spent the day there. It was a blast.
---
What weird questions do you get asked from 'the natives'?
Will you get to see a tea ceremony?
Any fun fashion trends you've noticed?
Do you take showers or baths?
Do people ask to talk to you in English just so they can practice their English speaking? I've heard this happens.
What kinds of songs does your choir sing? How many people are in it? SATB?
Am I getting annoying yet?
April 30, 2007 8:10 PM, Kerrie
Well then. Starting from the beginning...
The questions that I'm asked by most people have revolved mostly around food. As in, "What do you think the best Japanese food is?" I've been asked that by just about everyone. Apparently, it's kind of a big deal.
I will get to see a tea ceremony. There's a class on campus featuring Traditional Japanese arts, which focuses on kimono wearing, tea ceremony, and flower arrangement.
Fashion trends: I'm currently working in them. I'm slowly but surely becoming more and more used to the fashion here (although it should be interesting when I come back home).
I take both showers and baths, depending on what I need. Most of the time, a quick shower in the morning (5 minutes maybe), and a nice, hot, long bath at night.
I've been asked to help with other's English. The most notable being when I was asked by a guitarist to check his pronunciation as he sang and played Simon and Garfunkel. So naturally, I sang along, throwing in harmonies when I could, which only added to the bemusement of the musician (and everyone else around).
The choir is singing around 4-5 songs, mostly in Japanese. There's one song that's a spiritual, so they all look to me for pronunciation. It's all SATB music.
Of course. Not. :)
---
Since you have classes once a week like that, do you usually do your homework from that days class or do you wait until the night before or what? Doesn't it make it hard to remember what you learned the week before?
April 30, 2007 8:16 PM, Anonymous (anyone care to claim this?)
I'm a bit of a procrastinator by nature. That being said, most of our work has been large projects due by the end of the term, so the work load hasn't been bad. I'm an extensive note taker, so that helps in the remembering. Plus, I can use my laptop for notes in class, so that's nice.
---
Are there any plans for concerts with your choir?
May 1, 2007 10:51 PM, Megan S
We've got a concert scheduled for the 10th of June. Anything past that, I don't know. We'll see.
---
I don't know how much Japanese you are using. Do you speak it mostly or "American"? Let us know.
May 2, 2007 2:42 PM, Cassy
Well, it depends on the situation. Most of the time, I'll practice furthering my Japanese ability. However, if the person I'm talking to wants to speak English, if it's easier to communicate in English, or if I just want to frustrate someone :), I'll speak in English (or, in Japanese, 英語 (Eigo).
---
Completely unrelated, but you got elected as secretary of Computer Club for next year. :)
May 2, 2007 4:57 PM, Brian
Sweet. A position of power. Me likey. :) Thanks of thinking about me, guys.
---
j00|2 534|2(|-| - http://offtonippon.blogspot.com/ - c|1c| |\|07 |\/|4+(|-| 4|\|y c|0(V|\/|3|\|+5. 5|-|17!!!!
this is actually what it said when i searched in google with the hacker language on!!!!!!
May 3, 2007 4:05 PM, Calvin (my brother)
Hrm... maybe I should put some meta tags into the heading for the blog. I figured that it would be advertised better than that, since Blogger is owned by Google. Sad news indeed.
For those who can't read the l33t, it says:
"your search: http://offtonippon.blogspot.com/ - did not match any documents."
---
What is the best thing you've eaten while over there?
How often do you actually eat rice?
Does the water swirl in the toilet clockwise or counterclockwise?
How is the climate? Get sunburned yet?
Meet any interesting ladies? ^.^
What is your favorite word that you've learned while over there?
Will you support my ban on pants between the hours of 1am and 6am in the apartment? This seems random, but trust me, it's crucial.
What time do you land in Chicago on the return trip, and on what day? (It may be the same day as me, in which case we'll have to set up a rendezvous).
Speaking of French, I have one final very important Question:
Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men?
May 3, 2007 10:36 PM, Jesse
Ahh... Back on the food. :)
Actually, my favorite meal so far has been a big heaping bowl of udon, a thick-noodled pasta soup, with various other ingredients. Other concoctions have been quite tasty as well:
as you can plainly see. I ate this after you guys went out for DQ...pwn'd.
Rice is served with almost every meal. Breakfast is the one exception.
I'm still in the Northern hemisphere, so water still swirls...*goes to check*...counter-clockwise.
I've sunburned a couple times, but it hasn't been that bad. It's rainy a lot here, so that stops the sun a bit.
Onna, ne? Well, there are a couple that have me interested. Ai-chan and Natsu-chan. Here's a photo of both of them together:
Ai has to be the first person I've actually used the word kawaii "eng: cute" for: she does the whole "Squint your eyes while giggling" anime-thing, and it works flawlessly. However, of the two, I'll probably ask Natsuki out first, because I've talked to her more, and we seem to get along well.
Favorite word? Let's see... The most amusing one I've heard so far has got to be "tabenai-yo" (lit. "Don't eat that.") Heard most often around in the home stay, towards the triplets. Another good one is "sugoshi" (lit. "a bit"). Shiritori (a word game) comes in handy a lot, and I play with my host family. The most fun to say: "tsukareru" - "to become tired."
A ban on pants... I am an early riser, so I would say push it back to 5AM and it'll be all right. Feel free to be more lenient with the weekends though.
I land back in O'Hare at 1:50 on 4 August. I do have a connecting flight to the Quad Cities, though. I think that we should have a party somewhere (Davenport, maybe?) on the 5th or 6th, giving us enough time to get sleep and get rid of the jet lag. Scott, Mom, Cassy, Brian, and Sean: I leave the planning up to you guys. Jesse, grab some of your own people to plan out, too. :)
"It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!" God... that's gonna be in my head for days..... :)
---
Well, thanks everyone for participating in Q & A time. I'll probably throw another one of these up towards the end of the trip (July, probably).
Until next time!
24 April, 2007
Q & A time, part 1
Ok, so since I can't really think of anything to write about recently (the unzen trip was fun, but also a bit boring. We sat in a tub. :P) I've decided to try to make this a little more interactive. I'll give you guys until this time next week to come up with some questions for me, and then next week, I will post some answers. It can be questions about pretty much anything: school life, class schedule, things to do for fun, etc.
That being said, the first questions have already been asked. Looking back on comments:
---
Soo... uhm. run into any neko girls or goddesses yet?
March 29, 2007 12:36 PM - Scott Jacobs
Not as of yet. Sorry to disappoint. :)
---
How would I be able to send pics to you?
April 7, 2007 4:44 PM - Dustin
All of my contact information is here now:
Email remains the same, christopher.kruse@clarke.edu or mystic.enigma@gmail.com
Phone number: 090.1362.5683 (is mobile, but I get free incoming.)
Address (for mailing purposes): Nagasaki-shi Hanaokamachi Mine's Bldg. Apt. 602
I haven't touched skype since I've been here, but I should be starting on that when I get internet in my room.
---
So classes meet once a week? For how long and what classes are you taking bro?
April 10, 2007 8:20 AM - Cassy
My schedule is as follows:
Monday: 10:40-12:10 Japanese History, 1:10-2:40 Contemporary Japanese Literature
Tuesday: 9:00-10:30 Japanese Culture, 10:40-12:10 Intro to Japanese Language
Wednesday: 9:00-10:30 Intro to Japanese Language
Thursday: 10:40-12:10 Japanese Business, 1:10-2:40 Intro to Japanese Lang, 2:50-4:20 Seminar in Japanese Film Study
Friday: 1:10-2:40 Intro to Japanese Lang
Choir meets Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 6 PM. T/F 2 hours long, Th 1 hour long.
---
Smidge wants to know if there are any vending machines that sell freshly cooked meat products, like burgers or chicken.
April 18, 2007 3:27 PM - Apparently, Smidge
Haven't seen too many out-of-the-ordinary vending machines. Weirdest I've seen so far has been Beer machines. I'm in a small city though. Nagasaki's considered the Boonies. :)
---
Keep the questions firing, and I'll talk to you guys all next week, and give some answers! Also, new pics from Unzen are up at flickr. Check 'em out too. I'll be going on a drive with the choir on Saturday, so I'll probably have some pictures from that too. Until then!
That being said, the first questions have already been asked. Looking back on comments:
---
Soo... uhm. run into any neko girls or goddesses yet?
March 29, 2007 12:36 PM - Scott Jacobs
Not as of yet. Sorry to disappoint. :)
---
How would I be able to send pics to you?
April 7, 2007 4:44 PM - Dustin
All of my contact information is here now:
Email remains the same, christopher.kruse@clarke.edu or mystic.enigma@gmail.com
Phone number: 090.1362.5683 (is mobile, but I get free incoming.)
Address (for mailing purposes): Nagasaki-shi Hanaokamachi Mine's Bldg. Apt. 602
I haven't touched skype since I've been here, but I should be starting on that when I get internet in my room.
---
So classes meet once a week? For how long and what classes are you taking bro?
April 10, 2007 8:20 AM - Cassy
My schedule is as follows:
Monday: 10:40-12:10 Japanese History, 1:10-2:40 Contemporary Japanese Literature
Tuesday: 9:00-10:30 Japanese Culture, 10:40-12:10 Intro to Japanese Language
Wednesday: 9:00-10:30 Intro to Japanese Language
Thursday: 10:40-12:10 Japanese Business, 1:10-2:40 Intro to Japanese Lang, 2:50-4:20 Seminar in Japanese Film Study
Friday: 1:10-2:40 Intro to Japanese Lang
Choir meets Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 6 PM. T/F 2 hours long, Th 1 hour long.
---
Smidge wants to know if there are any vending machines that sell freshly cooked meat products, like burgers or chicken.
April 18, 2007 3:27 PM - Apparently, Smidge
Haven't seen too many out-of-the-ordinary vending machines. Weirdest I've seen so far has been Beer machines. I'm in a small city though. Nagasaki's considered the Boonies. :)
---
Keep the questions firing, and I'll talk to you guys all next week, and give some answers! Also, new pics from Unzen are up at flickr. Check 'em out too. I'll be going on a drive with the choir on Saturday, so I'll probably have some pictures from that too. Until then!
19 April, 2007
Ah... Pics.
Because people have been complaining... More pictures are up at flickr. I hadn't had much time to upload everything, so I finally had some time today (around Friday, 11AM) to get everything I had up. Now there's pictures of people, too. We have our trip to Unzen, a traditional japanese onsen (hot spring resort) on Saturday, so hopefully I'll get some good stories to tell from that as well. Hope everyone's been having fun! Let me know what's going on with you guys.
Later.
Later.
16 April, 2007
opinions
Well. Another week goes by, and I'm posting again. Time moves a bit faster than you'd think, especially without an internet connection. I'm changing that though - because I live in my own apartment, I'm going to try to have DSL wired to that room. The rates are fairly cheap - around $40 a month for (pause for effect) 50 MBPS down/15MBPS up! That's possibly overkill. :) That being said - more photos are up at flickr. Check em out. Link's in the bar.
And now, as the title suggests, I have some opinions of Japan upon being here around 2 weeks. These are just some small things of note, little tidbits that I've picked up. YMMV.
First: if you need to find something that tastes really good, is pretty cheap, and looks somewhat like normal food, find a bread store. Bread stores do not just sell bread. Bread stores sell pretty much anything. For around 200 yen (~$2) you can pick up a nicely cooked ham-and-cheese sandwich, crust removed. Absolutely delicious. you can make a full meal there for about $6 (which, in this country, is pretty good... food is not cheap.).
Second: You are never more than 20 meters (65 feet-ish) away from a cat in this country. They roam the cities, the countryside, and probably even the mountains (I haven't checked yet...) like it's theirs. And it pretty much is. People will go out of their way to let a cat go by, and the cat's are like, "yeah... whatever. Stupid humans."
Apparently karaoke is performed in marathon sessions. I went out with a couple friends on Sunday to go karaoke. We arrived at this hotel-like building, very shiny and clean, and ordered a session. It cost around $10 apiece - but that was worth it for 5 hours of singing in a 5'x5' room. Fortunately, that included drink prices. So, even a few waters and orange juices later, I wasn't going be able to sing anymore - dry throat.
Finally, it doesn't matter what country you're in: if you're looking for a party with people, join a choir. Nagasaki Gaikoku go Daigaku (my school, aka NUFS) does not have a music program. So, I went over to Nagasaki Daigaku (affectionately known as cho-dai) and asked them if I could join their choir program. Apparently, choir is all student-organized, as a club setting. I'm the only gaijin there so far (one of my friends is coming with me tonight), but I've had more fun with that group in the past few days than in the time that I had spent here before that. Choir people know how to have fun.
Scott, Jesse, and Brian - Don't worry. I found a DDR partner. I'll be all practiced up for the club to start again next year. Hope you will be too. :)
Everyone, thanks for keeping an eye on me. I'll talk to you all later.
じゃ、 まった。 See you.
And now, as the title suggests, I have some opinions of Japan upon being here around 2 weeks. These are just some small things of note, little tidbits that I've picked up. YMMV.
First: if you need to find something that tastes really good, is pretty cheap, and looks somewhat like normal food, find a bread store. Bread stores do not just sell bread. Bread stores sell pretty much anything. For around 200 yen (~$2) you can pick up a nicely cooked ham-and-cheese sandwich, crust removed. Absolutely delicious. you can make a full meal there for about $6 (which, in this country, is pretty good... food is not cheap.).
Second: You are never more than 20 meters (65 feet-ish) away from a cat in this country. They roam the cities, the countryside, and probably even the mountains (I haven't checked yet...) like it's theirs. And it pretty much is. People will go out of their way to let a cat go by, and the cat's are like, "yeah... whatever. Stupid humans."
Apparently karaoke is performed in marathon sessions. I went out with a couple friends on Sunday to go karaoke. We arrived at this hotel-like building, very shiny and clean, and ordered a session. It cost around $10 apiece - but that was worth it for 5 hours of singing in a 5'x5' room. Fortunately, that included drink prices. So, even a few waters and orange juices later, I wasn't going be able to sing anymore - dry throat.
Finally, it doesn't matter what country you're in: if you're looking for a party with people, join a choir. Nagasaki Gaikoku go Daigaku (my school, aka NUFS) does not have a music program. So, I went over to Nagasaki Daigaku (affectionately known as cho-dai) and asked them if I could join their choir program. Apparently, choir is all student-organized, as a club setting. I'm the only gaijin there so far (one of my friends is coming with me tonight), but I've had more fun with that group in the past few days than in the time that I had spent here before that. Choir people know how to have fun.
Scott, Jesse, and Brian - Don't worry. I found a DDR partner. I'll be all practiced up for the club to start again next year. Hope you will be too. :)
Everyone, thanks for keeping an eye on me. I'll talk to you all later.
じゃ、 まった。 See you.
09 April, 2007
First day of classes
Hey everyone.
Well, the first day of classes has officially started. Unlike the US, there's a week of classes that meets before your register, so you can try them out and see what you think of them. I sat in on Japanese Culture at 9 this morning. The class seems like it'll be a lot of fun, but there wasn't really much structure to it (ie, for a compulsory note-taker like myself, wasted laptop battery life). Hopefully that's going to change once we get into a textbook or two. Next was Intro to Japanese. That was a bit boring; our homework for the next class with that teacher is to work on tracing and writing hiragana. I learned all that by myself, so it's quite a bit more review than I would like. It's a class taught by 4 different teachers, so hopefully we can get some of them to go a bit faster.
I'm done for the day here, so I've got some downtime on campus. Normally, I'll take that time to work on various homeworks that I don't have yet. With each class meeting once a week (excepting, of course, the language class), it doesn't seem like it'll be that bad. Thankfully though, I can take this time to post on here, and give you guys some feedback as to what's happening.
Take this for example: Yesterday we went on a small bus tour of Nagasaki. We stopped at the Peace Park (the park was built in the same general area that the atomic bomb was dropped). The statue (don't worry, guys - pictures will follow when my laptop can get put on the network) has one outstretched arm, and one arm pointing straight up. These signify a warning of future usage of atomic weapons (from the sky, pointing up) and the prosperity that peace can bring to the world(outstretched arm, showing the wide area of beauty of the park).
After the park, we traveled to Dejima Island. Dejima is no longer is an island, though - the land around it was filled in so that there could be more settlement area. It was originally a man-made island built by the Portuguese when they were pushed out of Nagasaki for trying to spread Christianity. After the Portuguese were forced off of Japan completely, the Dutch East India Company took over the island (they were originally stationed out of Hirado, an hour or so north), and for around 200 years, ran business from the island. They were not allowed off the island, however, and a ship only came once every six months, so these Dutch men were stuck on this piece of land less than a square mile for 6+ months. Not the best way to live.
Again, I'll have pictures of all this once my laptop has access to the network. For now, I bid all of thee, adieu.
Well, the first day of classes has officially started. Unlike the US, there's a week of classes that meets before your register, so you can try them out and see what you think of them. I sat in on Japanese Culture at 9 this morning. The class seems like it'll be a lot of fun, but there wasn't really much structure to it (ie, for a compulsory note-taker like myself, wasted laptop battery life). Hopefully that's going to change once we get into a textbook or two. Next was Intro to Japanese. That was a bit boring; our homework for the next class with that teacher is to work on tracing and writing hiragana. I learned all that by myself, so it's quite a bit more review than I would like. It's a class taught by 4 different teachers, so hopefully we can get some of them to go a bit faster.
I'm done for the day here, so I've got some downtime on campus. Normally, I'll take that time to work on various homeworks that I don't have yet. With each class meeting once a week (excepting, of course, the language class), it doesn't seem like it'll be that bad. Thankfully though, I can take this time to post on here, and give you guys some feedback as to what's happening.
Take this for example: Yesterday we went on a small bus tour of Nagasaki. We stopped at the Peace Park (the park was built in the same general area that the atomic bomb was dropped). The statue (don't worry, guys - pictures will follow when my laptop can get put on the network) has one outstretched arm, and one arm pointing straight up. These signify a warning of future usage of atomic weapons (from the sky, pointing up) and the prosperity that peace can bring to the world(outstretched arm, showing the wide area of beauty of the park).
After the park, we traveled to Dejima Island. Dejima is no longer is an island, though - the land around it was filled in so that there could be more settlement area. It was originally a man-made island built by the Portuguese when they were pushed out of Nagasaki for trying to spread Christianity. After the Portuguese were forced off of Japan completely, the Dutch East India Company took over the island (they were originally stationed out of Hirado, an hour or so north), and for around 200 years, ran business from the island. They were not allowed off the island, however, and a ship only came once every six months, so these Dutch men were stuck on this piece of land less than a square mile for 6+ months. Not the best way to live.
Again, I'll have pictures of all this once my laptop has access to the network. For now, I bid all of thee, adieu.
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