Saturday, September 26, 2009
Homestay with a Family
I don't think I mentioned this in my posts before but I did sign up for a "Family homestay". A lot of times when people go studying abroad they stay with a Host Family. While, this is not the case with AIU we did get an opportunity to sign up and to be paired up with a Japanese family for a "homestay". I met my Family on Saturday, they were a couple that spoke a little bit of English. Their names are Tomoyo and Masaki, Masaki works at a Pharmaceutical company (If I understood correctly). They invited me to visit them on October 18th. Unfortunately, they were supposed to have another student from Korea also assigned to them, but he did not come...which felt unfortunate. Besides that I simply don't have that many news, I plan to go out into the city this Friday. There are a few things on my mind that will determine what I will do here. I am also trying to sign-up for another elementary school program, but unfortunately all of the ones available now are for Thursday mornings when I have class.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Ota kita elementary school field trip to Daisen City
Today I had a long day with the Elementary school students from Daisen City. I forgot my camera, I forgot my camera, I forgot my camera and I am very upset about that. Now, on to the trip itself. I will briefly mention, while called a "City" Daisen was a very rural area. However, according to Wikipedia it is officially considered the largest "City assembly" in Japan surpassing even Tokyo.
The day started with me, along with 6 other international students being picked up by some teachers from the school. 6 of us were Americans and 1 girl was from Korea, she spoke Japanese better then us...and the kids bothered her more as a result. The drive to Daisen city was a little over an hour so it was a long trip...in a small cramped Japanese car.
Our first destination was a "Japanese golf course" to play Japanese Golf. Ota Kita elementary is a very small school with only 66 students in grades 1-6. They were broken up into 8 groups (each group has diverse ages) and each one of the international students were assigned to one group to play golf with. Japanese golf is hard to describe, you had sort of a potato shape club and you had to hit the ball in an area marked by a flag and a round piece of metal. Because it wasn't an actual whole, going through the mark was a common occurrence. You also had to make the whole in less then 6 hits. We had the game explained to us by some "professional players", a group of elderly looking Japanese. (The explanation was translated to us).
The game itself, well it was me, 8 kids, and a teacher. The only Japanese the kids knew was how to say "My name is" and count a little. Still, communicating with them wasn't that difficult. The teacher knew a tiny bit more, but not too much of a speaker either. The game was a lot of fun, and I did get 2nd place. It did get a little repetitive, since we would move from whole to whole and besides the distance it really wasn't that different.
After the game, we drove to a pique-nique area and every group cooked together. My group ended up making Ramen with Potatoes, carrots, beef, can't quite remember what else there was. Watching the kids cook was interesting, I mentioned I think to some people about "group mentality", it was clear, the kids were taught to cook together and then share the food together. Group achievement is more important then individual achievement. Well, the older kids did most of the cooking, the young ones liked running around taking the international students with them, to ask how to say different things in English and catch dragon flies. The ramen was good, we also had some Onigiri (rice balls), after cleaning up we headed back to campus. We were all very exhausted and ended up sleeping for a while afterwards.
The day started with me, along with 6 other international students being picked up by some teachers from the school. 6 of us were Americans and 1 girl was from Korea, she spoke Japanese better then us...and the kids bothered her more as a result. The drive to Daisen city was a little over an hour so it was a long trip...in a small cramped Japanese car.
Our first destination was a "Japanese golf course" to play Japanese Golf. Ota Kita elementary is a very small school with only 66 students in grades 1-6. They were broken up into 8 groups (each group has diverse ages) and each one of the international students were assigned to one group to play golf with. Japanese golf is hard to describe, you had sort of a potato shape club and you had to hit the ball in an area marked by a flag and a round piece of metal. Because it wasn't an actual whole, going through the mark was a common occurrence. You also had to make the whole in less then 6 hits. We had the game explained to us by some "professional players", a group of elderly looking Japanese. (The explanation was translated to us).
The game itself, well it was me, 8 kids, and a teacher. The only Japanese the kids knew was how to say "My name is" and count a little. Still, communicating with them wasn't that difficult. The teacher knew a tiny bit more, but not too much of a speaker either. The game was a lot of fun, and I did get 2nd place. It did get a little repetitive, since we would move from whole to whole and besides the distance it really wasn't that different.
After the game, we drove to a pique-nique area and every group cooked together. My group ended up making Ramen with Potatoes, carrots, beef, can't quite remember what else there was. Watching the kids cook was interesting, I mentioned I think to some people about "group mentality", it was clear, the kids were taught to cook together and then share the food together. Group achievement is more important then individual achievement. Well, the older kids did most of the cooking, the young ones liked running around taking the international students with them, to ask how to say different things in English and catch dragon flies. The ramen was good, we also had some Onigiri (rice balls), after cleaning up we headed back to campus. We were all very exhausted and ended up sleeping for a while afterwards.
Aikido #2
I went to my 2nd Aikido meeting yesterday, the class went relatively the same, but I wish to talk a little bit about the formalities of the class. First, during practice there is always a chair with a portrait of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
Second, Before, every move the instructor usually demonstrates it with one of the Senior students. During demonstrations everyone always seats on their knees, and the student always approaches the instructor by walking on his knees. Before the move begins everyone bows and says "Onegaishimasu" (A very formal way of saying "Please"). After the demonstration everybody bows again and says "Arrigato Gozaimashita", (a very formal of saying "Thank you" in the past tense, thanking for something that already happened). We then repeat this with your partners that you practice the moves with. The practice sort of ends with a ritual where everyone bows to everyone else in the class with the word "Arrigato Gozaimashita". Its funny how small things can really build relationships with people. Besides that practice, was very similar to last time except that perhaps I didn't get as tired and even instead got more of an adrenalin rush at the end.
Second, Before, every move the instructor usually demonstrates it with one of the Senior students. During demonstrations everyone always seats on their knees, and the student always approaches the instructor by walking on his knees. Before the move begins everyone bows and says "Onegaishimasu" (A very formal way of saying "Please"). After the demonstration everybody bows again and says "Arrigato Gozaimashita", (a very formal of saying "Thank you" in the past tense, thanking for something that already happened). We then repeat this with your partners that you practice the moves with. The practice sort of ends with a ritual where everyone bows to everyone else in the class with the word "Arrigato Gozaimashita". Its funny how small things can really build relationships with people. Besides that practice, was very similar to last time except that perhaps I didn't get as tired and even instead got more of an adrenalin rush at the end.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tawazako, Professional Basketball game
Sorry, for the lack of updates, it has officially been 1 month since I arrived in Japan...it was definitely the most eventful month of my life and I honestly think that I am not the same person I was a month ago. Its been a month, and I am trying to see if I can stay longer then I initially planned...
Yesterday, I took a day-long trip to Tawazako, a bout 1 hour away from Akita by bullet train looking for some open-air hot springs. This did not go too well (all do I did find an open air hot spring). It did not go well for the following reasons:
1. It rained
2. I forgot my camera
3. When I arrived, I discovered that the bus to where I am going won't come for another hour
4. I tried taking the Taxi, but the price would be ridiculous, it cost 800 yen (around $8) to take the bus, the cab driver told me that it would cost 6700 yen (Around $67). One the plus side I did ask him and got a response in Japanese.
5. I did not find the onsen I was looking for.
So, I definitely want to go back here, unfortunately its quite expensive. So we'll see if it'll happen.
Today I went to see a professional basketball game, the first professional event I've ever attended. The game was between the Sendai 89ers and the Phoenixes from somewhere south. (their location name was written in Kanji, so I don't know where they are from). The game was quite interesting to watch and the cheerleaders performed several dances. I did take some pictures, but none of them really turned out that great, not sure if I will post them. In the end the phoenixes crushed the 89ers with a final score of 90 to 65. At one point, Louis a Canadian that also came told me that of all the pro basketball games he attended, he was worried that he would see one team have double the score of the others which at one point looked unfortunately likely.
Yesterday, I took a day-long trip to Tawazako, a bout 1 hour away from Akita by bullet train looking for some open-air hot springs. This did not go too well (all do I did find an open air hot spring). It did not go well for the following reasons:
1. It rained
2. I forgot my camera
3. When I arrived, I discovered that the bus to where I am going won't come for another hour
4. I tried taking the Taxi, but the price would be ridiculous, it cost 800 yen (around $8) to take the bus, the cab driver told me that it would cost 6700 yen (Around $67). One the plus side I did ask him and got a response in Japanese.
5. I did not find the onsen I was looking for.
So, I definitely want to go back here, unfortunately its quite expensive. So we'll see if it'll happen.
Today I went to see a professional basketball game, the first professional event I've ever attended. The game was between the Sendai 89ers and the Phoenixes from somewhere south. (their location name was written in Kanji, so I don't know where they are from). The game was quite interesting to watch and the cheerleaders performed several dances. I did take some pictures, but none of them really turned out that great, not sure if I will post them. In the end the phoenixes crushed the 89ers with a final score of 90 to 65. At one point, Louis a Canadian that also came told me that of all the pro basketball games he attended, he was worried that he would see one team have double the score of the others which at one point looked unfortunately likely.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Kanto: The ultimate badass traditional performance
Kanto Pictures.
Yes, these guys are very badass, They have team unity, physical strength, cool uniforms. Now, "Kanto" is the actual name of the staff, "Sachite" are the people carrying the Kanto and "Ohayashi" are the musicians that played the flute and the drums. The performance would go like this, one of the members (I guess the Captain) would give a whistle, and the Ohayashi would play an intro before going into a continuous beat. The drummers would also cheer as they played. One of the Sachite would lift the staff and balance it for about 30 seconds before passing it on to another Sachite. The entire performance would go on for about 10 minutes. The Drummers would also alternate every few minutes without stopping the beat. The staff is relatively light and the strong wind today made things difficult. My roommate, Hiro who happens to be a Sachite told me that they follow some strict traditional rules (such as the fact that only men can be Sachite).
Watching these guys, I realized that they have a lot of team unity. It made me truly believe that the lack of team unity might have been the reason as to why the Varsity Men Squad of Stony brook crew did so poorly last fall. Its hard to describe the performance without being there, the drummers beat the drum until they were red in the face.
Yes, these guys are very badass, They have team unity, physical strength, cool uniforms. Now, "Kanto" is the actual name of the staff, "Sachite" are the people carrying the Kanto and "Ohayashi" are the musicians that played the flute and the drums. The performance would go like this, one of the members (I guess the Captain) would give a whistle, and the Ohayashi would play an intro before going into a continuous beat. The drummers would also cheer as they played. One of the Sachite would lift the staff and balance it for about 30 seconds before passing it on to another Sachite. The entire performance would go on for about 10 minutes. The Drummers would also alternate every few minutes without stopping the beat. The staff is relatively light and the strong wind today made things difficult. My roommate, Hiro who happens to be a Sachite told me that they follow some strict traditional rules (such as the fact that only men can be Sachite).
Watching these guys, I realized that they have a lot of team unity. It made me truly believe that the lack of team unity might have been the reason as to why the Varsity Men Squad of Stony brook crew did so poorly last fall. Its hard to describe the performance without being there, the drummers beat the drum until they were red in the face.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Aikido
Ok, so I'm adding two entires at the same time so make sure to read the one before this. In this entry I will talk about the Aikido club that I went to yesterday. The practice lasted from 6:30-9:30PM, yes it was long and I was completely exhausted afterwards. I will break apart what we did.
6:30-7:00PM, put together the mat (out of giant puzzle pieces), then clean it
7:00PM-7:30PM, Warm up, a variety of stretches, practicing falling.
7:30-8:10PM, Practice with short wooden swords, can't remember what they are called.
8:10-9:10PM, Hand to Hand combat with partner, about 5 minutes per move. most of the moves were pretty short but I think they could be very effective. It included protection against punches, grabs, and some other things
9:10-9:20: Free practice, we could practice whatever we wanted, falling, wooden swords, hand-to-hand, etc
9:20-9:30 Clean up
This was fun, and it was a workout. There were about 15 people and the class was about evenly split between Japanese and International students. The only down side, is that the practice on Tuesday is canceled because of the holidays, I know have 1 week to forget everything.
6:30-7:00PM, put together the mat (out of giant puzzle pieces), then clean it
7:00PM-7:30PM, Warm up, a variety of stretches, practicing falling.
7:30-8:10PM, Practice with short wooden swords, can't remember what they are called.
8:10-9:10PM, Hand to Hand combat with partner, about 5 minutes per move. most of the moves were pretty short but I think they could be very effective. It included protection against punches, grabs, and some other things
9:10-9:20: Free practice, we could practice whatever we wanted, falling, wooden swords, hand-to-hand, etc
9:20-9:30 Clean up
This was fun, and it was a workout. There were about 15 people and the class was about evenly split between Japanese and International students. The only down side, is that the practice on Tuesday is canceled because of the holidays, I know have 1 week to forget everything.
Toshima Elementary
So I have I think a pretty interesting entry today. First I went to Aikido practice yesterday, and this morning I spent 40 minutes with a bunch of 3rd Graders at Toshima Elementary. I'll speak about that first while its fresh in my mind.
Pretty much there were 6 of us, and we were broken into pairs for 3 classes. 3rd Graders, 4th Graders, and 6th Graders. I was paired up with Hannah (I'll double check her name, but I think that's what it was) from New Zealand. One of the English teachers explained to us what we had to do, and then 2 students led us to their class. Our lessen pretty much consisted of teaching the names of different foods to the 3rd Graders. We began by introducing ourselves, telling them our name, where we are from, what our hobbies are, what food we like in Japan. 2nd we had a bunch of cards with different kinds of foods, pronounced them, and had the students repeat after us. The two words that I had difficulty were "Parfait" and "Crepe", they are both French words and I had to think trying to remember how to say them in English.
We then had them say "I like" and "I don't like" to the foods before finally playing a game with them. The students were broken up into 4 teams, and the cards with different foods were placed in the floor. Me and Hannah would call out different foods and one member from each team would try to grab that card. The winner was the team that had the most cards. Well, that was the 40 minute class, now I am going to another school next week for the entire day that's actually paying the participants 2000 yen. We were volunteers here, but the school did give each one of us a bag of Apples and Bananas as a Thank you gift. Now I did not have a camera, nor do I think I would have the opportunity to take any, however a member of "Community outreach" (the office that organizes this at AIU)did take some pictures and told us we could get them later.
Pretty much there were 6 of us, and we were broken into pairs for 3 classes. 3rd Graders, 4th Graders, and 6th Graders. I was paired up with Hannah (I'll double check her name, but I think that's what it was) from New Zealand. One of the English teachers explained to us what we had to do, and then 2 students led us to their class. Our lessen pretty much consisted of teaching the names of different foods to the 3rd Graders. We began by introducing ourselves, telling them our name, where we are from, what our hobbies are, what food we like in Japan. 2nd we had a bunch of cards with different kinds of foods, pronounced them, and had the students repeat after us. The two words that I had difficulty were "Parfait" and "Crepe", they are both French words and I had to think trying to remember how to say them in English.
We then had them say "I like" and "I don't like" to the foods before finally playing a game with them. The students were broken up into 4 teams, and the cards with different foods were placed in the floor. Me and Hannah would call out different foods and one member from each team would try to grab that card. The winner was the team that had the most cards. Well, that was the 40 minute class, now I am going to another school next week for the entire day that's actually paying the participants 2000 yen. We were volunteers here, but the school did give each one of us a bag of Apples and Bananas as a Thank you gift. Now I did not have a camera, nor do I think I would have the opportunity to take any, however a member of "Community outreach" (the office that organizes this at AIU)did take some pictures and told us we could get them later.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Not feeling creative enough for a title
New pictures added. Sorry, for the slow down in the entries, my days are a little bit more routine now, all do I do have a break coming up for a few days next week and I can't help but look forward to it.
I mentioned to some people, I made a discovery recently that Japanese upperclassman can't have a meal plan here. As a result there are some social barriers, and I am not really taking any classes with them here. I will do my best to meet them through clubs. I guess I will briefly mention some of the Japanese students that I met. There is Hiro my roommate, he is a senior who just came back from studying abroad in Hong Kong and volunteering in Africa. Risa, who is my conversation partner who I briefly met yesterday. She is a junior planning on studying abroad in New Mexico next year (possibly a strange choice, but then again so is Akita when talking about Japan). There are Yuka and Takaya who are both freshman and members of my group in economics. Ah, also there is Takuma who I believe is a Sophomore, he is in my debate class. I want to meet more Japanese students because interacting with them is, different and interesting in a way.
I mentioned to some people, I made a discovery recently that Japanese upperclassman can't have a meal plan here. As a result there are some social barriers, and I am not really taking any classes with them here. I will do my best to meet them through clubs. I guess I will briefly mention some of the Japanese students that I met. There is Hiro my roommate, he is a senior who just came back from studying abroad in Hong Kong and volunteering in Africa. Risa, who is my conversation partner who I briefly met yesterday. She is a junior planning on studying abroad in New Mexico next year (possibly a strange choice, but then again so is Akita when talking about Japan). There are Yuka and Takaya who are both freshman and members of my group in economics. Ah, also there is Takuma who I believe is a Sophomore, he is in my debate class. I want to meet more Japanese students because interacting with them is, different and interesting in a way.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Random thoughts #24324
Ok, so I have another *3 poster in day, what does this mean? Quite simply that I am very bored, which is to be expected as I simply planned to do HW today, which is progressing slowly but surely. I woke up at 10Am this morning which is my first "late" wake-up here, and it did not feel like I overslept. As I mentioned in my previous entry I would like to find an open-air hot spring. This is rather difficult, there are very few English language sites that provide much information and I am sure that there are tons of these places that have no presence on the net. If an Onsen has website it usually entirely in Japanese. The websites that provide information on Onsens can also be very vague in that they will provide very few directions and sometimes just a Japanese address, which is almost useless to me since Google maps either provides directions in Japanese or just says that it can't find the location. This lead me to the decision that perhaps for my long weekend I should explore some of the rural towns around here, especially those that seem to have a lot of open-air and see if I can just find one. Partially I am seriously considering going back to the Onsen in Akita city tomorrow, the only thing holding me back is the fact that tomorrow is Sunday, which will very likely be the most crowded day of the week. Soo...I'll resist and wait until Monday when I only have one class in the morning and then tons off free time to go.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Prices
So, I received some requests for prices, so I will write some random ones. The prices are in yen, the exchange rate is $1=91-92 yen. For simplicity you can just divide by 100 to convert, but realize that it will be a little more then that.
Lodging:
Narita Airport Hostel in Narita 2000 yen/night
Sakura Asakusa Hostel in Tokyo 2940 yen/night
Capsule Hotels (Rumored) 1200-1500 yen/night
Ryokan (Japanese Style Hotel) 10,000 yen + (But if you book with other people it might be cheaper)
Transportatin:
Shinkansen ticket from Tokyo to Akita 16,890 yen
Tokyo Metro Ticket 160-300 yen(distance dependant)
Akita bus to Aeon or Wada Station 150 yen
Local Train from Wada to Akita station 230 yen
Bus Ride from Akita to Sendai 3,600 yen
Shinkansen ticket from Akita to Sendai 6,600 yen
Food
Instant noodles 168-200 yen
Canned Soda from Drink machine
or convenicne shop 140 yen
1.5 Soda battle at department Store 198 yen
McDonalds BigMac with fries & drink 560 yen
School Cafeteria Fried Pork with
Rice and Curry 340 yen
Hot Dog and Fries University Cafe 440 yen
Other:
Akita Onsen Plaza Admission 750 yen (+100 yen on weekend)
Coat Hangers *5 260 yen
If I remember anything I'll mention it here.
Lodging:
Narita Airport Hostel in Narita 2000 yen/night
Sakura Asakusa Hostel in Tokyo 2940 yen/night
Capsule Hotels (Rumored) 1200-1500 yen/night
Ryokan (Japanese Style Hotel) 10,000 yen + (But if you book with other people it might be cheaper)
Transportatin:
Shinkansen ticket from Tokyo to Akita 16,890 yen
Tokyo Metro Ticket 160-300 yen(distance dependant)
Akita bus to Aeon or Wada Station 150 yen
Local Train from Wada to Akita station 230 yen
Bus Ride from Akita to Sendai 3,600 yen
Shinkansen ticket from Akita to Sendai 6,600 yen
Food
Instant noodles 168-200 yen
Canned Soda from Drink machine
or convenicne shop 140 yen
1.5 Soda battle at department Store 198 yen
McDonalds BigMac with fries & drink 560 yen
School Cafeteria Fried Pork with
Rice and Curry 340 yen
Hot Dog and Fries University Cafe 440 yen
Other:
Akita Onsen Plaza Admission 750 yen (+100 yen on weekend)
Coat Hangers *5 260 yen
If I remember anything I'll mention it here.
A thought on Japanese..
Is Japanese the hardest language for western speakers to learn? Apparently so, most people, if asked what the hardest language to learn is would probably think that its Mandarin Chinese. While I have not studied Mandarin, I have spoken to quite a few people that have and drew some interesting conclusion.
It is true, while Mandarin has way more Kanji(Symbols) then Japanese, having studied Japanese for a little while now I can say that the Kanji themselves are not the hardest part of the language. What makes Japanese difficult is the fact that many Kanji do not have constant pronunciations, the pronunciation may vary depending on if the Kanji is used on it sown, with a combination with another Kanji or Kana, and other things like that. The 2nd thing that makes Japanese difficult is its nightmarish grammar and very conjugations. While initially did not feel that conjugations were difficult and complicated there. There are so many conjugations including, the present informal positive, the present informal negative, the present formal positive & negative, the past formal and informal, positive and negative. Then the verbs change based on weather you want to say "Should we do this" or if you are demanding.
Based on what I've been told, Mandarin lacks all of these, the Kanji as numerous as they are do not vary in pronunciation, and the verb conjugations are almost nonexistent. In other words it seems to lack everything that makes Japanese so complicated. I will briefly mention two other languages that are generally ranked as very difficult to westerners, Korean and Arabic. Korean's grammar is said to be similar to Japanese, however, Korean does not use Kanji and as such is simplified. About Arabic, I will admit that I don't know much about it, however, somebody who seems to be knowledgeable about these things did once mention to me that it is much simpler then Japanese as well.
It is true, while Mandarin has way more Kanji(Symbols) then Japanese, having studied Japanese for a little while now I can say that the Kanji themselves are not the hardest part of the language. What makes Japanese difficult is the fact that many Kanji do not have constant pronunciations, the pronunciation may vary depending on if the Kanji is used on it sown, with a combination with another Kanji or Kana, and other things like that. The 2nd thing that makes Japanese difficult is its nightmarish grammar and very conjugations. While initially did not feel that conjugations were difficult and complicated there. There are so many conjugations including, the present informal positive, the present informal negative, the present formal positive & negative, the past formal and informal, positive and negative. Then the verbs change based on weather you want to say "Should we do this" or if you are demanding.
Based on what I've been told, Mandarin lacks all of these, the Kanji as numerous as they are do not vary in pronunciation, and the verb conjugations are almost nonexistent. In other words it seems to lack everything that makes Japanese so complicated. I will briefly mention two other languages that are generally ranked as very difficult to westerners, Korean and Arabic. Korean's grammar is said to be similar to Japanese, however, Korean does not use Kanji and as such is simplified. About Arabic, I will admit that I don't know much about it, however, somebody who seems to be knowledgeable about these things did once mention to me that it is much simpler then Japanese as well.
Onsen
Ok, so I finally went to an Onsen! (Japanese Hot Spring) And let's just say this is definitely everyone should experience at some point! Anyway, AIU Student Services were nice enough to tell me how to get to one in Akita City. This took me a little while since as I think I mentioned before, Akita City is no Tokyo and you can't expect to see signs in English or for people to understand it.
Still, the attendants at the Onsen once I got to it were very nice and explained everything to me. Probably one of the things that I like here, when you look confused people will try to help you. Here is how it works:
1. you arrive into the lobby (The onsen was in a Hotel), and then you put your shoes in a locker.
2. Buy a ticket from a machine
3. Enter the "Onsen Lobby", rather then the "Main Hotel Lobby", give the tickets to the attendants and get another locker key as well as a towel if you want.
4 Go to the locker room, undress, lock your stuff in a locker
5. Wash yourself (Dictated by cleanliness etiquette that you wash yourself before going into the pools). The Showers have soap and shampoo
6 Then Soak.
Now, there were a lot of pools there of different shapes and sizes, I think they had different minerals, but the descriptions were in Japanese (plus I did not have my glasses), so I'm not sure. Anyway, after wards I definitely had a "regenerated body and soul" type of feeling. I am coming back here...soon. Of course now I also want to find some "open air" springs, before it gets too cold. So, on to research...
Still, the attendants at the Onsen once I got to it were very nice and explained everything to me. Probably one of the things that I like here, when you look confused people will try to help you. Here is how it works:
1. you arrive into the lobby (The onsen was in a Hotel), and then you put your shoes in a locker.
2. Buy a ticket from a machine
3. Enter the "Onsen Lobby", rather then the "Main Hotel Lobby", give the tickets to the attendants and get another locker key as well as a towel if you want.
4 Go to the locker room, undress, lock your stuff in a locker
5. Wash yourself (Dictated by cleanliness etiquette that you wash yourself before going into the pools). The Showers have soap and shampoo
6 Then Soak.
Now, there were a lot of pools there of different shapes and sizes, I think they had different minerals, but the descriptions were in Japanese (plus I did not have my glasses), so I'm not sure. Anyway, after wards I definitely had a "regenerated body and soul" type of feeling. I am coming back here...soon. Of course now I also want to find some "open air" springs, before it gets too cold. So, on to research...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Entry #36
I am a little too tired to come up with clever titles, but with entry #36 on my 19th day here I think, I am averaging almost 2 entries a day :) Once again I will talk about a few random things on my mind. First, thanks to the coat hangers I purchased at the mall my side of the room now looks less messy, but it still needs some work.
I was able to get a location on the map to a Japanese Onsen (Hot Spring) in Akita City, so I will try to go there tomorrow. Despite having no classes I have quite a few things going on, in the morning as I said I am going to the Onsen, at 4PM I will attend a meeting of a club called "Japanese Conversation Friends." Its pretty much a club that pairs up international and Japanese students with conversation partners and organizes some events. At 7PM is the highly publicized "Gathering Party", not quite sure what to expect but it sounds fun, so hopefully it'll be an interesting day.
I was able to get a location on the map to a Japanese Onsen (Hot Spring) in Akita City, so I will try to go there tomorrow. Despite having no classes I have quite a few things going on, in the morning as I said I am going to the Onsen, at 4PM I will attend a meeting of a club called "Japanese Conversation Friends." Its pretty much a club that pairs up international and Japanese students with conversation partners and organizes some events. At 7PM is the highly publicized "Gathering Party", not quite sure what to expect but it sounds fun, so hopefully it'll be an interesting day.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Plans plans
Ok, a little bit of my energy came back so I just wanted to update my plans for the next few...weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to the mall and buying primarily some coat hangers, and maybe some other things to store my stuff.
Friday (The 11th) I will try to go to an Onsen (Pending I find out where it is), and in the evening there is some kind of "Gathering Party". I think its just some party with music and food sponsored by AIU's Student Government. On September 18th I signed up to be a "guest" at elementary school, on September 23rd I am going on a field trip to a Professional Basketball game. On October11-12th there is an AIU Festival. Festivals are big in Japan, the meal plan is not available on those 2 days so hopefully there will be a lot of interesting food to try and of course hang out with people.
Still not sure what i will do for the long weekend that's coming up, There are some people trying to come up where we can go as a group, but people don't want to spend much money. I think that's it for now.
Friday (The 11th) I will try to go to an Onsen (Pending I find out where it is), and in the evening there is some kind of "Gathering Party". I think its just some party with music and food sponsored by AIU's Student Government. On September 18th I signed up to be a "guest" at elementary school, on September 23rd I am going on a field trip to a Professional Basketball game. On October11-12th there is an AIU Festival. Festivals are big in Japan, the meal plan is not available on those 2 days so hopefully there will be a lot of interesting food to try and of course hang out with people.
Still not sure what i will do for the long weekend that's coming up, There are some people trying to come up where we can go as a group, but people don't want to spend much money. I think that's it for now.
Another set of Random thoughts
Well, my entries are getting shorter but it has more to do with me getting tired with classes. Perhaps, I will write a longer entry over the weekend, I'll try but no guarantees. As far as the classes go I had a nightmare about Kanji (Chinese symbols) last night. Whoever, came up with the idea of having Japanese 4 days in a row is...not a good person. Some of the international students here are actually taking Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean at the same time...crazy people. Oh, and one more interesting thing is that the Japanese students all have electronic dictionaries that they carry to their lectures, if there is a word they don't understand they translate it right away.
There were tons of High School students touring the campus today, they appeared a little shyer then the group that came before. A few did greet me with "Hello", considering that they did in 3 people together made me think that they are a little nervous about talking to us. If students come again I'll make sure to greet them myself.
Some interesting Social things that I noticed. First, smoking, there are only few small spaces on campus that you can smoke, unlike Stony where there are some rules but they are barely enforced. There is a small room in Komachi hall with a table. So I feel like they have sort of their own club.
The other thing is language, while everyone here speaks English pretty well the Japanese Students tend to speak Japanese between themselves as do the students from some other countries. Even if the students are friendly this does create a barrier of sorts, if they are talking in their native language you have almost no way of joining their conversation. On a more negative note, you can't be sure if they are talking about you, it is irritating (did happen) when you have the strongest feeling that something was said about you and you have no idea what it was and weather it was true. I guess this entry is descent sized...
There were tons of High School students touring the campus today, they appeared a little shyer then the group that came before. A few did greet me with "Hello", considering that they did in 3 people together made me think that they are a little nervous about talking to us. If students come again I'll make sure to greet them myself.
Some interesting Social things that I noticed. First, smoking, there are only few small spaces on campus that you can smoke, unlike Stony where there are some rules but they are barely enforced. There is a small room in Komachi hall with a table. So I feel like they have sort of their own club.
The other thing is language, while everyone here speaks English pretty well the Japanese Students tend to speak Japanese between themselves as do the students from some other countries. Even if the students are friendly this does create a barrier of sorts, if they are talking in their native language you have almost no way of joining their conversation. On a more negative note, you can't be sure if they are talking about you, it is irritating (did happen) when you have the strongest feeling that something was said about you and you have no idea what it was and weather it was true. I guess this entry is descent sized...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Life with classes
Well, as expected my entries have slowed down a little bit. I do have few random thoughts to give. First, I just found out that there is no class on September 21-23. This is a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Since I have no class on Fridays it means that this is a 5 day weekend. It is rather shame that I just found out about this, it does appear to be indeed a holiday and everything (in Kyoto) appears booked. There is another bus trip to a professional basketball game on the 23rd. I don't have much interest in basketball, but it is free and it will be nice to go out.
My roommate has finally arrived this morning, I only met him very briefly for about 5minutes. Based on a poster that he hanged in the room I assume that he just came back from studying abroad in Hong Kong, I will ask him for sure later tonight. I just came from my debate class, the professor did not show. We ended up having a long discussion about Ants and Bees (what he wanted us to research for today) without him. There is another class tomorrow, hopefully he'll come.
So, there are 2 things that I really want to do here but haven't gotten around to doing. The first one I mentioned earlier is to go to an Onsen (Hot Spring). Rumor has it that there are a lot of them here, however, most of them don't really have websites and if they do, they are generally in Japanese only. Well, I don't think this should be a problem, I will try asking where I can find one and hopefully go on Friday. The second is to go to a Karaoke bar, this is somewhat more complicated for me as I will need to either put some people together and go or join a group of people that are going. I overheard from people that went, that for about 2000 yen ($20) you get 2 hours with unlimted drinks and food. Make plans, make plans, make plans....
My roommate has finally arrived this morning, I only met him very briefly for about 5minutes. Based on a poster that he hanged in the room I assume that he just came back from studying abroad in Hong Kong, I will ask him for sure later tonight. I just came from my debate class, the professor did not show. We ended up having a long discussion about Ants and Bees (what he wanted us to research for today) without him. There is another class tomorrow, hopefully he'll come.
So, there are 2 things that I really want to do here but haven't gotten around to doing. The first one I mentioned earlier is to go to an Onsen (Hot Spring). Rumor has it that there are a lot of them here, however, most of them don't really have websites and if they do, they are generally in Japanese only. Well, I don't think this should be a problem, I will try asking where I can find one and hopefully go on Friday. The second is to go to a Karaoke bar, this is somewhat more complicated for me as I will need to either put some people together and go or join a group of people that are going. I overheard from people that went, that for about 2000 yen ($20) you get 2 hours with unlimted drinks and food. Make plans, make plans, make plans....
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Similarities
So, I apologize for not writing yesterday, there was something that irritated me rather badly over the last few days in the behavior of someone I met here.
Yesterday I went out to Akita City for a little bit, on my way there I've spoken a little bit to Katerina from the Czech Republic and Heather from the UK. They were heading to the "satellite center" to work as English conversation partners. I went around taking interesting pictures of the city, I will post those soon. This morning, I vacuumed the room and tried to clean things up since my roommate is supposed to arrive tomorrow.
Yesterday I went out to Akita City for a little bit, on my way there I've spoken a little bit to Katerina from the Czech Republic and Heather from the UK. They were heading to the "satellite center" to work as English conversation partners. I went around taking interesting pictures of the city, I will post those soon. This morning, I vacuumed the room and tried to clean things up since my roommate is supposed to arrive tomorrow.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Third Post of the day, random thoughts
I guess I'm setting a record by posting 3 times in one day. I guess this sort of happens when you don't have any classes and you feel a little more settled then before. I did take care of some things today as mentioned in my previous posts. I ended up spending a good part of the afternoon hanging out with some international students from various South Asian countries (Taiwan, Malaysia). They are probably some of the friendliest people I've ever met, they would once in a while buy snacks at the nearby school convenience store and would always share some with me (yes I will make sure to share some with them when I buy some).
Anyway, to some more random things:
1. My Google shirt is extremely popular and everyone here seems to like it (international students, Japanese Students, Faculty, Staff). So if you're going to Japan and want to be popular make sure to bring your own Google shirt.
2. I received an E-mail about the "cafeteria meeting minutes" which I found to be rather entertaining. Some issues discussed include students sneaking away too much rice. An interesting point is that 80% of international students are dissatisfied with the menu while 70% of Japanese Students are satisfied. So, the food is very Japanese. Personally I don't mind it too much, but I think I might need a break from it once in a while. Like today, I only had dinner in the cafeteria, and I did not take a bowl of rice.
Anyway, to some more random things:
1. My Google shirt is extremely popular and everyone here seems to like it (international students, Japanese Students, Faculty, Staff). So if you're going to Japan and want to be popular make sure to bring your own Google shirt.
2. I received an E-mail about the "cafeteria meeting minutes" which I found to be rather entertaining. Some issues discussed include students sneaking away too much rice. An interesting point is that 80% of international students are dissatisfied with the menu while 70% of Japanese Students are satisfied. So, the food is very Japanese. Personally I don't mind it too much, but I think I might need a break from it once in a while. Like today, I only had dinner in the cafeteria, and I did not take a bowl of rice.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
More & other stuff
Besides Economics my other new class was "Introduction to Japanese Society". Unfortunately I was deathly tired by then, while the professor made quite an impression of himself I was too tired to comprehend much at that point.
Anyway, I spoke to the office of Student Affairs and I was told that my roommate is currently out of the country and will arrive on Monday. I also signed up for an MRI language study, so next Saturday I will go into Sendai. I will be paid 12,000 yen (around $120) which sounds good, but 72,000 yen will go into transportation, and if I decide to spend a night in Sendai at a Ryokan (Traditional Japanese hotel) or something, I will definitely be in the red. Plus, I think it will take a month before I will be paid. I also signed up for a program to go to schools and maybe teach English a little.
Anyway, I spoke to the office of Student Affairs and I was told that my roommate is currently out of the country and will arrive on Monday. I also signed up for an MRI language study, so next Saturday I will go into Sendai. I will be paid 12,000 yen (around $120) which sounds good, but 72,000 yen will go into transportation, and if I decide to spend a night in Sendai at a Ryokan (Traditional Japanese hotel) or something, I will definitely be in the red. Plus, I think it will take a month before I will be paid. I also signed up for a program to go to schools and maybe teach English a little.
About Dr. Lacktorin
Ok, so I had 2 new classes and I have now got to go to all of my classes. First there was Economics, and while it was only an intro I enjoyed it tremendously, probably the class I will learn most from.
Dr.Lacktorin, who I mentioned before, began by talking in a bit of detail about himself (guess he likes that). He claimed to be a troublemaker as a teenager (difficult to believe as he seems rather mellow now). As a result his mom enrolled him into the army and he ended up serving in some very dangerous areas of Vietnam. Luckily he got out of it OK, and at the age of 27 he ended up enrolling into a university as a pre-med student. About 2 years in he ended up following a Japanese girl into Japan (he described as the biggest mistake of his life) and ended up working for a company there as well as attending and graduating from Sophia University. A few years later the company was offering scholarships to go into the states and complete MBA's. Dr. Lacktorin volunteered, but was turned down since the company was concerned that being an American he would take the scholarship and not come back. He ended up quitting the company and going to get an MBA on his own.
After graduating from the University of Chicago he went to work at Wall Street for a few years, before moving to Citibank Japan where he worked as an investment banker. He eventually however, becaome a professor at Sophia University, taking a major pay cut from his banking position. However, he liked the fact that he got to teach and that he got 3 months off a year. In order to improve his standing as a professor he ended up spending 8 years at Keio University to get his Ph.D in Economics.
This is where he ended his autobiography and spoke about how he runs the class. First, he told us that he expects us to read the news and to follow the Nikkei 225, the cost of stock in Japan. He has participation points, he said that he will randomly cal on students in the class and force them to talk, and he expects other people in the class to understand and hear, and if you can't understand or hear you should raise your hand. He said that he is an expert at seeing "eyes that don't understand" (there was a Japanese word for it, can't remember what it is). This exercise however, seemed to be more aimed at the Japanese students who seemed really shy when he called on them.
Dr.Lacktorin, who I mentioned before, began by talking in a bit of detail about himself (guess he likes that). He claimed to be a troublemaker as a teenager (difficult to believe as he seems rather mellow now). As a result his mom enrolled him into the army and he ended up serving in some very dangerous areas of Vietnam. Luckily he got out of it OK, and at the age of 27 he ended up enrolling into a university as a pre-med student. About 2 years in he ended up following a Japanese girl into Japan (he described as the biggest mistake of his life) and ended up working for a company there as well as attending and graduating from Sophia University. A few years later the company was offering scholarships to go into the states and complete MBA's. Dr. Lacktorin volunteered, but was turned down since the company was concerned that being an American he would take the scholarship and not come back. He ended up quitting the company and going to get an MBA on his own.
After graduating from the University of Chicago he went to work at Wall Street for a few years, before moving to Citibank Japan where he worked as an investment banker. He eventually however, becaome a professor at Sophia University, taking a major pay cut from his banking position. However, he liked the fact that he got to teach and that he got 3 months off a year. In order to improve his standing as a professor he ended up spending 8 years at Keio University to get his Ph.D in Economics.
This is where he ended his autobiography and spoke about how he runs the class. First, he told us that he expects us to read the news and to follow the Nikkei 225, the cost of stock in Japan. He has participation points, he said that he will randomly cal on students in the class and force them to talk, and he expects other people in the class to understand and hear, and if you can't understand or hear you should raise your hand. He said that he is an expert at seeing "eyes that don't understand" (there was a Japanese word for it, can't remember what it is). This exercise however, seemed to be more aimed at the Japanese students who seemed really shy when he called on them.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Classes Classes
Ok, so I think I'm back in a writing mood during my break between classes. My first class yesterday was Japanese with Hashimoto-Sensei. It was a good class with only 13 people (Some people felt that the class was too difficult for them). Despite the exam it seems that the level of everyone is different. Some people were wondering if they should drop to a level lower, while others were thinking it was too easy. For me it felt just right, not too hard, not too easy. We've been reviewing for the last 2 days. The professor, who I really liked introduced himself and encouraged us to ask him some questions in Japanese. He then had us take a "review exam" of sorts to test our abilities. During this exam (which doesn't count) he spoke to each one of us individually about our abilities, goals, background etc.
My next class was Japanese and world debate with Michihiro Matsumoto. IF you search him on Amazon you can find a variety of books written by him. The class was on Debate, and the professor brought a bunch of crickets to the classroom. He asked us about our background and weather we thought the crickets were "noise" or "music". It seemed that the Japanese and North American people in the class felt that it was "music", while the two UK area people that they were "noise". Everyone was interviewed in front of the class and he asked some people deeper questions. He then had us in a brief debate as to weather we felt that Michael Jackson died happy or not.
During my remaining time I went to the Mall, brought a few things, was relieved to find a working ATM for my Debit card. I have 2 more classes today and no classes tomorrow. Classes started and I still have no roomate, I'll see how this goes.
My next class was Japanese and world debate with Michihiro Matsumoto. IF you search him on Amazon you can find a variety of books written by him. The class was on Debate, and the professor brought a bunch of crickets to the classroom. He asked us about our background and weather we thought the crickets were "noise" or "music". It seemed that the Japanese and North American people in the class felt that it was "music", while the two UK area people that they were "noise". Everyone was interviewed in front of the class and he asked some people deeper questions. He then had us in a brief debate as to weather we felt that Michael Jackson died happy or not.
During my remaining time I went to the Mall, brought a few things, was relieved to find a working ATM for my Debit card. I have 2 more classes today and no classes tomorrow. Classes started and I still have no roomate, I'll see how this goes.
Wednesday the 2nd
Today was the first day of classes, and while overall a good day...a little something really annoys me right now, that makes me not in a mood for writing about my day. Maybe a I'll feel different a little later, but for now I hope nobody minds me taking a short break. Sorry about that.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)