SOOO AWKWARD MOMENT TODAY...

I was trying to tell someone that I did my laundry after straightening up my desk (putting stuff in order)(整理/sehree).

APPARENTLY... if you mispronounce the word for straightening up, it becomes that special time of the month for a woman(生理/sayree)... so I accidentally said that after "that time" I did my laundry...

OOPS

eek

so I am officially the worst blogger ever....

I neglect this thing like a mother bird neglects a fondled bird nest...

I'm getting closer and closer to the Japanese language proficiency test... and right now I'm like a 3rd grader trying to take the 9th grade level SSAT (secondary school aptitude test).

OOPS!

oh well, I took my sougou(grammar review(of grammar I have yet to learn)) midterm test today... I got the ones I knew but sometimes I just had to circle a random answer, we had 30 seconds per question so no time to doddle... 80 questions in 40 minutes... aaaaahhhhh

I can't believe my time is drawing close to an end... I am not at all ready to go home...

I think I may volunteer at the Doshisha Kindergarden/elementary school, we got an application today and it seems fun!

well... I better get to studying... 3+tests per week and the exam do not make for much free time (though I have been able to hang out with my friend Hiroyuki practically every day since last wednesday... can anyone say language exchange? he's about to take the TOEFL (test on eng as a foreign lang) on sunday!

on Saturday we're going to the Doshisha orchestra concert (I got a free ticket!!!)

oink oink...

SO the swine flu has officially reached Kyoto...

at 9 am EST (10 pm JST) on Thurs nov. 21st a 10 year old boy in the south part of town was diagnosed with swine flu... this is late considering it has been a week since the flu entered Japan (in Kobe/Osaka) and has surrounded Kyoto prefecture for a few days (meaning the train that carried the virus from osaka to shiga prefectures went through kyoto) 

So since there is a small boy with swine flu somewhere in Kyoto, ALL SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED FOR A WEEK

Students are not allowed on campuses

Doctor Masks have been sold out for over a week in all places that sell them despite the fact that they have no effect on whether or not you will catch the virus.

Japanese people are encouraging hand washing and gargling despite the fact that only kitchen or tub sinks dispense of hot water and soap is rarely found... anywhere, so basically just lightly splash your hands with cold water and then gargle by cupping your hands and using the same cold water with your (still) germy hands  to gargle...

Because the schools have also ordered a ban on public bufoonery (i.e. going out in public with friends, or otherwise being in contact with people)

karaoke places as well as many popular hangout places have been forced to turn away students from using the facilities (because an elementary student has the disease, obviously all students now have it and we should all be bundled up into one category because Japan loves doing that.)

for example, any non Japanese/non asian person is automatically American and can speak fluent English (and no other language) they are all rude and have no regard for others. 

also it is perfectly okay to take pictures of these people on trains or talk about them and laugh at them in a loud voice because they don't understand Japanese so it's okay! These people are very rare and should be treated with caution, teach children to be afraid of them or else they will eat your face!

any asian person in Japan has got to speak perfect Japanese and follow all manners or they are considered to be socially inept individuals. Should a Japanese person say that they are actually American, they will not be placed in the aforementioned group, but rather be cast aside as a social outcast.

of course this is not all japanese, but many.

...so that's just my most recent frustrations with Japan...

1 month hiatus... I'm back

so for some reason I've had a dry month on my blog. Alot has happened during the past month and I have a ton to update on, but I'm quite busy these days so I must make it relatively short...

3 days ago marked 8 months here and 3 months left! AHHHHHH

so since the last update I've gone through my first Golden Week holiday (week long holiday with no school)

survived the huge pig influenza scare of japan (literally if you sneezed (during pollen season) you were told to quarantine yourself)

and experienced Japanese media hype about a drunken naked celebrity that would have caused greater fame in the states.

Golden week was pretty awesome! I went to Hyogo prefecture for the first time and saw Kobe and Himeji castle!

I got my lunch stolen by a kite (the predatory bird not the sheet that flies) along the river.

I was given a summer kimono (yukata)

In my free time (and free time from now until Jul 5) I have been (will be) studying isshokenmei for the 2nd level of the JLPT (japanese language proficiency test). At this point I am bound to fail it, but I'd still like to see exactly how far I have to go before I can pass to set a marker for my studies.

Not having a job is so hard! A. I have too much free time, B. I have too little money. It's been 5 years since I didnt have a job (or 2/3/4) at any one time and I am going crazy (which may be in part due to the fact that I am watching my funds dwindle to nothingness $400 a month for rent/insurance plus the cost of food (which I am stretching as much as possible) Thank goodness a bowl of noodle soup with green onions (kake udon) is only 150 yen! that has turned into my lunch (maybe a small block of tofu as well)

Well I'm looking up because I know I have a secure job next year as Senior RA in Hoben!

Well , i'm off to buy eggs and rice and some stuff at the store, then studying with my 100 yen free refill coffee (that tastes average).

Hopefully I will update more often (probably wont happen since I'm studying so much.

Spring semester classes and teachers: first impressions

So I've now officially had a full week of classes and have experienced all of my teachers... TOTALLY different from last semester
Japanese:
this is going to be a ton of review for the 4 of us in level 3 last semester... but hey it gives me time to concentrate on my language seminars
-Fujii sensei (not the same fuji as the mountain): She's so nice, and reminds me a bit of Furukawa sensei from last semester! I have her for 2 grammar classes and my speech class, so I'm excited!
-Tsukiyama Sensei: I also have her for 2 grammar classes and a vocabulary building class, so I'm excited, she's great at teaching the material and makes great facial expressions!
-Matsumoto sensei: I have her for my reading comprehension class, and so far I don't like her as much... she treats us like children who don't know Japanese...
-Okada Sensei: I only met her for 3 minutes during my interview for her conversation class, but she seems nice...
-Toda Sensei: I had her a tiny bit last semester before dropping her class (which I should not have done) She seems alot better than my first impression! She is only teaching my essay writing class.
-Ichikawa Sensei: OH MY... I have never met a more energetic man in my life... he dances around the room and yells out songs and makes us reply in big voices... too much for monday morning... but oh well...He seems super nice and used to teach in New Orleans...

Japanese Seminar:
Toda Sensei: This is my second time signing up for her class but last time i dropped it... it seems alot easier now!
Matsumoto Sensei: (different from above-mentioned) He is so good at explaining the grammar! it's way above my level but i am understanding it all!

Japanese Culture Classes:(with japanese students)
religion: Detlef Kohn: he is... interesting(CRAAAZY)... but i cant hear his voice to save my life...he also took 30 minutes to take the roll...the class is in english, german, chinese, and japanese (whatever he feels like speaking at that moment...)
Tradition and culture: I forgot her name...: She's really nice and when the foreign students dont understand the japanese she uses (which is easily understandable) she goes into english... she lived in NY for years.

J Culture:(only foreign students)
Japanese History from Edo-the war: this class is a bit above my japanese level, or at least he talks too fast for me... but it seems interesting and I'm excited to learn about the stuff since I only know a general overview of this time period!

World Culture:(english, with japanese students):
International Business A-Business Management and Global Communication: Kameda Sensei:
This class should be fun! the class is in English but he uses a very over accentuated pronounciation so it's kind of hard to understand...
I think he said more inspirational quotes in the 1st class than i have heard all year...( including the japanese title of Forrest Gump: 一期一会 which means once in a lifetime)

it's good to be back on campus but there are waaaay more foreigners here this semester, it's kind of weird...

almost time for spring classes

so my entirely too long spring break is coming to a close and I am now looking at placement tests and class selection for spring semester...
I got my grades from fall today and they definitely could have been better...
I ended up with only a 3.53 with 8 a's and 7 b's...
the funny part is the class I took in English was one of those Bs... OOPS i guess I'm not as good at English as I should be... or I'm just more lazy doing english assignments in a class geared towards non-native speakers...

Looking at the schedule for next semester I have a few classes that I really want to take:
(te translation into english may be a bit odd)
("/"indicates same timeslot so one or the other)
intercultural communication/The Japanese Noh play
contemporary arts in Japan
Japanese Philosophy and Religion(eng)
Japanese Phil. and Rel. (Jse)
Japanese Literature/comparative studies of int'l cultures(e)
Business and management studies in Jpn(Jse/eng/ger)/Int'l business a(e)
tradition and culture of Japan
ikebana/arts in japan
japanese history 1
Japanese language seminar b
tradition and art of Japan/"history of histories"(?)/int'l business b
Jse culture1/History of the world (part)1
multicultural communication(fri evening near kyoto station)
sat: tradition and personality in Japan

(unless otherwise noted, these classes are in Japanese
and i of course cannot take them all seing as I am already taking 10 japanese classes)

in other news I found out yesterday that I have a kidney stone... which was aparent this morning when I was at school waiting on a friend in the lounge/watching Japan beat Korea in the baseball game and I suddenly felt a sharp back pain.

whelp time to study for my placement test!

NOTHING TO DO!

So I'm a week into vacation and so far I've been to Osaka once, and bought a few of my favorite books translated into Japanese:
Catcher in the Rye
Great Gatsby
Alabama Story (To Kill A Mockingbird's Japanese Title)
I was surprised by how much I was able to read and understand from the books but I will still need my Electronic Dictionary to understand it all...
I also have recently been thinking about my SIP (Senior Individualized Project) and I have come up with two Ideas that I am really excited about researching:
1 is a translation/subtitling of one of my favorite Japanese Director's films. Currently Kore-Eda only has 3 films with subtitles available in the US and I really like all three of them so I want to translate another, but this will be hard work.
My 2nd idea is a research paper on food culture in Japan (which is DEEPLY rooted into the culture).
I am starting to get really excited about them!
I went to Osaka the other day to buy DVDs at a specialty store for Sabrina (who studied here last year) and while there I met up with Akiko who studied at Kalamazoo last year. We went to a make your own octopus fry (takoyaki) place near the station! It was surprisingly fun to make!
Um... I will try to make this vacation less boring...

EXAMS!

So I'm pretty much smack dab in the middle of 10 exams, 3 reports, and a presentation! (granted all the reports are turned in now!)
and wow... this is like a marathon...
I've learned that I cannot study AT ALL in my room... too much distraction being in the same room as a bed...
I fall asleep so easily within a 10 foot radius of a bed... or a table with a built in heater...

SO I've spent a lot of time studying at Mister Donut... some of you may remember this shop from its pre-1990 existence in the States... where it started and was then bought out by Dunkin Donuts.
in any case... they give free refills on coffee and serve delicious corn soup or onion soup!
AND you get free stuff!

So I wrote that yesterday, then drafted it... I got tired of writing but didn't feel finished.
Today I had my Furukawa exams! I ended up with an 89 on the 2nd 3rd of grammar for the term... I should have gotten higher but I made too many careless misses...
I had a 5 minute "phone conversation" with Furukawa SenseiYuri Chan about cancelling plans to go see a movie on sunday, I had to think fast (like on the phone) so I was like "uh...my mom went to the hospital with a broken foot!" I have no idea why that was the 1st thing that came to mind...
I also had to perform a drama for my seminar. I'm so glad I only have 4 exams left... but I'm bummed that I have to end the semester with Takahashi sensei...

anywhoo... 2 days then I am FREEEEEE! (for 2 months)

SNOOOOOOOW!

It snowed in Kyoto today, and this past week. It reminded me of N. Georgia (more snow than atlanta, but still laughable in comparison to MI.)
I also for the 1st time encountered the YAKIIMO Man!
You know how the favorite summer treat of little children in the US is to hear that little creepy circus jingle come down the street that only means one thing: "ICE CREAM MAN, ICE CREAM MAN!" WELL, here in Japan in winter they have the Sweet potato man!
here's a glimpse of him in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRvoSF2pyt4
I have heard this tune many times, but not until Saturday had I encountered the actual YakiImo man!
Well, Exams are coming up really soon! a week from friday to be exact... and it will be a busy week, 10 exams, 1 presentation, and 3 reports! AHHHHHH!
BUUUT! after that I get a 2 month break til it gets warm again!
I hope to find a cheap ticket to Korea!

Oh and I forgot to mention, I had a day off yesterday, so I went to finally see Wall・E but it was changed into Japanese, and the reason I don't say dubbed is cuz not only did the voices change, but all the written stuff changed to Japanese as well... but as it was a childrens movie, I still understood it!

What that was a break?

so I have a test, report, and presentation tomorrow. What better time to write about my all together too short vacation?

so I got out of classes for vacation on Dec 24th (way too late right?).
That night I had dinner with Clara (pictured below in the red and black), Momo, and others It was quite delicious and westerny!
Christmas night I was supposed to have Chinese food with my chinese friend, but he totally flaked out on me, so I went to Osaka's nearby Sono and had Toriyaki (chicken on a stick(mom you used to buy it alot at Costco)) with Akiko and Yamauchi! It was the 1st time I had Cocoro (chicken heart on a stick) which is surprisingly good... I never fail to be impressed by what the Japanese diet DOESN'T include haha.
Afterwards, we did the Christmas tradition(??!??) of Bowling and Biliards!
I was horrible haha...

on the 27th-29th, I went to Fukui-ken,Fukui-shi to visit Yuka's(who visited atlanta over the summer) family and got to see a cliff where people commit suicide (it's named after a monk who was forced to jump off the cliff), and a dinosaur museum... Dinosaurs in Japan... WHO KNEW?
I went to Osaka on the 29th and met with some friends, as always Osaka was quite fun! We hung around my train station (Osaka Umeda) .
On the 30th, I did a bit of English teaching, then Had dinner with my friend Ken chan, a sophomore who volunteers in my Conversation class.
New years was quite fun, I brought in the New Year with my friends Yasunari and Yuki and (ironically) Toshi (Toshi is one of the readings for the chinese character for year... therefore it was fnny that I was with toshi in the new toshi... ok... I laughed...
Over this past weekend, I visited a friend who worked in a Traditional Japanese hotel in Shiga-ken, and we had some really good sushi!
On Sunday night, I had what's called a 新年会 or new years party, and did a ton of Karaoke...
This week so far I've just been writing a paper, preparing a presentation, correcting a 130 page graduate thesis for a friend, and studying for my test tomorrow.

just a quick note:
when sending packages to me, in order to keep from the package taking 2 weeks or more to get here, make sure to write JAPAN below the address... it helps the postal service figure out where to send the package.

Just more pictures, scroll down for today's entry yo!

DECEMBER

well, It's officially been forever and a half since I last updated! sorry about that!
Dember has been quite good so far!
I've gotten my 2 best grammar test grades (In Japan that is) (along with my worst Kanji test grade... but let's not talk about that one... haha.)
I'm feeling comfortable with my Japanese again, which is a good thing!
I've gotten hooked on a television Drama that airs every morning 8h15-30 on NHK (japan's version of NBC).
It's called だんだん（dan dan) and is the best show ever (also the only tv besides the news that I watch...).
I bought what is called a cotatsu (炬燵）which is the best invention EVER!
It is a table that is low to the ground with a futon built in creating a skirt to the table. underneath the table is a small heater which makes your legs SO warm and comfortable!!!!!
I love it!
December also marks the time for 忘年会(bounenkai) or "forget the year parties"
This is a cance for people to go out with their peers (and or teachers) to forget the year and look forward to the next year.
I've started to do NY Times Crosswords on my Nintendo DS (handheld video game) in order to not forget english (for example I just typed igirisu cuz thats the japanese pronounciation...)
...but hey i'm just a mess...

Right now for my folk tale class, Im translating Star Wars into japanese and will present it to the class on Monday (yes, I know Star Wars is not an American folk talke, but they are all kind of boring... and its really a "long ago story" and Star Wars starts with "a long time ago in a galaxy far away..." so it's totally legit...)
I'm very excited because after christmas I will be visiting Yuka's family in Fukui Ken (she visited me in Atlanta back in June).

The most awkward moment happened to me 2 weeks ago in my Conversation class... we have 9 people in the class so when it was time to pair up, I was paired with Furukawa Sensei (the one obsessed with my teeth), and since we were doing friend conversation, she made me call her "yuriko chan" which is a very familiar way of calling a girl that is the same age or younger than you... I felt quite awkward to say the least.

It's kind of appropriate that the last chapter of the year is entitled やる気(yaruki) which means
the will to do something. My last class of the year is on Christmas Eve, and I'm just about ready to be out... luckily I have a 2 month break in spring!
The reason I havn't been updating lately is that we have 2-3 tests, listening, an essay (or 3) and reading exercises every week... ahhhh
Speaking of spring break, I was invited by Yunmin, Kim, and Im to Korea during the break (of course not when people come here, but if you can, tell me when you are coming so i dont double book...!!!!
For Christmas, my Chinese friend is cooking me Chinese food since we have kind of made a tradition to have that on christmas eve!

I had to say goodbye to my friend Takumi Shimizu (shimizu-kun) tonight. He's going back home tonight to get ready for his study abroad at UC Davis in January!
Sometimes I wish I had less of a social life here, It's very hard to juggle social outings with classwork (and also the price sucks sometimes... unless we go to the cheap places...)

Up at the top are some pictures of gatherings and outings with friends (more in next entry)

EEK

AAAAND I WAS OFFICIALLY PULLED ASIDE AND FORCED TO VOLUNTEER FOR A STUNT SHOW IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOPPING MALL IN OSAKA...
SCARY STUFF YO.

The truth is, I thought it mattered - I thought that music mattered. But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter.

Today was the start of what is called Doshisha Eve Festival. This week marks the 133rd anniversary of Doshisha. In Japan, Colleges and (i think) high schools have huge festivals open to the public for a few days. Because of the school festival, we have the week off!
I attended the festival today, and it was like nothing I have ever experienced. Imagine the Dogwood Festival (for those of you who are in Atlanta) placed in a small space such as ummmm the AD YMCA parking lot. With as many people, and 10x pushier vendors.


In other news, I went shopping for a new coat and nice shoes, and I learned that I have a gift of bargaining without even trying. I was at a Department Store (where you usually NEVER get discounts according to my teachers) and everything I bought ended up being　at least 20% off.　I just had to follow a formula I learned at the 1st place, go to a younger, college age guy. start asking about stuff in Japanese, compliment their english no matter how bad. tell them I am a student at Doshisha, and therefore need to save. Mention that their fashion is great and I want a similar fashion. then pick what I want, act like I can't live without it but the price is soooo high. From there, out comes the calculator, and before I know it I have a discount! (It probably helps that I look so exotic here...)

MEXICAN FOOD!

I FINALLY was able to eat mexican food!!!! YAY!
It was expensive, and a bit wrong, but it was delicious!
I had tortilla soup, a mexican steak, avocados, and chili rellenos!
While there I also met a few people who studied at GA State (WHAT ARE THE ODDS!)
anyways, it was alot of fun!
This week I don't have school except for monday (which is weird because Monday is a national holiday haha)

so finally a real update...kamo

Whew, it`s been a long time since I last updated my blog... I`ve just been very busy.
Every week I have 3 tests (2 character tests, and 1 grammar test) for my morning class and presentations/homework for my afternoon classes, so it has been very intense. Yesterday, my favorite sensei, Furukawa sensei was sick, so our class was cancelled (therefore I have free time here in the library now.
I just finished my first English lesson with Junko san, who is a TA for my Japanese culture class. Today was a kind of "where are you at in japanese right now?" check.
Since we finished one textbook in Japanese class (9-12:15 every day) we`ve started working on different skills during the last half of class. Since we have a different teacher every day, each day is a different skill.
monday- storytelling/comprehension
tuesday- conversation
weds - essay writing
thursday- listening comprehension
friday - speed reading
These skills are all geared towards the JLPT (japanese language proficiency test).

I`m still making many friends, which has become somewhat of a problem. When a new number is sent to my phone through infrared, I sometimes forget which japanese characters go whith which face, especially now that I see repeat kanjis!
I guess that`s the least of my worries though...

Well, We`ve had 4 holidays on mondays so far... but at Doshisha all of those holidays are class days. HOWEVER, next week is Doshisha`s birthday so we have an ENTIRE week off!
I am totally going to get some rest!

In the last few days it`s started to get really cold here so it`s getting difficult to wake up in the morning... insulation here sucks.
I have a presentation for my UK class tomorrow on Cool Britannia and Brit Pop... lol the class is so easy because it is an advanced level english class for Japanese students.

I`m so happy to have peanutbutter in my cubboard right now, it`s so good to taste it again!

p.p.s.
I just met an actor of a japanese comedic play style (kyogen) and he gave me free tickets to his show!!!

woot

Guess who saw the Japanese emperor by total chance today? that's right! It was me!

OH P.S., I know I said that I am 13 hours ahead, but now it's 14 hours, so for example it's 8 am on the east coast, Japan is 10 p.m. REMEMBER THIS FOR SKYPE CONVOS!

Japalloween

so one question asked of me recently was whether or not Japan celebrates Halloween.
The answer: not really...
I'd say it celebrates the day more than anywhere else in Asia, but it is an Irish (Catholic) holiday that was imported and popularized in America after all...
There is no trick-or-treating, so candy sales do not go up at all, BUT costume parties are definitely a mainstay for University students. I ended up attending three costume parties all in the same costume, a 6 foot tall white dog. The dog costume I purchased is actually 犬のお父さん　(papa dog), a popular mascot for a cell phone company, softbank, here in Japan, here is his ad (though it is in Japanese...　http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2mb9S_uHsA&feature=related
Anyways the parties were nonetheless fun, and I met a ton of people! The dog costume was definitely the best choice for it's "kawaii(cute)" factor and attention grabbing power. My friend Hayato commented that I am quite モテモテ(mohteh mohteh)（a slang word for popular).
Yesterday, a friend (Sandy Ito) from Kalamazoo came to Kyoto to visit, and we went to Teramachi and shopped/chilled. I bought a new coat (with way too many unnecessary pockets) because I need one, and I also ended up buying a new japanese style shirt (3 layers sewn in to 1 shirt because layering is popular here), and pants with too many pockets. I also got a new messenger bag. It was a tough choice between a plaid one that had SO much engrish, and the white one I got which just says "Ain't I right? Just go easy!"(a.k.a. the white one was cheaper...)
It was a good budget day japanese-shopping wise.
Right now I'm working on a 500 character essay for class, and also beginning to write my speech for next friday. I only have to pay for 1 night's hotel stay and a few meals the whole trip! so excited!!!!!