Whenever I find myself having a conversation with a Japanese person they eventually ask where I'm from. Usually they are surprised to hear that I'm American. I find this a bit odd. What I find even more odd is that 95% of the Japanese I talk to assume that I am European.
Strange.
Moving right along! Here are the events of my week:
Tomorrow:
- turn in extra-curricular class assignment
- turn in homework
- textbook problems
- study notebook problems
- reading comprehension problems
- units 46 & 47 test
- study forever
Thursday:
- biggggggggg midterm exam
- meet with friend at 8:00 at Takadanobaba
Friday:
- possibly meet up with Dorothy for photographic purposes
Saturday:
- go to my friend Hiroshi's event
WEEEEEE.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
渋谷 ［Ｓｈｉｂｕｙａ］
Had a crazy week of tests last week, and this week is the big one! On Thursday we have our 中間試験 (chuukan shiken) which is basically our midterm. Sooooo everything we've learned in every category up until now.
It's a pretty momentous test.
Last week I had several kinds of tests, and most important of all, our first 会話 (kaiwa - conversation) exam with Japanese guests in the classroom! We were split into groups randomly of two or three people and were prompted on topics and how to go about starting the conversation. Of course, the guy in our group (who is infamous for being late or not showing at all), turned up late, so the girl and I were joking with our guest that it was okay to ignore him or give him really difficult questions. We had 30 minutes to fill and we did it without any problems.
... I wasn't really expecting problems as I had spent the previous evening with two Japanese friends and then on the phone with another Japanese friend so 4+ hours total of conversation. Most days that I hang out with Japanese friends or even with AJ I speak in Japanese. Being in the classroom is only a fraction of my learning.
Since Friday was a holiday (no school!) my Korean classmates invited me out with them to an underground Korean izakaya with a bunch of people from our class. Also one of our classmates works there so we got to harass him a lot. I learned a bunch of silly Korean drinking games and got to talk to people in a non-classroom environment so it was really fun. Afterwards different groups of people headed to the stations so I headed home.
Friday early afternoon I got a text from my buddy AJ asking if I wanted to meet up with him in Shibuya for lunch. So I checked my handy-dandy train map and figured out how to get there and what exit to go to and was only KIND OF late. We went to a Thai place and had some really good curry. Afterwards we went to Harajuku to just chill and walk around...
... and literally chill, because if I forgot to mention, it was snowing like crazy all day on Friday. Even as far as Osaka there was snow. Hnnrrgh.
After much waiting, we met up with AJ's friend Tsuyoshi and eventually Tsuyoshi's friend Daisuke. After much discussing, we decided to go to a club in Shibuya (after much resisting (AJ) and convincing (Tsuyoshi)) called Womb so we walked there from Harajuku. Since Tsuyoshi and Daisuke really wanted us to go they paid for us to get in and pretty much everything else. I mostly hung out in the lounge and chatted with people and since I went with three guys I was always being kept an eye on. I got to practice speaking with a lot of people and talking about Seattle (because everyone was asking) and hearing people tell me about their trips to the states and where they went and stuff. Mostly groups of girls wanted to talk to me so it was really fun. Lots of interesting bathroom conversations.
And then we all went to McDonald's at 6:00 AM and it was the best breakfast I have had since I have been here.
I got home around 8:00 AM and went straight to bed but was careful to not mess up my sleep schedule. And since it was only Saturday I got two full days of rest and study in.
Hmmm so I guess that's all that's really happened this week that's out of the norm!
Speaking of out of the norm: THE WEATHER.
It was kind of even BARELY snowing this morning and no one outside had their umbrellas so I ignored it. Got out of classes and it was pouring. Get home from being drenched by the rain and now it's blizzarding. Thankfully I had purchased an umbrella this weekend to prepare for the snow. I was sad because I felt like buying an umbrella was having my status as a Seattle-ite revoked. Oh well. I would have looked ridiculous without it.
Also that and the last time I was walking around without one a guy in a truck was like YOU LOOK COLD WHERE ARE YOU GOING WANT TO GET LUNCH WITH ME. And then later I got asked out in the same area by an old man.
Also a group of like eight girls in Harajuku station freaked out at me and I just stared at them and they were like YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :D
And I really hope the snow stops soon. There's already close to two inches out there. Hnggghh.
And now back to studying I go.
PS: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
It's a pretty momentous test.
Last week I had several kinds of tests, and most important of all, our first 会話 (kaiwa - conversation) exam with Japanese guests in the classroom! We were split into groups randomly of two or three people and were prompted on topics and how to go about starting the conversation. Of course, the guy in our group (who is infamous for being late or not showing at all), turned up late, so the girl and I were joking with our guest that it was okay to ignore him or give him really difficult questions. We had 30 minutes to fill and we did it without any problems.
... I wasn't really expecting problems as I had spent the previous evening with two Japanese friends and then on the phone with another Japanese friend so 4+ hours total of conversation. Most days that I hang out with Japanese friends or even with AJ I speak in Japanese. Being in the classroom is only a fraction of my learning.
Since Friday was a holiday (no school!) my Korean classmates invited me out with them to an underground Korean izakaya with a bunch of people from our class. Also one of our classmates works there so we got to harass him a lot. I learned a bunch of silly Korean drinking games and got to talk to people in a non-classroom environment so it was really fun. Afterwards different groups of people headed to the stations so I headed home.
Friday early afternoon I got a text from my buddy AJ asking if I wanted to meet up with him in Shibuya for lunch. So I checked my handy-dandy train map and figured out how to get there and what exit to go to and was only KIND OF late. We went to a Thai place and had some really good curry. Afterwards we went to Harajuku to just chill and walk around...
... and literally chill, because if I forgot to mention, it was snowing like crazy all day on Friday. Even as far as Osaka there was snow. Hnnrrgh.
After much waiting, we met up with AJ's friend Tsuyoshi and eventually Tsuyoshi's friend Daisuke. After much discussing, we decided to go to a club in Shibuya (after much resisting (AJ) and convincing (Tsuyoshi)) called Womb so we walked there from Harajuku. Since Tsuyoshi and Daisuke really wanted us to go they paid for us to get in and pretty much everything else. I mostly hung out in the lounge and chatted with people and since I went with three guys I was always being kept an eye on. I got to practice speaking with a lot of people and talking about Seattle (because everyone was asking) and hearing people tell me about their trips to the states and where they went and stuff. Mostly groups of girls wanted to talk to me so it was really fun. Lots of interesting bathroom conversations.
And then we all went to McDonald's at 6:00 AM and it was the best breakfast I have had since I have been here.
I got home around 8:00 AM and went straight to bed but was careful to not mess up my sleep schedule. And since it was only Saturday I got two full days of rest and study in.
Hmmm so I guess that's all that's really happened this week that's out of the norm!
Speaking of out of the norm: THE WEATHER.
It was kind of even BARELY snowing this morning and no one outside had their umbrellas so I ignored it. Got out of classes and it was pouring. Get home from being drenched by the rain and now it's blizzarding. Thankfully I had purchased an umbrella this weekend to prepare for the snow. I was sad because I felt like buying an umbrella was having my status as a Seattle-ite revoked. Oh well. I would have looked ridiculous without it.
Also that and the last time I was walking around without one a guy in a truck was like YOU LOOK COLD WHERE ARE YOU GOING WANT TO GET LUNCH WITH ME. And then later I got asked out in the same area by an old man.
Also a group of like eight girls in Harajuku station freaked out at me and I just stared at them and they were like YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :D
And I really hope the snow stops soon. There's already close to two inches out there. Hnggghh.
And now back to studying I go.
PS: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Conversations [ I ]
I am going to start posting silly conversations (translated, of course) that I have had during my time over here.
( with tall friend, Yuuki )
"Amy, how tall are you? What's your height?"
" ... I don't know..."
"You don't know? You don't know your own height?!"
"In America we don't use centimeters so I'm not sure what my height is in centimeters."
"You don't use centimeters in the US? Do you use inches?"
"Feet then inches."
"Ohhhh..."
while walking to the station
"Amy where are you going? We need to go this way."
"Oh."
"Amy... do you get lost a lot?"
"Yes."
"Hahaha I thought so. Do you know how to get to the station from here?"
"Nope!"
"Alright I'm going with you then."
at the station
"Do you know how to get to Takadanobaba from here?"
"Yeah!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah!!"
(very skeptical look)
"I'm going to ride with you until Takadanobaba."
"BUT IM FINE"
"IM GOING WITH YOU"
"HHHNNRRRGH"
at Takadanobaba
"I totally fell asleep. Did you sleep?"
"Not really."
"I had a really weird dream."
"Oh?"
"Yeah I was bowling and like, no matter what, the last pin wouldn't go down."
"... What."
"THE LAST PIN WOULDNT GO DOWN!!"
Amy's translation skills in action.
( with tall friend, Yuuki )
"Amy, how tall are you? What's your height?"
" ... I don't know..."
"You don't know? You don't know your own height?!"
"In America we don't use centimeters so I'm not sure what my height is in centimeters."
"You don't use centimeters in the US? Do you use inches?"
"Feet then inches."
"Ohhhh..."
while walking to the station
"Amy where are you going? We need to go this way."
"Oh."
"Amy... do you get lost a lot?"
"Yes."
"Hahaha I thought so. Do you know how to get to the station from here?"
"Nope!"
"Alright I'm going with you then."
at the station
"Do you know how to get to Takadanobaba from here?"
"Yeah!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah!!"
(very skeptical look)
"I'm going to ride with you until Takadanobaba."
"BUT IM FINE"
"IM GOING WITH YOU"
"HHHNNRRRGH"
at Takadanobaba
"I totally fell asleep. Did you sleep?"
"Not really."
"I had a really weird dream."
"Oh?"
"Yeah I was bowling and like, no matter what, the last pin wouldn't go down."
"... What."
"THE LAST PIN WOULDNT GO DOWN!!"
Amy's translation skills in action.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
節分 ｛Ｓｅｔｓｕｂｕｎ｝
So today's the Lunar New Year here in Japan. This day is called "Setsubun." Today in class we got to take a little break from the usual grind to learn about Setsubun.
Apparently everyone has an 'inner demon' or some kind of personal issue and you uh slay that demon by throwing soybeans at demons... or someone dressed like one. ITS SUPER SERIOUS. Also you eat one soybean for every year of your age plus one for the coming year.
Today I was roughly 154 years old.
You're supposed to yell, "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!" which basically means "the demon is outside and good... good luck, GOOD SOMETHING is inside (your house)." So the teacher had us yell that and then two guys dressed up like demons attacked our classroom where we retaliated with, you guessed it, soybeans.
After we beat the tar out of them with soybeans they came back inside the classroom and our teacher briefly went over terminology such as 'horns' and we were all quietly listening... until suddenly one of the Korean girls started "ONI WA SOTO, FUKU WA UCHI"-ing again and started hucking soybeans so naturally we had to all join in again.
The other night I saw my friend Ayako for the first time in about three years! She was an AU student when I was a freshmen at CWU. And since Kentarou is a mutual friend (they know each other through hip hop dance stuff they do at AU) he joined us too. It was awesomeeeee. I'm supposed to see some more familiar faces this weekend, so I'm pretty stoked.
NOT SO STOKED ABOUT 9 AM LECTURE ON SATURDAY MORNING.
Blargh.
Tonight is the first night I haven't had homework since classes started! ... But I do have a test tomorrow! That makes three tests this week. Japanese teaching pace is awesome.
And so is bean throwing day.
Apparently everyone has an 'inner demon' or some kind of personal issue and you uh slay that demon by throwing soybeans at demons... or someone dressed like one. ITS SUPER SERIOUS. Also you eat one soybean for every year of your age plus one for the coming year.
Today I was roughly 154 years old.
You're supposed to yell, "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!" which basically means "the demon is outside and good... good luck, GOOD SOMETHING is inside (your house)." So the teacher had us yell that and then two guys dressed up like demons attacked our classroom where we retaliated with, you guessed it, soybeans.
After we beat the tar out of them with soybeans they came back inside the classroom and our teacher briefly went over terminology such as 'horns' and we were all quietly listening... until suddenly one of the Korean girls started "ONI WA SOTO, FUKU WA UCHI"-ing again and started hucking soybeans so naturally we had to all join in again.
The other night I saw my friend Ayako for the first time in about three years! She was an AU student when I was a freshmen at CWU. And since Kentarou is a mutual friend (they know each other through hip hop dance stuff they do at AU) he joined us too. It was awesomeeeee. I'm supposed to see some more familiar faces this weekend, so I'm pretty stoked.
NOT SO STOKED ABOUT 9 AM LECTURE ON SATURDAY MORNING.
Blargh.
Tonight is the first night I haven't had homework since classes started! ... But I do have a test tomorrow! That makes three tests this week. Japanese teaching pace is awesome.
And so is bean throwing day.
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