Okay everyone, so here are the much anticipated pictures since my laptop is working here (mostly.)
Click Here
Enjoy!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Getting Things Done.
Today I got up, showered, and headed for the general Kansai staff introduction meeting. Our Japanese liasons in the CIE were introduced to us along with the faculty that would be teaching our non-language courses, and they explained what they were teaching along with their backgrounds. Most of them were nice, but the sumi-e art teacher was nervous and the Anime / Film guy ironically had no social skills. I think in addition to Spoken and Written Japanese, I'll try to get into Intercultural Communication, Japan and China relations over time, and International Negotiations. I drew a high lottery number today though, 367 out of something a little over 400. So I'll need back-ups, such as Intercultural Business Communication and the Body and Communication (where I could learn Japanese Kansai-dialect sign-language!)
After that meeting I went and had a coffee (no hotdog.) You don't walk around with your coffee unless you're taking it to the library or something (if they allow drinks? I'm not sure.) It's rude to walk and drink. I ended up walking back to the dorm to get copies of my insurance for my lottery number, and I paid 26,000 yen in fees which kind of hurt. I thought Gettysburg would cover the security deposits but I guess not. So that was a good 40 minute morning walk.
After everything was registered and the like there was another meeting where we went over Seminar House rules. We met our RA's and one of the faculty members (American) explained the rules to us. The big topics were noise in the neighborhoods, and recycling.
Noise is a big problem as most Japanese houses here have no insulation at all. You can hear anything anywhere. If you are talking normally outside the dorm people can hear you just fine. People shouting goodbye at night wake the entire neighborhood, and is typical of inconsiderate foreigners, more so Americans. Drinking alcohol in the park late at night is also rude, and alcohol makes people noisy... A lot of time was spent concerning alcohol in the kitchen of Seminar House 4 where they have just allowed alcohol which will probably be shown as a mistake later. A lot of students don't want to live where that is going on, me included. But if they get noisy at all, it's done with; zero noise tolerance. I like that. The guy giving the lecture though lives next door to my dorm though, and says that Kansai students have made a glass of water shake in his room at night when the side gate is opened, and asked us to be quiet when we come home after 23:00.
Next was recycling! In our kitchen, there are six receptacles: two for burnable garabe, one for cans, one for plastic garbage, one for certain kinds of plastic drink bottles with a certain symbol, and another for glass. The plastic bottles must have the caps taken off and the plastic wrappers. This is why there is a preforation in the label to take it off, which finally made sense. The caps go in the plastic garbage along with the label, after you wash the bottle. Plastic garbage cannot have any bits of food that they might have held. If anything isn't right, the garbage is rejected and the seminar house staff (a family that lives here too and manages it for us) has to separate things on their own. The guy giving this detailed lecture lamented that he had three degrees and is teaching us how to recycle, which was pretty funny...
After this I ran into Joe at the CEI where we were getting our laptops and we went to go get some food at the cafeteria. They had the same thing as yesterday only the Kurabu Ranchi (Club Lunch) had chicken instead. Variety comes when the Japanese students get here on the 24th. I haven't used the other two cafeterias yet though, I don't even know if they are open. The Makudonarudo (McDonald's) is only open shortly for lunch, and we missed it having an early dinner. It was then starting to rain so we sat in the ampitheater between the cafeteria / store / bookstore / McDonald's and talked with Mikhael and Ean, an Aussie, while we watched the breakdancers practice on the wooden floor center. A half glass, half solar panel roof protected us from the rain.
Eventually Mikhael and Ean went on the Hirakata-shi tour, and Joe and I walked back in the light rain to drop off our computers and finally decided to take the bus from the Hirakata Central Library (across the park and dorm) to Hirakata-shi to explore on our own.
We found city hall again, where I'll go sometime to get my Gaijin Card. We looked at some arcade for a bit, then a department store which ended up only being womens clothing. We accidentally went to B1 instead of the first floor to get out and were confused, but then saw an old Japanese guy behind us who did the same and exclaimed "Ehh?!" when he got off the escalator. It made us feel better.
The then found a bigger department store to look at and looked at clothes with Engrish on them. I almost got one with zebras on it that said "strong bond." It was only 500 yen though... Anyway we then got lost in the toy section and the little kid in us that always wanted to be in Japan came out. We oogled at the video games that would never see US shores, and all kinds of neat novelties that you'd never see too, like a dancing desktop plant that didn't look tacky. And then we found stuff from the Miyazaki movies and at some point I may buy Zoe a stuffed catbus. I don't know why it reminded me of her. I hope you're reading this :P
We later found another arcade and found a Mario Kart game! It was a lot of fun and quite clever. Apparently you could use a card to insert into it to save your game and progress, so you could unlock new drivers and courses which was a good idea. We then found a bunch of capsule toy vending machines and I got a Goomba and a Pow-Block, and a chocolate donut-clip from the Misutaa Donatsu machine. I wanted the coffe and donut one though... There's always next time.
We then went into a media store, Book Off, and looked at video games and Manga. I didn't know any of the manga and I'm not a fan to begin with, but I found one that was done in a non-traditional style, in the form of one-panel comics which seemed to deal with homeless people, the elderly, and the dark situations surrounding some of them. Maybe it is some critique on society as well, I don't know. The cover material was different too, it really stood out. I hope it's good, it looks quite interesting. I may read some tonight but I'm getting tired again...
We then just went back to the bus stop and met other Gaijin and took the bus back to the library. Some of them got off on campus, where the bus announces the stop in English... They signed up for a nice 20+ minute walk, while Joe and I felt smug knowing we could ride for longer, haha. I came back to find the American, Russ in bed again but with the light on, and the Canadian, Matt shuffling around in the closet. Apparently Russ left it on. Matt told me that there is AN ONSEN nearby! And only 400 yen! I must find it. That would be so relaxing for stressful days, or before or after big tests and the like.
Anyway, I'm off for now. Tomorrow there is registration and we'll see how that goes. Then in the afternoon there is some induction ceremony and I'll dress up for that. I wonder if any other students brought nice clothes... I better make a good show for America's sake... We get a free buffet in the cafeteria afterwards though! Looking forward to free food... I don't get my food stipend for a few more weeks...
And before I forget, even though I have my laptop and it works on the network, I can't call anyone with my cranky roomie sleeping in there constantly. He's awfully abrasive. It will be nice when it's just Matt and I, he's so easy going, carefree, and just excited to be where-ever he is. Joe's roomie is a huge Korean guy that doesn't know much English or Japanese, and Joe knows no Japanese... I hope it works out for them. He's a nice guy though. He's huge but seems kind and is softspoken, haha.
Well, goodnight!
After that meeting I went and had a coffee (no hotdog.) You don't walk around with your coffee unless you're taking it to the library or something (if they allow drinks? I'm not sure.) It's rude to walk and drink. I ended up walking back to the dorm to get copies of my insurance for my lottery number, and I paid 26,000 yen in fees which kind of hurt. I thought Gettysburg would cover the security deposits but I guess not. So that was a good 40 minute morning walk.
After everything was registered and the like there was another meeting where we went over Seminar House rules. We met our RA's and one of the faculty members (American) explained the rules to us. The big topics were noise in the neighborhoods, and recycling.
Noise is a big problem as most Japanese houses here have no insulation at all. You can hear anything anywhere. If you are talking normally outside the dorm people can hear you just fine. People shouting goodbye at night wake the entire neighborhood, and is typical of inconsiderate foreigners, more so Americans. Drinking alcohol in the park late at night is also rude, and alcohol makes people noisy... A lot of time was spent concerning alcohol in the kitchen of Seminar House 4 where they have just allowed alcohol which will probably be shown as a mistake later. A lot of students don't want to live where that is going on, me included. But if they get noisy at all, it's done with; zero noise tolerance. I like that. The guy giving the lecture though lives next door to my dorm though, and says that Kansai students have made a glass of water shake in his room at night when the side gate is opened, and asked us to be quiet when we come home after 23:00.
Next was recycling! In our kitchen, there are six receptacles: two for burnable garabe, one for cans, one for plastic garbage, one for certain kinds of plastic drink bottles with a certain symbol, and another for glass. The plastic bottles must have the caps taken off and the plastic wrappers. This is why there is a preforation in the label to take it off, which finally made sense. The caps go in the plastic garbage along with the label, after you wash the bottle. Plastic garbage cannot have any bits of food that they might have held. If anything isn't right, the garbage is rejected and the seminar house staff (a family that lives here too and manages it for us) has to separate things on their own. The guy giving this detailed lecture lamented that he had three degrees and is teaching us how to recycle, which was pretty funny...
After this I ran into Joe at the CEI where we were getting our laptops and we went to go get some food at the cafeteria. They had the same thing as yesterday only the Kurabu Ranchi (Club Lunch) had chicken instead. Variety comes when the Japanese students get here on the 24th. I haven't used the other two cafeterias yet though, I don't even know if they are open. The Makudonarudo (McDonald's) is only open shortly for lunch, and we missed it having an early dinner. It was then starting to rain so we sat in the ampitheater between the cafeteria / store / bookstore / McDonald's and talked with Mikhael and Ean, an Aussie, while we watched the breakdancers practice on the wooden floor center. A half glass, half solar panel roof protected us from the rain.
Eventually Mikhael and Ean went on the Hirakata-shi tour, and Joe and I walked back in the light rain to drop off our computers and finally decided to take the bus from the Hirakata Central Library (across the park and dorm) to Hirakata-shi to explore on our own.
We found city hall again, where I'll go sometime to get my Gaijin Card. We looked at some arcade for a bit, then a department store which ended up only being womens clothing. We accidentally went to B1 instead of the first floor to get out and were confused, but then saw an old Japanese guy behind us who did the same and exclaimed "Ehh?!" when he got off the escalator. It made us feel better.
The then found a bigger department store to look at and looked at clothes with Engrish on them. I almost got one with zebras on it that said "strong bond." It was only 500 yen though... Anyway we then got lost in the toy section and the little kid in us that always wanted to be in Japan came out. We oogled at the video games that would never see US shores, and all kinds of neat novelties that you'd never see too, like a dancing desktop plant that didn't look tacky. And then we found stuff from the Miyazaki movies and at some point I may buy Zoe a stuffed catbus. I don't know why it reminded me of her. I hope you're reading this :P
We later found another arcade and found a Mario Kart game! It was a lot of fun and quite clever. Apparently you could use a card to insert into it to save your game and progress, so you could unlock new drivers and courses which was a good idea. We then found a bunch of capsule toy vending machines and I got a Goomba and a Pow-Block, and a chocolate donut-clip from the Misutaa Donatsu machine. I wanted the coffe and donut one though... There's always next time.
We then went into a media store, Book Off, and looked at video games and Manga. I didn't know any of the manga and I'm not a fan to begin with, but I found one that was done in a non-traditional style, in the form of one-panel comics which seemed to deal with homeless people, the elderly, and the dark situations surrounding some of them. Maybe it is some critique on society as well, I don't know. The cover material was different too, it really stood out. I hope it's good, it looks quite interesting. I may read some tonight but I'm getting tired again...
We then just went back to the bus stop and met other Gaijin and took the bus back to the library. Some of them got off on campus, where the bus announces the stop in English... They signed up for a nice 20+ minute walk, while Joe and I felt smug knowing we could ride for longer, haha. I came back to find the American, Russ in bed again but with the light on, and the Canadian, Matt shuffling around in the closet. Apparently Russ left it on. Matt told me that there is AN ONSEN nearby! And only 400 yen! I must find it. That would be so relaxing for stressful days, or before or after big tests and the like.
Anyway, I'm off for now. Tomorrow there is registration and we'll see how that goes. Then in the afternoon there is some induction ceremony and I'll dress up for that. I wonder if any other students brought nice clothes... I better make a good show for America's sake... We get a free buffet in the cafeteria afterwards though! Looking forward to free food... I don't get my food stipend for a few more weeks...
And before I forget, even though I have my laptop and it works on the network, I can't call anyone with my cranky roomie sleeping in there constantly. He's awfully abrasive. It will be nice when it's just Matt and I, he's so easy going, carefree, and just excited to be where-ever he is. Joe's roomie is a huge Korean guy that doesn't know much English or Japanese, and Joe knows no Japanese... I hope it works out for them. He's a nice guy though. He's huge but seems kind and is softspoken, haha.
Well, goodnight!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Smokey Dog and Coffee
Today was fun. I woke up before my roomies and showered early. I should have before bed since it keeps the bed clean and is relaxing, but my new roomie was sleeping so I didn't want to wake him when he needs his sleep. I got to the CIE building at about 8:00 and wandered about and gave them my laptop at 8:30. Hopefully I can get it tomorrow and not have to use this computer lab, although my room is cramped as it is with three people. I'll find somewhere on campus to park it.
I then met up with Joe who was also registering his tiny laptop and we met another guy, Sam, and went looking for breakfast. The cafeteria was closed so we tried Seattle's Best. Turns out Sam is an addict too but went for the cold vending-machine stuff, I had my first real coffee in days. 220 for a grande though. It was good. They had some breakfast item wrapped in paper, called a sumouki dougu so out of curiousity I had to get it. A hotdog. With coffee? Coffe companies go for an image of sophistication, I mean, why not a scone, or a tea-biscuit, but a hot-dog?
The hotdog wasn't bad.
The placement test was after our breakfast, so we headed over to the media center. Joe just got to take a questionaire that said "I don't know Japanese." Then he and the others who knew none left, which was surprising how many. I wouldn't come to Japan if I didn't know any, that would be too frustrating.
Next was the listening part and I didn't know what was going on until the 3rd question. Didn't do too well. Then the basic hiragana katakana part, followed by grammar. There were five sections, A B C D and upon request only (if you think you got 50% or more on D,) E. I made it about halfway through D so it might put me in D or a high C. The Kanji part was difficult too, but they got harder as they went on. Over all it seemed to be a good test, and it isn't the final determinator. I'm not worried at all about where I go.
And now I'm going to bed. The sleepy-bus has hit me. I don't have anything to do tomorrow so I'll do this. I was going to read Guns, Germs and Steel tonight but bed sound good now. Sorry everyone. There will be fun stories about Kizuhara Mall, bowling, and how nice it is being amongst people from all over the world.
G'night.
EDIT: Let's resume where I left off.
After the test I went shopping at Top World and bought some fruit, soba, two bottles of Qoo, and TWO BATH TOWELS!!!
Back at the dorm I signed up for the Makino Station / Kuzuhara Mall tour. I was dismayed to see these two American idiots and an equally dumb Australian going on the tour too, due to fearing having to have a meal with them, but they eventually broke off and did their own thing (presumably to get drunk.) Our group consisted of two other Americans, a Slav whom I befriended, and two Japanese girls, Kaori and Yuki.
We had two hours at the mall so I went and explored on my own.
Things I have learned:
-Crocs sell for over $30. In America they sell for about $1-5 if I'm correct.
-Hot Dogs seem to be popular in most coffee shops.
-Drip coffee is $2.80-$3. About as much as specialty drinks, unfortunately.
-Aside from architecture, all Malls are the same.
I bought a きのこ銀行 or a Mushroom Bank for $7. Finally somewhere for my coins to go. I also got two Mario Galaxy keychains from a vending machine but I lost the Black Boo one today while walking around campus :(.
When it gets colder I'm going to go back and buy some trendy Japanese clothes with silly English on them. I'm looking forward to that.
While sitting on a bench looking at my DS Dictionary, a Dad and his 5-6 year old daughter sat next to me and she exclaimed how I was reading Japanese and English, and the Dad told her to be quiet, hehe.
The guy from Slovakia, Mikhael was pretty cool. We both complained about American cities and not being able to walk in America, and how tacky consumerism is everywhere. That and how rude the other two Americans with us were. They were mostly interested in stupid Japanese You-Tube videos and TV culture, and narrow-mindedly made fun of the two girls for not being able to say "Bus."
I have to go somewhere now, so I'll write more later. Sorry!
EDIT:
Where did I leave off?
Right. After Chinese food we Mikhael went back to the dorm to sleep due to jet-lag. The five of us went to an entertainment place where we went bowling! Apparently our foriegn college ID's got us the student discout so it only cost 200 yen a person. I finished with a lame score of about 83 or so. We got in a... what I think they are called,purikura photobooth, and the pictures took 5 minutes and the girls spent about 20 putting hearts, bubbles, and stars on them... If you've seen these booths, you'd understand. The other two guys spent more time than I'd like playing video games though, but I met another Kansai-Japanese student there and talked to him for a bit.
This reminds me of something about the Mall I forgot to tell you about. There were some Japanese students from the University of Michigan? They (well, the one with the best English) asked me about what I expected the mall would be, why I go there, and so on. First we tried this in Japanese then quickly retreated to English. I told him it was cleaner than American malls, and the design was better, but it had pretty much the same things in it. Also I came there due to being on a tour, haha. Apparently they were doing a study on the International-Kansai students which was interesting. They were pretty nice.
Anyway, back to the entertainment place. The walk back to campus was a little long. The street was very narrow, apparently a lot of accidents happen on it. I keep fearing some drunk ramming into us, but the only one we encountered was a guy on a bike who swatted at one of the other Americans when he couldn't figure out that a bike was coming and that he should move.
I think I then came back to the room and slept.
I then met up with Joe who was also registering his tiny laptop and we met another guy, Sam, and went looking for breakfast. The cafeteria was closed so we tried Seattle's Best. Turns out Sam is an addict too but went for the cold vending-machine stuff, I had my first real coffee in days. 220 for a grande though. It was good. They had some breakfast item wrapped in paper, called a sumouki dougu so out of curiousity I had to get it. A hotdog. With coffee? Coffe companies go for an image of sophistication, I mean, why not a scone, or a tea-biscuit, but a hot-dog?
The hotdog wasn't bad.
The placement test was after our breakfast, so we headed over to the media center. Joe just got to take a questionaire that said "I don't know Japanese." Then he and the others who knew none left, which was surprising how many. I wouldn't come to Japan if I didn't know any, that would be too frustrating.
Next was the listening part and I didn't know what was going on until the 3rd question. Didn't do too well. Then the basic hiragana katakana part, followed by grammar. There were five sections, A B C D and upon request only (if you think you got 50% or more on D,) E. I made it about halfway through D so it might put me in D or a high C. The Kanji part was difficult too, but they got harder as they went on. Over all it seemed to be a good test, and it isn't the final determinator. I'm not worried at all about where I go.
And now I'm going to bed. The sleepy-bus has hit me. I don't have anything to do tomorrow so I'll do this. I was going to read Guns, Germs and Steel tonight but bed sound good now. Sorry everyone. There will be fun stories about Kizuhara Mall, bowling, and how nice it is being amongst people from all over the world.
G'night.
EDIT: Let's resume where I left off.
After the test I went shopping at Top World and bought some fruit, soba, two bottles of Qoo, and TWO BATH TOWELS!!!
Back at the dorm I signed up for the Makino Station / Kuzuhara Mall tour. I was dismayed to see these two American idiots and an equally dumb Australian going on the tour too, due to fearing having to have a meal with them, but they eventually broke off and did their own thing (presumably to get drunk.) Our group consisted of two other Americans, a Slav whom I befriended, and two Japanese girls, Kaori and Yuki.
We had two hours at the mall so I went and explored on my own.
Things I have learned:
-Crocs sell for over $30. In America they sell for about $1-5 if I'm correct.
-Hot Dogs seem to be popular in most coffee shops.
-Drip coffee is $2.80-$3. About as much as specialty drinks, unfortunately.
-Aside from architecture, all Malls are the same.
I bought a きのこ銀行 or a Mushroom Bank for $7. Finally somewhere for my coins to go. I also got two Mario Galaxy keychains from a vending machine but I lost the Black Boo one today while walking around campus :(.
When it gets colder I'm going to go back and buy some trendy Japanese clothes with silly English on them. I'm looking forward to that.
While sitting on a bench looking at my DS Dictionary, a Dad and his 5-6 year old daughter sat next to me and she exclaimed how I was reading Japanese and English, and the Dad told her to be quiet, hehe.
The guy from Slovakia, Mikhael was pretty cool. We both complained about American cities and not being able to walk in America, and how tacky consumerism is everywhere. That and how rude the other two Americans with us were. They were mostly interested in stupid Japanese You-Tube videos and TV culture, and narrow-mindedly made fun of the two girls for not being able to say "Bus."
I have to go somewhere now, so I'll write more later. Sorry!
EDIT:
Where did I leave off?
Right. After Chinese food we Mikhael went back to the dorm to sleep due to jet-lag. The five of us went to an entertainment place where we went bowling! Apparently our foriegn college ID's got us the student discout so it only cost 200 yen a person. I finished with a lame score of about 83 or so. We got in a... what I think they are called,purikura photobooth, and the pictures took 5 minutes and the girls spent about 20 putting hearts, bubbles, and stars on them... If you've seen these booths, you'd understand. The other two guys spent more time than I'd like playing video games though, but I met another Kansai-Japanese student there and talked to him for a bit.
This reminds me of something about the Mall I forgot to tell you about. There were some Japanese students from the University of Michigan? They (well, the one with the best English) asked me about what I expected the mall would be, why I go there, and so on. First we tried this in Japanese then quickly retreated to English. I told him it was cleaner than American malls, and the design was better, but it had pretty much the same things in it. Also I came there due to being on a tour, haha. Apparently they were doing a study on the International-Kansai students which was interesting. They were pretty nice.
Anyway, back to the entertainment place. The walk back to campus was a little long. The street was very narrow, apparently a lot of accidents happen on it. I keep fearing some drunk ramming into us, but the only one we encountered was a guy on a bike who swatted at one of the other Americans when he couldn't figure out that a bike was coming and that he should move.
I think I then came back to the room and slept.
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