STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 4

SEPTEMBER 22

Slept in again. It’s so nice to have a day off.

I talked to my dad on Skype, not much to say with it only being three weeks, but it was nice. When I got off, I was about to do my homework when all of a sudden a ton of sirens went off. They sounded close, but I couldn’t see any emergency vehicles or anything outside my window. It wasn’t until I saw people running towards my apartment building, and saw vague signs of smoke to the east of me that I realized “Something’s on fire!”

I went out to the balcony that overlooked the south side of the building. Lo and behold, there was a ton of smoke and fire spitting out of the apartment building across the street. Three fire trucks and dozens of firemen gathered to put out the fire and control the scene. I had arrived late to the viewing party, as the other American exchange students had already gathered and taken pictures. Soon, the first itself was out, but the building was still smoking a ton. I went down to the first floor for a different view and spoke to the neighbors about what could have happened. Fortunately no one was inside, and the fire seemed to have started from the 2nd floor, possibly an electrical short. Of all the things I expected could happen when I came to study abroad, that was not one of them.

Looks like my interrupted homework won’t be done until after dinner. We’re going to Sushi-Ro!!

SEPTEMBER 23

Since I don’t have class until 1pm on Mondays, I decided to go to school earlier to finish my homework and get some much needed manga drawing time in. I also made myself a delicious lunch, but the extra oil kind of spilled— thankfully, I had it wrapped up!

After lunch, and grammar class with Mrs. Yamamoto, I went back to the library to work some more on my manga. I sat with Chaerim, an exchange student from South Korea, Margeaux from France, and Patima (who we affectionately call Totoro) from Thailand. They were impressed with my drawing skills, but I knew it still had a long way to go from those mere sketches. We hung out together for a few hours and decided it was a good day for curry, Indian curry to be exact. Before we could actually go, however, Chaerim had to go to class until 6pm.

We tried to go to the bank, but it was closed for the National Holiday. Then we tried to go to the bookstore near school to buy some pens, but half of the shopping strip was closed down, except for MaxValu, the grocery store. It was the same place the Elpas was. I didn’t know that whole section was closing!

So, we doubled back to the station and checked out the stationary section at Tokyu Hands. There are too many cool things there, it’s a good thing I already have pens and stuff or I wouldn’t know what to buy!

Finally, at 6:30 we headed to the restaurant to eat curry. It may be the most delicious food I have eaten in Japan - in regards to its actual use of flavor. Level 3 is not that spicy, so next time I’m going for level 4! And the naan. It is just so good. Fluffy like a pancake and you can sit there and eat it until you are so full you just want to sleep. Sounds like a good idea for Thanksgiving!

From there we headed back to the apartments and hung out in Chaerim’s room talking about manga and drawing. Chaerim showed me her own sketchbooks, and it made me miss just drawing for fun. For the past few years I have pretty much been drawing for my series, not just sketching anything that comes to mind. I kind of miss that.

SEPTEMBER 24

I HAVE NOTHING IN MY FRIDGE!!!! Except onions, and two sips of Gun Gun Gurt. Must buy groceries!!

My only class today was at 9am, for some reason conversation class was canceled. That left me with a huge gap between class and dance. I bought groceries, went home and rested for a bit and then returned to campus in the afternoon to hang out with a few of the Japanese students.

Around 6pm, or so, I headed outside into the campus mall (the open corridor between the University’s two buildings, which also served as the practice area for the dance circle). The first to arrive was a break-dancer, and an amazing one at that. He had so much power, it was a glory to watch. It wasn’t until a few other people showed up that I stepped forward to introduce myself and speak to the leader. Join the group was as simple as that, talk to the leader, give him my contact information and boom! Time to practice. I warmed up by myself, but after a while more people came, many of them doing hip-hop. It turns out that the leader of the hip-hop practice at the time was the same guy I had spoke with last Thursday (and a friend of a friend, small world).

Overall, it was super fun! I can’t wait for Thursday so I can practice again and meet more members! I have a renewed drive to work out and become healthy. Also, my schedule feels full enough that I’m not yearning for something to do. So glad I took the chance.

SEPTEMBER 25

After I put my information in for the dance circle yesterday, I realized there was an issue with my cell phone’s mail address. After the morning Kanji class I headed to Softbank to have the issue fixed; still not sure what the problem was, but they fixed it in like three minutes. Returned to school for drama class in the afternoon, which pretty much makes Wednesdays the best day of the week. Once class was over a few of the exchange students and I went to a store called Donki Hote. In a way it’s kind of like a variety store, with a bunch of crazy things, but it also has some clothing, shoes, and food. I found an adorable Stitch doll and had to buy it.

From there, I had my own plans in the evening so I broke off from the group. I met with my host sister for dinner at a restaurant near the station. We ate yakizakana (fried fish), salads, chicken… and a bunch of other foods. Later, we went to karaoke. As expected she can at least sing well. I, on the other hand, only get worse. I just cannot hit those high pitches: why do they insist on having such high-pitched songs???

Still need to work on my report for Friday’s class…

SEPTEMBER 26

Morning… ugh, I hardly slept at all. The wind was blowing so strongly that it was gusting through my room and rattling my door. When I tried to leave for class it swept a bunch of my plastic bags into the hall. At least the weather is getting cooler overall, which means less laundry because of sweat from existing. Instead it will be from dance practice Tuesday and Thursday! Yeah!

Speaking of, today was Thursday so practice officially started from about 1pm. However, there was a small international party that I had to go to, so I missed part of practice (the group warm-up part). We were in the cafeteria so I could see them through the window. Yes, the people at the party were cool, and the snacks were great, but I wanted to be out there. Once the bulk of the party activities were done I excused myself from the party and joined practice. In a way, I felt guilty for leaving the party, but I had to follow my own path.

Maybe I understand myself a little more now. I can see my weaknesses; reading, kanji, proper speech in given situations, dance and to some point even socializing. I don’t care if I make the most mistakes or embarrass myself; it’s the only way I’m going to improve. It’s a nice challenge. Difficult, but not impossible.

Now off to write that report…

SEPTEMBER 27

All right! It only took me until 1am to write the report and make the presentation for class, but it was all worth it. The topic that I decided on was the Kamakura period after all. I chose it because it is the same time period that takes place in the manga series I am writing, so I have a general background understanding of it. Though it was only a brief period in Japan’s history, it was the time when samurai, the warrior caste and feudalism were established.

I was the 4th to present in the group, but I felt pretty confident and gung-ho about it. Granted, my report wasn’t nearly as word/kanji heavy as the Chinese students’ reports were, but I held my own. We only share two classes with the Chinese students, and that is the History/Culture on Fridays and the Survey class on Tuesdays. Having them around is really motivating, sometimes intimidating, but motivating nonetheless.

SEPTEMBER 28

I headed down to Toyohashi to hang with a friend from university, Jordan. He is now teaching in Toyohashi as an ALT, Assistant Language Teacher.

I got there around lunch time, and as we searched for a place to eat near the main station, we quickly came to realize that all the gyuudon and yakitori places were full. During our search, a man from South America spoke to us at a crosswalk, but neither of us could understand him at all. His accent was so thick, we couldn’t even tell if he was speaking, English, Japanese, or Portuguese.

We ended up at a nice little Chinese restaurant, Kinrai, with a wonderful filling lunch set. There was a main dish, plus a large bowl of rice, delicious soup, salad, egg stir-fry, pickled veggies, dessert and a drink of your choice for only 700 yen. Not only was it the best Chinese food I ever had, but it was at a great price, too!

Following our delicious lunch, we headed to a nearby bookstore. I wasn’t aware that Crows (one of my favorite series) had so many issues! If it was on sale I might have bought it. When I mentioned that to Jordan, he suggested another place with used books and music. In order to get there, though, we had to take the street car. Once again, we ran into another interesting character, this time a man from Canada who tried preaching to us. We were finally able to escape after receiving some postcards from him. Then it was off to the bookstore~

I keep calling it a bookstore, but this used shop had so many things! The books I wanted were not there, and I wasn’t tempted enough to buy any others, so I turned to the music section. I ended up buying 2 CDs that were only 380 yen a piece (significantly cheaper than a new copy). I just can’t justify buying a CD Single for about 15 dollars when it only has 5 songs. These CDs also had nice cases and lyric books, so it was a double win.