MARCH 30
It started out as a rainy day, so I assumed that there
would be no practice. On the contrary, Humito and Zawarun headed to the park to
dance for a while. It was at the same time that Rachael and I were having lunch
at Naan Curry, so I didn’t notice the group messages until afterward. I tried
to catch them in time for some practice, but it was already too late. Instead,
Rachael and I just hung out in her room watching videos and relaxing. Tomorrow
we have to go to AIDAI for Orientation.
MARCH 31
Spring Semester Orientation started today. It went
along in the same fashion as it did back in September for the fall semester.
They kept us at school from 9am to 2pm, meeting with Mrs. Yamamoto to decide
classes and then waiting until the afternoon to receive our paperwork. We
weren’t so excited to find out that the semester rent went up to 309000 yen,
almost 900 dollars more than we paid last semester because we are receiving the
JASSO scholarship. The main problem was that we only planned to pay the usual
216000 yen, so that was ll the money we had. We needed to pay the rent money
within the next couple weeks, but we wouldn’t receive the scholarship money
until the end of the month. In other words, we’ll have to withdraw from abroad
or pay late in order to cover the extra money.
Financial issues aside, Jason and I are thinking of
taking the Business Japanese course this semester. It’s not a part of the
regular study abroad student courses, but it is geared toward international
students. The course does collide with drama class… the one class I looked
forward to. We don’t know if we will be allowed to take the course yet, so
we’re taking the week to think it over. I think it would be a great
opportunity, particularly for me since I want to stay and work in Japan.
Once the Orientation ended, I went to reserve the
multi-purpose room for practice, just as I had promised on Friday. It was a
chance for the graduated seniors to get one last practice in before they
started work tomorrow, on the first day of April. This time a couple dozen people
came to use the room, and then I went out to eat with five of the guys at
Bikkuri Donki. As I’ve mentioned before, their hamburgers are mixed with pork,
so this time I order their pizza. As we ate, we had an incredible conversation
that went from famous dancers, to drawing, to the movie Kick @$$, and then a
full and extended explanation of the Metal Gear Solid storyline. I didn’t think
about it until now, but I was able to follow that whole conversation in
Japanese, and that was no simple explanation. Maybe I can handle Business
Japanese class…
APRIL 1
For the rest of the week, the clubs and circles are
holding presentations for the incoming freshmen. The campus mall is now lined
with tables, little booths, and students handing out information on their
clubs. I had rehearsal for about an hour in the studio to practice the hip hop
showcase, but then I hung out at the BPM table for a while. Only a few stopped
by our table at first, but then we had a couple rounds of freshmen girls roll
in. Ponhiro, one of our break dancers, was our charisma man, and he did most of
the talking. We were also able to grab the attention of a few freshmen guys as
the day went on. Then, out of nowhere, three foreigners show up. The club
members asked me to talk to them, but they weren’t students. The three men were
working at JICA, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and they were from
Mexico, so we ended up speaking in Japanese anyway. I doubt they’ll be showing
up to the club, but what are the odds that they’d show up at AIDAI today?
APRIL 2
Girl’s Day out~! I think the only girls I really hang
out with are the international students actually. I don’t really know what
Japanese usually do for fun, except for karaoke, but that’s exactly what we
went out to do this afternoon. Rachael, Chaerim and I went to karaoke for a few
hours: it was a tiny little room, which I usually don’t like because there’s no
room to move around and be in one’s own zone. Today it wasn’t that bad though.
Time went by really quickly, and we sung a lot of songs for the three hours.
When karaoke was over, Rachael and I headed out to
Fushimi to meet Joy and Aurianne at Shooter’s. Wednesdays have special
discounts on salads, sandwiches, and desserts, so that’s what we ordered. Most
of us ordered the taco salad, which was authentic American taco salad. For
dessert, we ordered the apple pie and sundae to split between the four of us.
Shooter’s never disappoints. The apple pie was perfect, crispy and juicy. Joy
and the others have already promised to come back next Wednesday for the pie.
As it happens, we always eat so much food when we hang
out. It has to stop. Just kidding, I love these guys; I wouldn’t quit hanging
out with them for anything. I’m really going to miss them.
APRIL 3
The clubs were still advertising themselves until
noon, so we couldn’t start practice until the mall was cleared around 2pm. We
finished the choreography for the “second song”— all this time the song we have
been working on was the second of two. Then, when it seemed that we were done
for the day, I headed back to the break dance side of the mall. It wasn’t until
a little later that I noticed they started working on the choreography for the
first song! They didn’t even tell me that they were starting because they
figured I wanted to continue practicing break dancing. I don’t understand why
there seems to be a separation between the genres in most cases. I’m not going
to let that stop me though; I’m just going to dance the way I want to.
APRIL 4
We turned in the course selection forms today. Jason
and I are going to challenge the Business Japanese class! At least if it turns
out to be hard, we can rely on each other.
In the afternoon, the female students were all
scheduled for their health check. Yes, this took place at school. They
sectioned off the entire fifth floor and used the different rooms for different
medical stations: blood pressure, height and weight, eye sight, chest x-ray,
pee on a stick, all those fun things. It was really weird because it was at
school, but the x-ray car was still outside on the first floor, so they created
a covered tunnel for the girls to walk through to the car after we changed into
medical shirts.
It’s actually pretty convenient when you think about
it. The hardest part about it was trying to understand the medical form because
it was all written in Japanese. During the initial process where we had to fill
out the personal information we spent a good while translating each of the
selections. Even so, the translations didn’t always make sense so we had to as
the present nurses for guidance. I’m glad that we get these kind of challenges.
If they gave us English forms, I would have wanted to challenge the Japanese
one anyway.
APRIL 5
Spring
cleaning time! I spent most of the day cleaning up my room and doing laundry. A
new girl moved in at the end of the hall. We happened to run into each other in
the hall after I put my laundry in the machine, so she gave me some omiyage.
Yummy little egg cakes in decorative chick shapes. It was a good treat for the
day before I headed down to Gamagori for more training.
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