Saturday, April 5, 2014

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 31

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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