STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 39

MAY 25

If only I didn’t have homework, or the need to eat, then I could have slept all day. At least Mark was going to keep me company when I headed out to the Daiso. First, however, I went to Jason’s room to return his forgotten items. I couldn’t remember which room he lived in, but I knew it was on the second floor. As I was messaging him I noticed there was a door propped open with flip flops, similar to the ones Jason wears. In mid-message confirming that I could come in, I went to open the propped door, just as its resident came to close it. We made eye-contact, long enough for our holds on the door to become awkward. I noticed he was trying to pull the door shut, so I quickly jumped back and apologized. I had almost walked into a stranger’s room, I was that tired. A few seconds later, Jason opened his door on the opposite side of the hall. If only he had done so a bit sooner.

MAY 26

I had a feeling it would rain today.

During lunch Joy and I met with the two or three students from the seminar class that still come to eat lunch with us. We decided that this Thursday we would go check out the futsal club because Joy didn’t have to work. That was fine with me, even though I suppose BPM is having a mock battle on Thursday also. I don’t have a partner lined up or anything, so there’s no pressure for me to show up. Besides, I haven’t been able to play with Kaori and the other guys on Saturdays since February— I needed to just run around and kick a ball.

As I said, the rain came, and it was a drenching rain. Nevertheless, we were determined to go eat somewhere after international cafe. Lai and I walked back to the apartments together; she had her bike and the umbrella, but in the end I volunteered to carry at least the umbrella since at her height it kept hitting me in the head. Not more than two minutes after it was in my hand the wind turned it inside out and broke one of the spokes. That is precisely why I don’t carry umbrellas. In any case, when that happened, she tried to hold up the broken umbrella over herself so I walked the bike. I was being a “gentleman”, which made me even more uncomfortable since she was holding onto my arm as well. That was just being nice and doing the write thing.

By the time we got back to the apartment, we were both drenched. That and we passed the udon shop we hoped to eat at on the way, only to find it was closed. A quick change of plans and we met up with the others at Manchinken, the ramen place across from 7i. Finally, I could try the ramen for myself, and it was delicious, just as I hoped, it was perfect after a cold rain.

MAY 27

Aside from working on manga today, Jason and I also practiced for our Business Japanese midterm tomorrow. For the midterm, there is no written test, we are only expected to rehearse and perform accurate role-plays based on the conversations we practiced in class. This is one of my skills, so even though I don’t know all the vocabulary perfectly, I can memorize lines and play them. However, since we didn’t practice until the evening I couldn’t go to dance practice. Midterms come first in this case.

MAY 28

Yeah… so that whole “test” I was talking about yesterday persists. The first part of class was a listening quiz, unrelated to our midterm test. Then, our professor gave us time to practice before starting the actual test.

The class was divided between International Students (students who were attending the University as normal students on a 4-year program) and the Exchange Students (students who would only be at the University for six months to a year). She started the tests with the International Students, of whom there were six. ‘A’ would play the student, or the lower role, and ‘B’ would play the teacher, or other superior role. Then ‘B’ would become ‘A’ and the next student on the list would become the new ‘B’. During that time, the other students would peer review their performances. In that form we completed the International Students and started on the Exchange students. I was second on the list, so I was Gi’s ‘B’ partner when time ran out. I was half done, half done! Now I have to wait until next week to finish my midterm. At least I will be the first done.

MAY 29

Last night I packed a huge bag of clothes that I don’t need any more to take to Book-Off. Supposedly we can exchange them for some money, depending on the quality and brand, etc. I wasn’t expecting more than 300 yen. Mark and Margeaux also joined me with their own bags of unwanted items. Many of Mark’s clothes were ones that he bought this past winter and would not need in Hawaii. He got less than he wanted for the amount, but I on the other hand made 600 yen! That was double what I expected.

From there we all went our separate ways. By chance I happened to run into Rachael, Joy and Aurianne as they stopped outside Café de Crie for lunch. With my hard-earned 600 yen I bought a delicious roast beef sandwich. They were on their way to find the Kobe honey exhibition somewhere in Sakae. I took Rachael’s place as she headed to work, and then the three of us headed toward the Tokyu Hands in Sakae where it was advertised to be on the 6th floor. It was not. It was actually quite a pain to find, but after asking the right people and being directed to the underground shopping area we found the honey. Apparently, when they had gone to Kobe over spring break, they had found this honey and fell in love with it because there was so many flavors.

They had only wanted to find the place today, but they really intended to return tomorrow with Rachael, who was the most zealous to buy the honey. With the mission successful, Joy and I headed back to the university to play futsal with Shogo and Chiharu, also from the seminar class. I can’t explain how good it felt to just run and really stretch out my legs. I was using different muscles than usual, so of course I became a little winded, but Joy and I had a great time. Joy and I always made a point to play on opposite sides since we didn’t know the other members, at least we could compete with each other. It was very interesting to play with just the girls, too. Many of them are still first or second year students, so they have a tendency to move in flocks. Joy and I ran the most during those games.

I went from doing something wonderful and healthy, to going to a tenpura party. Deep fried, though lightly battered, goodness of all kinds, thanks to our cooking mama: Rachael. Chicken, pumpkin, zucchini, carrots, chocolate, bananas and more were consumed over the course of the night. Taigen also came so four of the ‘cool kids’ were able to hang out and talk until morning once again.

MAY 30

No class this morning, but I didn’t sleep in much either! I’m making progress.

It goes without saying that I spent the day inking pages, and then erasing, and then toning some of the pages digitally. The reason why we didn’t have class today was because tomorrow we are going to have our ikebana experience. We can’t bring them home, which is a shame, but I’m ready to challenge ikebana again!

MAY 31

Our class all met together outside of the library just before 9am. The discussion rooms had all been opened up to create one large room. Three ikebana teachers had come to help us with our experience. They guided us through the three main steps, and also provided meanings for certain flowers.

Since there was so many of us, we could only sit two to a table, and each person received a prepared set of flowers that worked well together. For some people that included branch-like flowers and even long grass-like stems. I was lucky enough to receive the set with the lilies, one of my favorite flowers if I had to choose.

I followed the teacher’s advice through the first three main steps; the mother, father and child branches are one way to describe them. This time I was incredibly pleased with my creation. I followed the aesthetic rules and my own instincts to create a unique, somewhat tropical feeling piece of art. When we had to present our ikebana and describe the theme, I compared it to my current growing experience. Many of the students were able to create nice pieces of work, and love seemed to be a common theme. Some people even used avant-garde ideas in their designs.

In the end, ten of our pieces could go on display in the library or in the international center. I volunteered to have mine on display in the library, out in the common room, where at least I could see it every day when I come in. It was actually placed near the entrance at first, but then they moved it up to the second floor somewhere… no one goes up there. I’ll have to go hunt it out and take a picture this coming week.

([untitled] May 31, 2014)

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 36

MAY 5

We had another day off from school today, so it was technically a free day for me. However, I was invited to join the employees who work down in Gamagori for a lunch outing. We met in Gamagori around 11am and I was surprised to see so many of the part-time workers there.

(Shrimp and crab appetizer)

(Dessert: ice cream, a slice of kiwi, pineapple, and a bit of anko!)

To be honest, the rest of the day was a pleasant surprise. From Gamagori we all headed down to Toyokawa by car, well cars. Our lunch was set at a traditional themed restaurant; the food came out in courses of soup, rice, fish, shrimp, and finally ending with a small dessert. Part of the lunch was dedicated to congratulating the graduated members of the part-time workers. To my surprise, not only was I included, but I received a gift that also doubled as an early birthday present: it was a rucksack. This was actually a very timely gift because the current bag I was using to go to school, and sometimes brought with me to training, was worn out. It was the same bag I bought in Kyoto almost three years ago, so now it seemed an appropriate time to retire it.

Lunch lasted a couple hours and then we drove back up to Gamagori by 3pm. At this time, we were free to go home if we wanted, or else we could all go hang out somewhere. The two options seemed to be karaoke and bowling; we opted for bowling, which soon became a decision between Toyohashi and Okazaki. I guess the bowling places in Gamagori were just too boring. In any case, we settled to go to Toyohashi, which for the record is right next to Toyokawa, meaning we were back-tracking for a second time today.

It was my first trip to the Round1 in Toyohashi, but it was bigger than I expected. We only went to the bowling section, but I noticed there were plenty of other floors of activity at this location. Too bad you can only get there by car. The bowling option we chose was pretty much all-you-can-throw in a period of 3-6 hours. I can’t remember the time frame because we bowled until our arms wouldn’t throw anymore, about six games. We maintained a sort of competition for the first four games, and I somehow managed to stay in the top 4 throughout. The guys also taught me how to spin the ball, but that wasn’t until the last few games when we didn’t care about the scores. I got one strike on a curve, but from there it just went downhill.

Night came. Our groups split up as we made our way home. To think, I tried to make dinner plans in Nagoya tonight. Today was so much fun; it only makes me want to work with these people more!

MAY 6

Should of, could of been another work day, but as my last day of the short vacation, I decided to take the break. I took a walk in the morning, returned to my room to watch a movie, and then in realizing I had no groceries I went back out for a grocery run.

On the way home from buying groceries, I saw a slightly older man just fall off his bike suddenly. He looked like he had passed out. I was approaching him as I crossed the intersection, but in that time, three or four older men came out of nowhere and surrounded him. They tried to wake him up and see what was wrong. I waited for a few moments to see if the man was okay, and when he finally came to, in a delirious sort of state, I proceeded to come home. Had those other men not shown up, what would I have done? What could I have done? I’m not sure I have the language skills to deal with someone in that state, nor the medical knowledge. I kind of felt helpless.

MAY 7

Last night after I got home I went to bed really early. I thought it was a good idea because we had school today, starting from first period. On the contrary, sleeping so early, around 8pm or so, caused me to wake up at 3am craving juice of all things.

I decided I would go to MaxValu, since it was open 24 hours a day, only I wouldn’t go until dawn broke at 4:30am. I bought bread for the first time since I came to Japan; granted I have bought sandwiches and bread-related items before, but not actually slices of bread. The reason I bought it was because I already had some avocados I bought yesterday from the cheap grocer. They were starting to go bad, so today was the last day I could eat them. I made some avocado sandwiches, one for lunch and one for breakfast. Ate my breakfast, along with some juice, and then it was 6am. There was no need to leave for school until 8am, so I took a nap for a couple hours.

As for school itself, it was just a regular day, but it felt awesome for no reason. I only missed one question on the listening test in Business Japanese, which is always a reason to celebrate. I call it ‘otsukare-choco’, or ‘Good work today. Here, have some chocolate’ time. Training also went smoothly, so even when I got back home around 11pm I was awake and in a good mood.

Then I checked my e-mail.

A couple days ago I tried to send a money transfer from my bank account. In order to do that, I had to set up the online transfer account, which wasn’t so hard. The test transfer went through, now I had to send the real bulk. As I was about to send the money, my account becomes locked. I’ve mentioned before that I do not fool around when it comes to money matters, so my great day quickly went into lock-down mode. Luckily, even though it was midnight here in Japan, it was around noon back in the States. I had no other choice but to call the bank center to settle the situation. That meant I had to use my pre-paid phone.

I needed to call them in order to send the transfer, but I had no minutes. I used them up talking to my parents last month, and the few remaining minutes I had just expired on Sunday. So, at midnight, I headed back out and down the street to Sunkus to buy 3000 yen worth of minutes. Thankfully, convenience stores are always open 24 hours, too. Finally, I had my minutes and I called the bank center. It took quite a bit of hoop jumping, especially regarding the fact that they needed to verify my ID at my local branch. That was impossible for obvious reasons, but thankfully I got through by answering my security questions. Apparently, the whole cause of this trouble was that when I registered for the online transfer account I was supposed to verify it, but I had not received the verification e-mail until today… after I tried the transfer.

That was a first for me. I’ve never had to handle such a delicate situation, on the phone, with my ‘adult skills’. I’m an adult. I wasn’t an adult when I turned 18, no, not until today have I truly felt that I was an adult. Or at least that I could be an adult, if I needed to be. No need to rush into things.

MAY 8

We just had a normal grammar class in the morning. Returned home and napped, didn’t go out to dance because I decided to work on my manga again.

MAY 9

Our culture class was moved to tomorrow so that we could go experience the traditional art of kamon, family crests. So, big surprise, I slept in and worked on manga again. The weather’s been a bit damp recently, not exactly rainy, but cool and threatening to rain. These days always make me sleepy. It doesn’t help that my free time is being spent in front of a computer screen all day either. But, it has to be done. Just a little more… well, not really a little, there is still quite a bit to do, but I am making progress!

MAY 10

For our kamon experience today we all met at the subway station to go to Sengen-cho. There we stood, waiting outside the ticketing gate, waiting for our professor. We arrived a bit early, she arrived a bit late. Time wasn’t much of a problem though because the location was literally a few blocks away from the station. As many small business, this place too was connected to someone’s living quarters. They were actually tie-dye artists, so it made sense that they had their studio where they lived too.

We were first led up to the second floor and then split into two groups. Initially, we were told that we would be making our own mon, our own crest designs, but that would have taken too much time. In the end, we all had to choose between the crest of Oda Nobunaga, Toyokawa Ieyasu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. All three famous feudal lords were born in Nagoya, so their likenesses frequently appear around the city. Their crests were already printed on white handkerchiefs for us.

The first group, which I was a part of, headed down to the ground floor where two large tubs of water awaited us; next to them, several small bottles of ink were lined up as well. Our traditional experience quickly transformed into the modern art of tie-dying. As “practice” we each put in a drop of ink. The ink sat at the water’s surface like a deco-modern polka design. Then, our host laid down a white handkerchief over the water, waited a few seconds, and then raised it to show that the design on the water was now imprinted.

With an understanding of the process, we were all excited to try, but no one wanted to go first. In these cases, I am usually the first volunteer. My image was that of wings, black wings over an orange and blue background. To create the wings, I drew out the ink with a stick, as our host suggested. I guess I must have been moving the stick too quickly because the lines thinned out and soon my wings looked like a great tree. Earth over Wind I suppose. As I watched the others, I wanted a second chance to try new techniques, to create a new design, but it would have cost 800 yen and I had barely 1000 yen on my person at the time. I missed the chance then, but if I could find the inks somewhere, I could easily replicate the process.

(Placing the handkerchief into the water with the ink design.)

Once the first group completed their handkerchiefs, we switched places with the second group to watch Mr. Ida at work.

 Mr. Ida was delicately creating a crest design. We watched him work on the intricate design as he told us the brief history of family crests and their designs in Japan. Mr. Ida is the only professional crest artist in Nagoya, probably Aichi at this point. Just watching him work was an eye-opening experience to the intricacy and precision of creating a good crest. If we all started from scratch, it would have taken us far too long to simply create the design, much less print it.

To tie up the day, we all received our dry handkerchiefs and took a group picture. Jason, who is twenty years old now, was dressed up in a very expensive, crested kimono, one that would be worn at a coming-of-age ceremony. It was appropriate for him, because that ceremony took place when one turned twenty in Japan. The afternoon persisted with pictures as slowly our group began to return on their own time. I couldn’t help but think that once I complete this current project of mine, I will be free to dabble in other art forms again.

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 32

APRIL 6

Two weeks from today I will be in Tokyo, watching what may be one of the biggest dance events in Japan, live.

In seven weeks there is a freestyle battle down in Toyohashi that I’m very tempted to participate in, if I can find two other people to dance with on my team.

And, in fourteen weeks, it will be my birthday. No plans yet, but there are so many possibilities.

Rather than practicing at the park as usual, tonight I joined the others for practice at the Naka District Office. The building’s entrance area is all glass, which is perfect for dancers because of the reflection. It also helps that the grounds are well paved and flat. There’s no gravel carried over from the nearby field grounds.

APRIL 7

Classes have officially started. Mondays are very similar to last semester, with only grammar class on the schedule. The only difference is that now it is during second period, instead of third. As for the rest of my free time, of course I spent it in the library. This time I started to edit my manga’s pages on my laptop. I am finally through chapter nine, but there is so much to go. If nothing else, I definitely want to finish this before my birthday!

APRIL 8

Our morning survey class was canceled today. We only had conversation class during second period; this semester we are going to be using a conversation specific text book, separate from the Intermediate-Advanced text book for grammar and kanji class.

I had planned to edit some more pages today, but I forgot my mouse at home. It wouldn’t have been worth the walk home to get it, so I worked on my website instead. That took up all of my time until dance practice. We’re still working on the choreography… the showcase is next week!

APRIL 9

Kanji class went as per usual. In fact, our actual kanji list is no different from the one we studied last semester. That means, our quizzes will be the same, we just won’t have to present the kanji in front of the class. Instead, the class will mainly be dedicated to composition and learning the written style of Japanese, rather than simply writing in plain or polite form.

Second period was free, but with third period came Business Japanese. Talk about an ego breaker. First, we started class out with a short personal information form regarding why we wanted to take the class. I was at a loss as to what to write for some of the sections like ‘How does this relate to your major?’ It really doesn’t, I just wanted to take the class. Then, we had a practice listening test. It was the same kind of listening questions that would appear on the BJT, or Business Japanese Test. I had one correct answer out of ten.

The clincher happened near the end of class when were practicing the proper way to bow. The main difference between women and men is where they place their hands during the bow. Men keep their hands straight at their sides, while women clasp them lightly in front of themselves. I had my hands clasped and the teacher came over to put my hands at my sides, then she looked up with a slightly shocked face and apologized saying, ‘Oh sorry, I thought you were just a cute boy.’

That was more than just embarrassing. My hair is still a little short, but I’m trying to grow it back out. I can’t help it if I have strong shoulders and I’m among the taller members of the class. The other girls in the class are all Chinese or Taiwanese, so they have slimmer frames. I can understand the mistake, but only to a point. It was kind of a damper on the day.

APRIL 10

Grammar class in the morning and then Mark, Jason and I went to the International Studies Club’s Snack Party. We were invited by one of the other exchange students, Cho, from China. I still had practice, but I thought I would at least stop by for a little bit since she invited me. It was a nice chance to talk to some new people and indulge in free snacks, but eventually I had to leave for practice.

It was still early, but when I got down to the campus mall, I found out that the group had gone through most of the new choreography already. I was behind, but I caught on to the new choreography quickly. On top of that, each member had to think of a 4-count during the bridge of the song. We worked together and were able to finish all the choreography today, but for some reason I didn’t feel much like part of the group. I don’t know why that is. Maybe I expect to contribute more to the group, or at least for them to try a little harder to inform me of what they’re doing.

I wouldn’t say this feeling of exclusion has anything to do with cultural or language differences. It may just be my own inner struggle between the two dance genres that I am imposing on the current situation. That and things have been relatively uninspiring the past few days. Time to decompress.

APRIL 11

Game night at Heart n’ Soul Cafe! Our first game night event, but apparently they have one every second Friday of the month. Actually, Joy and Rachael had come once before so they knew the order of things. Not only that, but dinner is free. Tonight was some light sandwiches and chips. We spent the hours playing Janga (“UNBALANCE”) and Blox. The competition level got pretty high, and often it was a match between me and Marie. We were still at a tie for wins and losses when time ran out. I can’t wait to go to the next Game night for a rematch!!

APRIL 12

Movie night with the Hawaiian students!! Tonight we watched 21 Jump Street in Rachael’s room, which also meant that Rachael cooked us all dinner. It was a much needed day for us all to chill out with each other. I can’t remember the last time outside of school we all hung out together.

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 22

JANUARY 26

There was no activity in the dance group’s messages that suggested they were going to practice at the park today, but I went anyway to see for myself. There was only a large group of some other kind of dancers, all dressed in costumes, and they were practicing a choreographed dance in the field. I watched them for a while, and when it seemed that no one was going to show up I decided to go for a walk.

Shirakawa Park is close to Sakae so I wandered in that direction. I found an Old Navy, where I tried on the size 12 Boyfriend Jeans. They fit, not exactly as baggy as they are supposed to be, but they, as jeans, do fit. I didn’t buy them though. I’m waiting until March, before the new semester starts up.

After returning home and having curry for dinner (because you can never have too much curry!) I received a message from Shin. He still needed some help finishing up his report, which is due tomorrow, so he asked if I could meet him and Yohei at Denny’s for some last minute studying. Why Denny’s? Because Denny’s is open 24 hours, and we didn’t even meet until after 10pm.

JANUARY 27

…And we stayed at Denny’s until 7am. It only took me a couple hours to help Shin finish his report; after that, I could have easily walked the three minutes it would take for me to get to my apartment. But, I stuck with them. They had come all the way to my neighborhood to buckle down and study for their last exams. I stayed for support. If they were going to keep going, I would too. So, the poor guys studied science until dawn broke, and then I let them leave their bags in my room before they went to go take their exam.

I slept for a bit, and then I Skyped with my friend Lindsay. She gave me all the updates on Toledo that I had been oblivious too, and I was able to talk to her about everything that’s been happening, especially with the job situation. It was nice to say everything out loud because in a way it reaffirmed what I already knew. It was just a matter of waiting patiently.

Dinner was our second hot-spot, SUSHI-RO, and in place of Long, Natsumi joined the “cool kids”, Mark, Jason, Taigen and I. After that, we hung out in Rachael’s room with the other students and played “Heads Up”. Apparently they have played this game a lot recently, but it was my first time. One person holds the iPad above their head, so they are unable to see the word written on it. That word, as part of a category, is acted out or hinted at by the other players. If the person holding the iPad can guess what it is, they bob the iPad forward for the next word. It was so much fun to play, and it takes a video as you play, so you can watch everyone’s reactions. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while, I just wish it had more categories that I knew!

JANUARY 28

I keep forgetting that some people will be leaving in March. Today, we were all reminded of that.

The international center threw a farewell party, a sort of lunch banquet, for all the current exchange students. We all gave a small speech about our semester, or our year, our future, our memories. Thankfully, it was all done in good spirits, and there was no tears shed. The students actually have a couple months left before they have to return to their countries. We are not sad that it’s over, not yet.

When the party was over I wanted to go to Donki, but my bike is still not fixed, and no one wanted to walk with me, so I ended up in the library. Up until dance practice I inked my manga and talked with Kentaro, who also ended up coming to school that day for a final exam. Maybe I’ll be able to finish inking my manga over spring break? Unlike in the States, in Japan the school year starts in April. That means the new spring semester isn’t for a good two months. That’s plenty of time to get over one-hundred pages drawn up, inked and toned, right?

JANUARY 29

I did it. I finally got my bike tire fixed, if for no other reason than to be able to bike places with people. The bike shop that I chose was actually right next to the little grocery store. When Mark needed his bike lock changed, I was the one who actually took him there to have it fixed, but I haven’t had a chance to take my own bike in. Part of that reason was because I would have had to walk my dead tire bike almost all the way to school, and by dead tire, I mean dead. It could not be saved. When the repair man put the inner tube in the water it was bubbling out like crazy. As expected, we did ruin it when we tried to fix it that day. The new inner tube and service cost me 2800yen, but it was worth the professional job. The couple who run the place are really sweet. Last time, I didn’t talk to them much because Mark was explaining his bike lock problem. However, this time I had the chance to sit and talk with the wife.

From now on if I have bike trouble I am going straight to them.

JANUARY 30

Today we dance, dance, and dance some more! Even Mark stopped by practice today since it was in the multi-purpose room. We also bought our tickets to a showcase event tomorrow, “ROUTEBOX”, where two of BPM’s members, Daisuke and Yugo, will perform. I can’t wait to see their showcase!! And I’m glad I don’t have to go alone. Mark’s been studying too much, but now that it’s vacation time, he can finally participate with the dance club.

JANUARY 31

As expected, any trip to Donki is dangerous. At least this time I only bought things that I will need while I am in Hokkaido, and that was a pair of boots, a light, but warm jacket, and a duffel bag, which is kind of also for going to dance practice. We went there by bike, and usually we go back home on the main road, but today Mark led us over the yellow bridge. Going uphill to get to the bridge, which crosses over the Aonami Line’s tracks, was an unwelcome challenge. Going downhill was much easier, but it was steep, and narrowed out to a street. It did take us right by MaxValu, where we grabbed some lunch before heading to Totoro’s room.

Our beloved Totoro is leaving in March. In preparation for going home, she’s decided to start cleaning her room and sending packages back to Thailand. I was warned that it was a mess, but I didn’t expect to see the mass of things she had gathered. There were so many clothes and knick-knacks, many of which were too important to throw out. We helped her clean her room some, with Joy at the head of the cleaning brigade. I had no idea where to start, but I was out of there by 4:30pm to head to the showcase.

Mark and I biked out to Kanayama, which was maybe an hour away. The event was being held at a place called CLUB SARU, which was initially hard to find. It wasn’t set in a normal building on the side of the road, but actually beneath the train tracks. Honestly, the place looked very shady from the outside, and we had arrived early so there was no one around. If Mark hadn’t been with me, I might have gone home, but we came all that way. I finally received word from Daisuke to confirm the location, so Mark and I parked our bikes at a nearby convenient store and headed to the Club.

Just from hearing the music alone I was excited. I wanted to dance. One of the DJ’s had a particularly good taste in music, playing many American hits from the 90s and early 2000s. There was cyphers going on between the showcases, but I couldn’t push myself to jump in. Not yet. As for the showcases themselves, they were amazing, particularly Yugo’s. His crew’s genre is krump, which up until now I didn’t really care for because it just seemed like violent twitching and thrashing. Yugo’s dance was art though; he really has a good sense of musicality. Daisuke’s showcase on the other hand was a lot of fun, and they even had a BGIRL with them. I wish I could somehow combine hip hop with break dance fluidly— I would love to do a showcase, if I had a crew.

FEBRUARY 1

I rode my bike out to the park today for dance practice. It’s my first time heading out there on a Saturday, but Saturday seems to be the day everyone goes. We had another new member join our band of misfits. It seems as though he has some sort of experience in locking, but he’s just starting to break dance. Finally, I had the chance to help someone else learn a new step.

When dance was over I went back home to shower and wait. Ryoko was having a party, but I didn’t feel like going to the izakaya. Shin also decided he would go to the party later, if they went to karaoke. As a result, the two of us hung around watching TV, waiting for the party to move. Unfortunately, when the party moved on, it went to play billiards. So we had ended up waiting around for nothing. Instead we grabbed a quick meal from the convenient store, ate and called it a night. Tomorrow’s an early day for me~

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 21

JANUARY 19

Sunday is dance day! I arrived a little earlier than usual today to find two strangers in our usual dance spot. Patiently, I waited off to the side until Ken, our designated group leader, showed up. It turns out that the couple that was practicing in our spot were actually acquaintances of his. He also brought along another break dancer— quiet, serious, and super strong. He was a power specialist, and power is the kind of breaking I aspire to be able to do, which is why I was excited and reluctant to practice today. Thankfully, Ken gave me a lot of good advice. We even had a small practice battle: the first time was okay, the second time was just a mess. I keep getting stuck between moves because I can’t decide what to do next. The music is also a lot faster than the hip hop I am used to, so I’m terribly slow. I should lay off the hip hop for a while and just practice break dancing I guess.

At 6pm I left dance practice to meet with Jessica in Kanayama. We ate dinner at Yama-chan and just caught up, talked about the last month’s events, and the near future. She will be going back to America soon, which she’s really excited to do because she has this great plan for her future; she wants to set-up a women’s safe house in New York one day, so she hopes she can work up a network after she’s back in the States. If I were to go back, I don’t know what I would do myself. I wouldn’t go back to school because there’s nothing specific that I want to study, nor do I care to put out the money for graduate school. There’s really no job I would like to do either. I have my manga series, but I prefer to keep my art as a hobby. The stress of a job only kills my creative inspiration.

I say there’s nothing I want to do, but over the last few months I have been helping a lot of people study English. It’s something I can honestly say I do enjoy: a personal challenge and accomplishment. I know that many people choose to teach English just so they can stay in Japan. I don’t know what other motives they have, but I know that I like teaching, and I’d like to improve at it. If that opportunity is here for me in Japan, I want it, and I will find it.

JANUARY 20

Curry, the lunch of champions, only 750 yen. Four months in and it’s still one of the best meals I have found yet (that isn’t made at home). That lunch was my amplifier for the day. I was going to have another job-related meeting in the afternoon, this time, not with the group from Toyohashi, but with a different school. The owner was actually an acquaintance of the students who studied before me from my University. Through their contact, I was able to meet with her. We’ve met a few times as I have visited her school to volunteer on a couple occasions, but today it’s tea time. Of course, we talked about how my job search was going, and to my surprise she mentioned that her company might be interested in hiring me on.

Shock! That was great news, if they could make it happen. I really love their school’s atmosphere and staff. The place also seems more stable than the one in Toyohashi, which is comforting for me. But, they have never hired a full-time foreign staff member before so they have to look at the paperwork. I have my fingers crossed. The excitement carried on even after tea-time so I spent a good four hours searching for possible apartments between Okazaki and Toyohashi.

JANUARY 21

Back to school for a moment, literally, today we had one exam, and that was for the conversation class. None of us knew how to study for it; we only reviewed the chapter points. I was the first of us four students to take the exam. It started out with a paired conversation; Jason and I were paired up, and we both were able to pull the conversation together once we understood the exam’s format. After that it was one-on-one role play and question time with the professor. I think it went well overall, but it wouldn’t have hurt to study the conversations in the textbook a little more.

Two more exams to go! Kanji and Grammar, which may be considerably more difficult than the conversation exam, but at least I know how to study for those. I studied for tomorrow’s kanji exam in the library before dance practice. This time I went a little earlier because I was hoping that I could use the multi-purpose room, which was bigger than the studio. Now, I understand there is a reservation process, so I reserved one of the rooms for BPM and we were able to practice until 9:30pm. Really, it’s supposed to only go until 9pm, but the guy at the front desk didn’t say anything. Thanks, but next time, I’ll make sure to only reserve until 9pm~

JANUARY 22

The Kanji portion of the exam went really well. I had no trouble remembering all the kanji for the two lessons that were compiled into the exam. It was about eighty or so to write, and about the same number to read. The problem came afterward during the composition part of the exam. The subject was about ‘value’, but I misinterpreted the meaning as I was writing it. I guess I messed that part up.

After that, it would have been a good idea to review grammar, but none of us had any motivation for that. We went to Saizeriya for lunch, and then watched the remainder of the Drama class presentations. I took the day pretty slow until the evening, when I finally settled down and read over all the grammar sections.

JANUARY 23

Test day? Okay, now it’s time to wish I studied more!

To be honest, the test questions themselves weren’t so bad, but the test setting was rather strict. No water bottles on the table, on a pencil and eraser. Mr. Yoshida monitored the first hour, and then Mrs. Yamamoto came back for round two. That’s when we all died a little. The second hour was about reading comprehension, something we had just barely practiced in class a couple weeks ago. At this point, I can’t even say if my answers were on point. I just wrote stuff. My brain was done.

And so, my fall semester’s courses came to an end. What to do with all my new free time? First, celebrate with chocolate, and then some more job research. Dance practice today was from 3-9pm in the gym’s arena, so we played a little basketball too. I finally feel like I am making progress with my freezes! Now I got to practice handstands some more, and I also started to learn how to do a windmill!! So excited, can’t wait to dance even more over spring break.

JANUARY 24

Okay, today was officially the last day of the semester. We still had presentations in culture class, so even though I was done, I still had to attend and participate. That was all fine and dandy because I could just sit back and enjoy the presentations. After that, I paced myself and did some cleaning around my apartment.

Off to Toyohashi for another day of “training”. Now, with other possible jobs in the wind, I was all business. We talked about the visa situation, since it would require that I be able to work full-time and receive a certain amount of money. No matter which job I was looking at, it had to satisfy the minimum requirements in order for the visa to be approved. I wish that wasn’t the case because I’m starting to like the students in Toyohashi also. They were very participatory today, which is an ego boost for me.

JANUARY 25

I woke up at 9am today for a breakfast meeting with the aforementioned Toyohashi school. Though the owner was hopeful that we could gather enough students to somehow make up the minimum salary and hour requirements for the visa, I think she is starting to see the same problems I am. I want to help them, but if the hours collide with another possible job, then it would be impossible. I have a sense that it won’t work out, I just need them to understand that. I hope this issue is settled sooner rather than later.