Hey everyone! It's been a few days but I'm back today with a lot of things that I would like to share with you. This past weekend was very interesting and there have been many new challenges at the beginning of this week. Let us commence!
January 26, 2013
Today was the day that a bunch of my friends and I decided that we wanted to go to another one of Nagoya's large shopping districts, Sakae. This area was of particular interest to us because it has a lot of stores that are very endearing to nerds such as myself. For example, Sakae has a Pokémon Center store outlet, which was the store that I most wanted to go to. If you know me even a little bit, you would know that I have been a big fan of Pokémon since I was in 4th grade. It was one of the few bright spots that I can remember well in a childhood that wasn't horrible by any means, but wasn't the best either. It is a part of me that helps me relate positively to the past, however; it doesn't prevent me from being the responsible adult and follower of Christ that I need to be. Anyway, there were other stores that were of interest to me as well such as the Jump store, which carries products from various animation and comic series that I enjoy. There was also a Studio Ghibli merchandise store, which, for those of you that know about Hayao Miyazaki and his movies, would be of great interest. There were also various clothing stores, both Western and Japanese, as well as restaurants from different cultures. We decided to eat at the McDonald's that was their for convenience and price sake. I would like to point out something that this McDonald's and many locations do as a common practice. When you place your order you are given an hour glass timer while you wait. Their goal is that the customer needs to have their food in 60 seconds or less and if they are unable to do that, the customer receives a coupon for a free Big Mac or another qualifying burger. I think this is something that American fast food restaurants should consider, although quality issues should be focused on first. I'm happy to say that my order took over 60 seconds before it was ready, so I received one of those coupons.
Now I forgot to mention that this mega shopping center is located in the subway station we arrived in. With that being said, this subway station had about 10-12 points of entry/exit, so it would have been very easy to get lost. When we got to the main area it was a very breathtaking sight. Above us there was a huge water fountain that was made of glass so we could see the water rippling from below. We later went up to the roof where the fountain was and took some pictures. It really was beautiful to see, albeit absolutely freezing. There was also a stage set up where a group of teenage pop singers were performing for a multitude of screaming fans, while children and their parents were having fun ice skating in the rink right next to the stage, surrounded by various sculptures. Needless to say, there was a lot to take in visually. I think that I will definitely go back again to explore more of the mall than just the small part we were in.
The first store that we went into was the Pokémon Center store and boy was that an experience. I have never seen so much and so many varieties of Pokémon paraphernalia in my entire life. I felt like I was back in 4th grade again when I was first introduced to Pokémon, and I remembered all of the feelings of excitement that I had. As silly as this sounds, it brought out the kid in me again and I felt many accompanying emotions with it. However, I will say that as I was walking around there was one point where I felt a little embarrassed of myself for liking this stuff because the target audience really is for people who are younger than I am, although the series has recently been moving towards slightly older audiences. Then I realized that it is okay to like this kind of thing, provided that it doesn't interfere with real life or become an idol. As I said earlier, this has been a huge part of my life for almost 15 years and it is also a huge part of nerdy, quirky personality. At any rate, it was a great time and I'm hoping to be able to go to a larger store if I'm able to visit Tokyo before I come home.
We visited a few more stores within the mall area and then decided to go seek the real prize that we came for. In Japan, there is this chain of stores called Book Off. Book Off sells used products for dirt cheap prices so, in other words, it's a college student's gold mine. They sell clothes, video games, books, etc. that are in great condition even though they are used, because Japanese people tend to take better care of their things than many Americans do. I purchased two video games, both of which cost around $20 used in the US, for about $5 and $9.50 respectively; a great deal if I've ever seen one. I also bought two volumes of some manga that I have never read before that I believe will be excellent reading practice for me. The only issue that I had with this place was something that I have talked about in a previous post. When I was in one aisle looking at the $1.50 manga I turned around and was blasted in the face with a full aisle of explicit, adult material. It was even worse than the previous experience I had in Japan with this because not only was their animated explicit material, but also real life inappropriate material. This is not helpful for any man that is trying to protect his eyes and mind from this kind of thing so it was a bit of struggle for me. I just cannot quite understand why that kind of thing is right out in the open where children could find it and look at it. I think that Japan should treat this as America does and either put it a tucked away section so everyone knows that it's bad or eliminate it from stores that it shouldn't be in and put it in stores that are associated with that kind of thing. I would prefer if all of that kind of material was eliminated in every country. My overwhelming point, I love my God, I love my wife, and I do not want to see women in a way that I'm not meant to see them. Alright, I'll get off of my soapbox now. Anyway, this was a fun experience as well and I would definitely like to go back and visit again to see what other games or cool mange that I can find.
As you can see, this was a very eventful Saturday, but also a very fun one. Let's now take a look at what happened the next day.
January 27, 2013
For the past two weeks Nick and I had been discussing the fact that we needed to find a church to attend while we are here, in order to help us continue to grow in the faith and find a solid Christian community in a very spiritually dark country. I can tell you that I have been feeling a lot of heaviness on my spirit since I've been here and I definitely needed some good community. With that said, Nick and I decided to try out the Nagoya International Christian Assembly. We had looked on their website and found that their doctrine was sound and that they were pretty easy to find. So, I got up early on Sunday morning and took the subway to Gokiso and walked the rest of the way to the church. The first person I met was the pastor's wife Carol and she was very kind. She brought me inside and introduced me to various people and also asked about my home church, LiveLIVE Church for those of you who didn't know. ;-) This church was an international church so I met people from various countries such as the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, the US, and of course Japan. Everyone was very nice, like I said, and the community was great. I even had a nice conversation with the senior pastor Gary about my church and also the fact that their church had been around in Japan for 20 years. This was encouraging to hear, knowing how little success Christianity has had in Japan. Unfortunately, there was not a whole lot that I enjoyed about the service after that point. It felt a lot like a big family meeting rather than a church service. For the record, a church should be like a family gathering in a sense. It was a blended service, meaning it was traditional and contemporary at the same time. I had a difficult time with this because I have never really been to a blended service and I really do not care for traditional services. The worship was pretty good in the sense that people were really worship God with all of their heart, but I had a tough time being able to do that because the songs were traditional hymns with a more contemporary twist that I didn't know at all and it didn't come across so well. The actual message had a very solid point that we need to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus and that attending church is vitally important. However, due to time constraints the sermon wasn't as deep as it could've been and I found myself wanting more "meat" when it was over. I found myself not really knowing how I felt as I made my way back to the dorm. I decided that I would do a search and see if there were any other churches in the area that might be better for me. I found one called GraceCity Church that Nick and I are going to this coming Sunday. I will have a report for you all on that as well. Now please don't misunderstand me, I didn't hate the other church at all. They are committed to Christ and I know that no church is perfect, but this church just isn't for me. I pray that they will continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively until He returns.
Last on the agenda for this post is some challenges that have surfaced in regards to school that have arisen just in the last few days. Prepare yourselves!
Last week we had our first tests in our Japanese Conversation and Japanese Reading and Writing classes, which would serve as our final language level placement barometer. I have not been in any danger of moving down a level at all throughout this process but I came to find out that it was still going to have an effect on me. Ide Sensee told us to check the class bulletin board before class on Monday and then come to class. I found out later that this meant the teachers were going to move some students around into classes of the same level with different teachers. I was not happy about that idea because I liked Ide Sensee and was used to her style of teaching. Come Monday morning, however, I went to the bulletin board to see that I had been moved to a different teacher and that I was one of the last ones to be moved. Initially, when I saw this I was very upset. I do not react well to change in certain situations, especially ones where I do not have a say in the matter. But, I realized that my reaction was wrong, so I stopped and prayed for God to help me to have grace and patience regardless of how I felt. Of course, God was right and I had the best day of class that I have had all semester so far. I now have Yasui Sensee for Communication and Hasuike Sensee for Reading and Writing. You know the truth that God takes any situation that is either bad or seems bad and turns it for your good and His glory? That is exactly what happened with this teacher switch. I like the two new teachers I have now better than the ones I originally had. All I can say is, God is so good all the time!
This next larger challenge happened just this morning. Yesterday, I had been asked to become a TA (Teaching Assistant) for students who are struggling a little bit, because of my high level of performance up to that point. This was very unexpected and a huge blessing to me, as it will further give me valuable teaching experience, however; I felt extremely unqualified after today. I received my two graded tests from last week and saw that I had scored a 78% and 71% respectively. All of a sudden my world started crashing down on me and I felt my confidence shatter. I NEVER get Cs on Japanese tests, it just doesn't happen. I felt like I went back in time to when I had Yukiko Sensee, where if you had even one character wrong the whole sentence was wrong. That is how they graded these tests. If there was one thing wrong I lost 2 or 3 points on some questions. I felt totally incompetent and didn't feel like I would be able to pass the semester, but then, God got a hold of me again. He brought into my remembrance that class that I had with Yukiko Sensee where I worked harder than I ever hard to earn the 3.8 that I received. He made me realize that I would have to work as hard as I did then to get the grade that I wanted, but that I could do it. I was filled with a new resolve and determination to study harder and do the best that I could possibly do. I cannot expect things to come easy all of the time and I need to work hard because that is what God wants me to do all the time. To work hard and glorify Him in all that I do. This grading system will be a challenge but it is not one that I cannot overcome with Jesus' help.
As you can see, there has been a lot going on in the last 4 days that has stirred my thoughts. From this point on I will be mentioning God more and more because He is beginning to change me in a profound and powerful way. I look forward to what the rest of this trip will bring and I cannot wait to share it all with you! Until next time, God bless everyone!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Classes, Fun Times, and New Experiences
Welcome back everyone! It's been a few days but I'm back at it again. I would like to relay to all of you my assessment of my classes now that I have had all of them at least once. I think it will be an interesting and somewhat easy semester. Without further ado, Let's take a look!
Japanese Communication/Japanese Reading and Writing
I decided to lump these together, since these two courses would be combined into one at OU. The communication course primarily deals with grammar, vocabulary, listening and speaking. I'm at an intermediate level in my ability so we are using an intermediate level textbook. My teacher for the communication class is Ide (ih-day) Sensee, whom I really like so far. She is very nice and patient with us when our brains are thinking faster than we can speak, which I often experience. The reading and writing course deals with reading and writing, of course, as well as kanji. I have found this class the more challenging of the two so far mostly because sometimes I have a difficult time picking out the answer to a reading content question. A great example of that was on Monday when my mind went blank when I was asked a question about the text we were reading. My teacher in this class is Fujimoto Sensee. I like her as well because she does a very good job at creating topics to get us to practice our speaking skills as well. My overall assessment of these two classes is that they may not be terribly difficult from a content standpoint, but, they will very much help me improve in other areas of my language study such as speaking. One challenge that has been very prevalent, especially this week, is how I deal with making mistakes and getting corrected. I've made a bunch of minor mistakes this week and have been corrected, but I have had difficulty dealing with that because I'm not really used to it. It has been very humbling for me and I think that is what God is trying to teach me through this. It just popped in my mind now that, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." I have a long way to go to fulfill my dream and I need to walk in humbleness on way towards it. It's getting easier to take correction but I still need some work.
Shodo (Calligraphy)
I think that I enjoy this class the most so far. We are basically learning how to write kanji using ink and brushes. It is a beautiful art form and I'm glad that I took the opportunity to take this course. We start by setting up our area with a felt pad to write on, a paperweight, a rag for spills, and an inkstone. We started by putting water in our inkstone, called suzuri, and then used our inkstick, called sumi, to make ink. The ink is made by taking the sumi and, using the water in the inkstone, sliding the sumi back and forth against the bottom of the inkstone. After a while, you will get sufficiently dark ink. Now, you are able to start writing. The brush is held straight up and down and movements are made with the elbow lifted, only moving your arm, not your body. This art is very relaxing and I think that's awesome because I was having a pretty rough day on Monday before I get to this class. Once I got in this class, however; I was able to relax and just take my time to make as beautiful looking kanji as I possibly could. One other thing I love about this class is there is no rush and we are encouraged to take as much time as we need. Our only assignments are to turn in our best work that we made during that class period and submit it. Very simple and stress free. This class may be my favorite class of the semester, I think.
Survey of Traditional Japanese Literature
This class looks at classical Japanese literature from the early periods of Japanese history and analyzes/critiques them. I chose to take this class because I'm very interested in Japanese literature, particularly in the early aristocratic and feudal eras. I think me taking this class is somewhat cheating because I have already read a lot of the material that we will cover in this class in other classes at OU. But I chose to take it anyway because I felt that we would dig even deeper into these stories and pull meaning from them. The professor for this class is the only American professor that I have and his name is Sharif Mebed. He is funny and has a very quirky personality. I think we will have a very lively and interesting class. For this class I will have to write a midterm and final paper and do a presentation on the final paper. Pretty basic so I think this will be a very straightforward class.
Japanese Culture and Art
This course analyzes the modernization of Japan and the effect that the West has had on Japan. We will cover a variety of topics including Tezuka Osamu and the creation of manga, video game creation, Kurosawa, Tsuburaya, and Miyazaki's work in the area of film, etc. The first day of class I was really excited because of all of the interesting topics that we would be covering over the course of the semester, but, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. The lecture was very informative but very dry, which made it kind of hard to listen to. I think it will get better once we get into more interesting topics but the class could also stay the same and be the longest 2 hours and 15 minutes of my week. We have to do little homework assignments every week and write a final paper. My feeling is that this class will be straightforward as well and it will probably not be too big of a challenge.
Now, let's move to some of the fun things that have happened over the last three days that I would really love to share!
January 20, 2013
Today, I finally was able to go pick up my cell phone from a store called SoftBank. I got a prepaid cell phone so, as a result, it was a flip phone but I'm here to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised. These flip phones appear very simplistic but I truly feel like they put our old American flip phones to shame. On my phone you can watch TV or movies, transfer your contact information or other people's contact information via infrared, it came preloaded with a full English and Japanese dictionary, and it just has a bunch of cool little features. I would like to point out that Japanese cell phones don't really use SMS, which is text messaging. They use MMS, which is basically the same thing as email. It works pretty much the same as regular texting except I am unable to text people in America. All in all, I like the phone a lot and it was kind of neat to witness differences in technology between Japan and America.
Later on, J-kun and I went with some others to Aeon to do a little shopping and have dinner. I'm very happy that I have been able to make new friends as I have gotten more comfortable with my surroundings. It's kind of funny because I'm one of the oldest people that is studying abroad here at 22 years old. I'm not that old but it somewhat points out the unusual nature of someone who is as far along in their degree as I am to come and study abroad. Anyway, let me get off this bunny trail and get back to the point. :-) J-kun, Jonathan, and I decided that we wanted to have dinner so we went to the food court area. I had decided the last time I was at Aeon that I wanted to eat at the Japanese McDonald's next time to see if there were any differences. I followed through on my vow and I just have to say that it was quite different. The potatoes in Japan are a little sweeter than American ones so the fries were a little sweeter too. With that added sweetness, fries that are already the best in the business were made even better! The sweetness of the potatoes and the salt was a very good balancing combination. However, I was even more surprised by the burger that I ate. I got a quarter pounder with cheese and it actually tasted like it was real beef. I know that sounds funny but the beef tasted exactly like a burger hand-made with ground beef tastes like. On top of that, the burger had the same coloration as a real burger when it is being cooked. It had a nice pink center and didn't have all that sodium that American ones do. McDonald's of America, you could learn something from McDonald's of Japan.
January 22, 2013
This week and next week Japanese university students are taking their final exams and are, therefore, spending a lot of time studying. With that in mind, my roommates and I decided that we would make pancakes and sausage for the 14 Japanese students that are living in our dorm. We went to the supermarket and picked up all of our supplies and then got cooking. This was a lot of fun and it was a great way to serve the Japanese students that have been working very hard in their studies and to help us feel comfortable. You could see how grateful they were as we gave them their pancakes and sausages. It was very fulfilling for me even though it went a little later than I thought it would. I'm just reminded of how Jesus had the heart of a servant and lived that out during His time here on Earth. I want to have that kind of heart as He did and I will work towards embracing those opportunities more often than I do now. It was a great night with good friends and good food, a perfect combination.
January 23, 2013
Today I just want to highlight something I did by myself. As I'm getting more confident with using my Japanese to speak with native speakers, I don't as much feel the need to have others go with me when I need to get something done to help me out. Today, I went to the post office to mail my friend Brandon his package that he had mailed here to me. It was a little scary to interact with the postal workers for fear of not knowing what I wanted to say, but, I am pleased to say that it went very well. It really was no different than when I went to the post office at home. You just have to fill out a label, pick out your shipping method, and pay the shipping fee. Even though the process was easy I felt very accomplished for being able to communicate effectively enough to get the job done. I look forward to trying more new things like this to increase confidence in my ability.
The last thing I want to touch on is some cultural things that I have observed. In America, most people just throw everything in the trash and the waste management people come, pick up the trash, and take it to a land fill. Not so in Japan at all. All residents in Japan are to separate their garbage into different categories and, depending on the day, different categories of waste are picked up. The two main categories are burnable garbage like paper products and other organic wasted, and nonburnable garbage which consists of plastics. There is also categories for metal wastes like spray cans and other nonburnable items such as things made of rubber. This is a very strict system and it is not appreciated if it is not followed with the same level of strictness. I think the reason for this system is because of the fact that Japan doesn't have a whole of usable land so having multiple landfills would take away even more useable land space. Intriguing to think about but a huge pain in the butt at the same time.
The last thing I want to discuss that I have noticed is the fashion sense of Japanese students, in particular college students. I would say that many things that Japanese young adults, particularly men, wear is somewhat eccentric. There are a lot of unusual combinations that would probably be scoffed at in America. I saw a guy today that was wearing neon yellow platform shoes with stonewashed jeans and a plaid shirt. I find this very interesting even though I would not dress in that fashion myself. The women I would say are conservative and not conservative at the same time. While their upper body is well-covered, most of the college girls I have seen wear really short skirts with black tights. This has made little sense to me as it is quite cold here right now, and thus, a time when one should be covering up, not wearing less. I also notice that the young women wear shirts that I am more accustomed to seeing older women wear, meaning the style is a little more old-fashioned. I don't think that this is bad thing but it is a unique combination of old school and new school clothing. I definitely get a strong sense of more individuality in clothing style in Japan.
Well this was a long one so thanks for bearing with me! This weekend is looking to be very promising but I will keep the reason why under wraps until then. I'll catch you all this weekend with one or possibly two new posts!
Japanese Communication/Japanese Reading and Writing
I decided to lump these together, since these two courses would be combined into one at OU. The communication course primarily deals with grammar, vocabulary, listening and speaking. I'm at an intermediate level in my ability so we are using an intermediate level textbook. My teacher for the communication class is Ide (ih-day) Sensee, whom I really like so far. She is very nice and patient with us when our brains are thinking faster than we can speak, which I often experience. The reading and writing course deals with reading and writing, of course, as well as kanji. I have found this class the more challenging of the two so far mostly because sometimes I have a difficult time picking out the answer to a reading content question. A great example of that was on Monday when my mind went blank when I was asked a question about the text we were reading. My teacher in this class is Fujimoto Sensee. I like her as well because she does a very good job at creating topics to get us to practice our speaking skills as well. My overall assessment of these two classes is that they may not be terribly difficult from a content standpoint, but, they will very much help me improve in other areas of my language study such as speaking. One challenge that has been very prevalent, especially this week, is how I deal with making mistakes and getting corrected. I've made a bunch of minor mistakes this week and have been corrected, but I have had difficulty dealing with that because I'm not really used to it. It has been very humbling for me and I think that is what God is trying to teach me through this. It just popped in my mind now that, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." I have a long way to go to fulfill my dream and I need to walk in humbleness on way towards it. It's getting easier to take correction but I still need some work.
Shodo (Calligraphy)
I think that I enjoy this class the most so far. We are basically learning how to write kanji using ink and brushes. It is a beautiful art form and I'm glad that I took the opportunity to take this course. We start by setting up our area with a felt pad to write on, a paperweight, a rag for spills, and an inkstone. We started by putting water in our inkstone, called suzuri, and then used our inkstick, called sumi, to make ink. The ink is made by taking the sumi and, using the water in the inkstone, sliding the sumi back and forth against the bottom of the inkstone. After a while, you will get sufficiently dark ink. Now, you are able to start writing. The brush is held straight up and down and movements are made with the elbow lifted, only moving your arm, not your body. This art is very relaxing and I think that's awesome because I was having a pretty rough day on Monday before I get to this class. Once I got in this class, however; I was able to relax and just take my time to make as beautiful looking kanji as I possibly could. One other thing I love about this class is there is no rush and we are encouraged to take as much time as we need. Our only assignments are to turn in our best work that we made during that class period and submit it. Very simple and stress free. This class may be my favorite class of the semester, I think.
Survey of Traditional Japanese Literature
This class looks at classical Japanese literature from the early periods of Japanese history and analyzes/critiques them. I chose to take this class because I'm very interested in Japanese literature, particularly in the early aristocratic and feudal eras. I think me taking this class is somewhat cheating because I have already read a lot of the material that we will cover in this class in other classes at OU. But I chose to take it anyway because I felt that we would dig even deeper into these stories and pull meaning from them. The professor for this class is the only American professor that I have and his name is Sharif Mebed. He is funny and has a very quirky personality. I think we will have a very lively and interesting class. For this class I will have to write a midterm and final paper and do a presentation on the final paper. Pretty basic so I think this will be a very straightforward class.
Japanese Culture and Art
This course analyzes the modernization of Japan and the effect that the West has had on Japan. We will cover a variety of topics including Tezuka Osamu and the creation of manga, video game creation, Kurosawa, Tsuburaya, and Miyazaki's work in the area of film, etc. The first day of class I was really excited because of all of the interesting topics that we would be covering over the course of the semester, but, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. The lecture was very informative but very dry, which made it kind of hard to listen to. I think it will get better once we get into more interesting topics but the class could also stay the same and be the longest 2 hours and 15 minutes of my week. We have to do little homework assignments every week and write a final paper. My feeling is that this class will be straightforward as well and it will probably not be too big of a challenge.
Now, let's move to some of the fun things that have happened over the last three days that I would really love to share!
January 20, 2013
Today, I finally was able to go pick up my cell phone from a store called SoftBank. I got a prepaid cell phone so, as a result, it was a flip phone but I'm here to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised. These flip phones appear very simplistic but I truly feel like they put our old American flip phones to shame. On my phone you can watch TV or movies, transfer your contact information or other people's contact information via infrared, it came preloaded with a full English and Japanese dictionary, and it just has a bunch of cool little features. I would like to point out that Japanese cell phones don't really use SMS, which is text messaging. They use MMS, which is basically the same thing as email. It works pretty much the same as regular texting except I am unable to text people in America. All in all, I like the phone a lot and it was kind of neat to witness differences in technology between Japan and America.
Later on, J-kun and I went with some others to Aeon to do a little shopping and have dinner. I'm very happy that I have been able to make new friends as I have gotten more comfortable with my surroundings. It's kind of funny because I'm one of the oldest people that is studying abroad here at 22 years old. I'm not that old but it somewhat points out the unusual nature of someone who is as far along in their degree as I am to come and study abroad. Anyway, let me get off this bunny trail and get back to the point. :-) J-kun, Jonathan, and I decided that we wanted to have dinner so we went to the food court area. I had decided the last time I was at Aeon that I wanted to eat at the Japanese McDonald's next time to see if there were any differences. I followed through on my vow and I just have to say that it was quite different. The potatoes in Japan are a little sweeter than American ones so the fries were a little sweeter too. With that added sweetness, fries that are already the best in the business were made even better! The sweetness of the potatoes and the salt was a very good balancing combination. However, I was even more surprised by the burger that I ate. I got a quarter pounder with cheese and it actually tasted like it was real beef. I know that sounds funny but the beef tasted exactly like a burger hand-made with ground beef tastes like. On top of that, the burger had the same coloration as a real burger when it is being cooked. It had a nice pink center and didn't have all that sodium that American ones do. McDonald's of America, you could learn something from McDonald's of Japan.
January 22, 2013
This week and next week Japanese university students are taking their final exams and are, therefore, spending a lot of time studying. With that in mind, my roommates and I decided that we would make pancakes and sausage for the 14 Japanese students that are living in our dorm. We went to the supermarket and picked up all of our supplies and then got cooking. This was a lot of fun and it was a great way to serve the Japanese students that have been working very hard in their studies and to help us feel comfortable. You could see how grateful they were as we gave them their pancakes and sausages. It was very fulfilling for me even though it went a little later than I thought it would. I'm just reminded of how Jesus had the heart of a servant and lived that out during His time here on Earth. I want to have that kind of heart as He did and I will work towards embracing those opportunities more often than I do now. It was a great night with good friends and good food, a perfect combination.
January 23, 2013
Today I just want to highlight something I did by myself. As I'm getting more confident with using my Japanese to speak with native speakers, I don't as much feel the need to have others go with me when I need to get something done to help me out. Today, I went to the post office to mail my friend Brandon his package that he had mailed here to me. It was a little scary to interact with the postal workers for fear of not knowing what I wanted to say, but, I am pleased to say that it went very well. It really was no different than when I went to the post office at home. You just have to fill out a label, pick out your shipping method, and pay the shipping fee. Even though the process was easy I felt very accomplished for being able to communicate effectively enough to get the job done. I look forward to trying more new things like this to increase confidence in my ability.
The last thing I want to touch on is some cultural things that I have observed. In America, most people just throw everything in the trash and the waste management people come, pick up the trash, and take it to a land fill. Not so in Japan at all. All residents in Japan are to separate their garbage into different categories and, depending on the day, different categories of waste are picked up. The two main categories are burnable garbage like paper products and other organic wasted, and nonburnable garbage which consists of plastics. There is also categories for metal wastes like spray cans and other nonburnable items such as things made of rubber. This is a very strict system and it is not appreciated if it is not followed with the same level of strictness. I think the reason for this system is because of the fact that Japan doesn't have a whole of usable land so having multiple landfills would take away even more useable land space. Intriguing to think about but a huge pain in the butt at the same time.
The last thing I want to discuss that I have noticed is the fashion sense of Japanese students, in particular college students. I would say that many things that Japanese young adults, particularly men, wear is somewhat eccentric. There are a lot of unusual combinations that would probably be scoffed at in America. I saw a guy today that was wearing neon yellow platform shoes with stonewashed jeans and a plaid shirt. I find this very interesting even though I would not dress in that fashion myself. The women I would say are conservative and not conservative at the same time. While their upper body is well-covered, most of the college girls I have seen wear really short skirts with black tights. This has made little sense to me as it is quite cold here right now, and thus, a time when one should be covering up, not wearing less. I also notice that the young women wear shirts that I am more accustomed to seeing older women wear, meaning the style is a little more old-fashioned. I don't think that this is bad thing but it is a unique combination of old school and new school clothing. I definitely get a strong sense of more individuality in clothing style in Japan.
Well this was a long one so thanks for bearing with me! This weekend is looking to be very promising but I will keep the reason why under wraps until then. I'll catch you all this weekend with one or possibly two new posts!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Of Blow Darts and Castles
Welcome back to another exciting installment of my blog. The last day and a half have been pretty interesting and I would like to share that with you today. This journey is just beginning to take shape now as the semester has now truly begun. Without further ado, let's dive right in!
January 15, 2013
The daytime hours were pretty low-key as it was our last day of orientations before classes start. Things got interesting, however, in the evening. The previous night my dorm room decided to make Nabe which is a type of soup and invite others over to join us for dinner. Initially, I was a little uneasy about having a bunch of people over because the evening is usually my mental dump/process time and having company can be stressful, but, I was able to overcome that and be okay with the idea. My roommates and I met at our room and headed over to the supermarket "Valor" to purchase ingredients. We came back and began the preparations, and people began to arrive shortly thereafter. The dinner was a good bonding experience for all of us, but especially for me because most of the people that came I had not yet met. Now at this point things got really interesting. J-kun, being from Louisiana, really enjoys spicy food. That being said, one of the guys who came over for dinner, Kosuke, also really likes spicy food and he brought with him this hot sauce appropriately named "Death Sauce." On the bottle it says that the recommended amount is 2 microdrops, which was impossible to measure, but J-kun decided to put a considerable amount in his soup. He mixed it up and was fine initially but then he got to the bottom of the soup bowl. All of the sauce ingredients had collected at the bottom of the bowl and he was now consuming them. The effects were immediate. His face turned bright red, he broke out into a sweat, tears streamed from his eyes, and he tried consuming as much bread as possible. This appeared to work but then he got hit with 2 or 3 more afterburns. This was quite hilarious but if you thought this was the highlight of the night you would be mistaken.
In our living room area we noticed this long wooden staff-like object propped against the wall in a corner. Since inquiring minds wanted to know, we decided to investigate in the hopes of figuring out what it was. It looked like a staff of African make with tufts of bristle like hair that went around the shaft. Upon closer inspection, we figured out that it could come apart and we were extremely pleased to discover that it was a blow dart gun with multiple darts in it. Being college students, we absolutely had to play with it, so we went into the hallway of our dorm room and set up a couple of shoe boxes and some cans and had some target practice. It was so much fun and I was one of the few who was able to hit the shoebox. Suffice it to say, this was a surprisingly exciting end to an evening that I expected to be normal.
Alright, now it's time to move forward into the next day which was even more exciting than the previous night was. Seem impossible? Just wait and see. Let's continue.
January 16, 2013
When I woke up this morning I felt very down and depressed, as if I already knew somehow that it was going to be a terrible day. I was fighting back tears but why tears were even present, I knew not. I talked to Jamie via Skype as I do every morning and she gave me the great advice to verbally declare that the Lord is with me, that it would be a great day because I am His, and that Satan cannot steal the joy that I have in Him. I declared that and I prayed and from that point on, my day was very good.
Today was the first day of classes so, admittedly, I had some butterflies in my stomach. Although, I'm sure some of that was due to the fact that our language level placement was still in process. I got an introduction to both of my classes and then we had to take another placement test in each class. There was an A test and a B test. Everyone was required to take the A test because it was essentially a review of the material from the previous level. The B test was for people that wanted to attempt to get into the next highest level. I only took the A test because I was already in the level that I wanted to be in. However, when I got that first test it was as if I had never taken any Japanese before. The test was so confusing and I thought it didn't go all that well. The A test in my second class went much better but I was still quite concerned that I might get dropped down to 400-level. Note: As of today, I'm happy to say that I maintained my 500-level status and there doesn't appear to be any danger of me riding the line in between the two levels. My feeling about this semester is that I will do very well as long as I continue to work very hard and do the best that I can. To me, this semester is no different than a semester at Oakland would be. My philosophy is this: 100% effort all the time, start strong, finish stronger.
The highlight of today was our visit to Nagoya Castle for our first CJS field trip. We were broken up into small groups and Japanese students from the university acted as our tour guides. My group's guide was named Aoi and she was the best guide ever! I learned a lot from her, much of which I will share here with you. This castle was constructed in the feudal Japan era, which, unfortunately, I cannot quite remember the year. It was absolutely majestic to behold. The main castle had a tiled roof that curled upward at the edges and corners, with two golden fish statues on the very top that made the castle appear like it had horns. We entered through the main gate and went inside the castle, going to the very top which housed the observation deck. Looking out, you could see the Nagoya city skyline along with the mountains in the distance. The view was breathtaking and I felt a great sense of awe towards God for His immense creativity in the nature that he created there. We descended from the observation deck and visited each floor, each having their own exhibits and artifacts. The floor that I found the most amazing was the second floor, which housed the exhibits on katanas. It was fascinating to see all of the different blades and sword guards that were used during that time. It was here that I learned the most interesting fact that I had heard all day. Japanese people drive on the left side of the road but the driver's seat is on the right side. Why is this? Aoi told me that it is because of the samurai. When samurai would battle they would always run to the left of their adversary and wield their sword with their right hand. The right hand was used because it could quickly reach across the body, pull the sword from its sheath and deliver the most powerful blow by slicing backward. It has been proven that the most powerful move while fighting is to thrust your elbow backward. Therefore, a driver of a car is like the powerful, sword-wielding right hand and driving on the left side of the road is like going into battle against your adversary. Very interesting! This was pretty much the end of the tour so we made our way out of the castle, onto the subway and back to the dorms. What a great day this turned out to be!
As you could probably tell, this was a wonderful day in Japan for me. I also learned that when the cherry blossoms bloom in April they will be all over the castle grounds. Even better still is that on the castle grounds there are also green cherry blossoms that bloom in the spring! This is the only place in Japan where you can see green cherry blossoms. With that said, I will definitely be going back in April to see the cherry blossoms and take a lot of pictures. Thanks again for sharing in my Japanese journey with me! I will have another post up real soon but until then, I'll catch you all later.
January 15, 2013
The daytime hours were pretty low-key as it was our last day of orientations before classes start. Things got interesting, however, in the evening. The previous night my dorm room decided to make Nabe which is a type of soup and invite others over to join us for dinner. Initially, I was a little uneasy about having a bunch of people over because the evening is usually my mental dump/process time and having company can be stressful, but, I was able to overcome that and be okay with the idea. My roommates and I met at our room and headed over to the supermarket "Valor" to purchase ingredients. We came back and began the preparations, and people began to arrive shortly thereafter. The dinner was a good bonding experience for all of us, but especially for me because most of the people that came I had not yet met. Now at this point things got really interesting. J-kun, being from Louisiana, really enjoys spicy food. That being said, one of the guys who came over for dinner, Kosuke, also really likes spicy food and he brought with him this hot sauce appropriately named "Death Sauce." On the bottle it says that the recommended amount is 2 microdrops, which was impossible to measure, but J-kun decided to put a considerable amount in his soup. He mixed it up and was fine initially but then he got to the bottom of the soup bowl. All of the sauce ingredients had collected at the bottom of the bowl and he was now consuming them. The effects were immediate. His face turned bright red, he broke out into a sweat, tears streamed from his eyes, and he tried consuming as much bread as possible. This appeared to work but then he got hit with 2 or 3 more afterburns. This was quite hilarious but if you thought this was the highlight of the night you would be mistaken.
In our living room area we noticed this long wooden staff-like object propped against the wall in a corner. Since inquiring minds wanted to know, we decided to investigate in the hopes of figuring out what it was. It looked like a staff of African make with tufts of bristle like hair that went around the shaft. Upon closer inspection, we figured out that it could come apart and we were extremely pleased to discover that it was a blow dart gun with multiple darts in it. Being college students, we absolutely had to play with it, so we went into the hallway of our dorm room and set up a couple of shoe boxes and some cans and had some target practice. It was so much fun and I was one of the few who was able to hit the shoebox. Suffice it to say, this was a surprisingly exciting end to an evening that I expected to be normal.
Alright, now it's time to move forward into the next day which was even more exciting than the previous night was. Seem impossible? Just wait and see. Let's continue.
January 16, 2013
When I woke up this morning I felt very down and depressed, as if I already knew somehow that it was going to be a terrible day. I was fighting back tears but why tears were even present, I knew not. I talked to Jamie via Skype as I do every morning and she gave me the great advice to verbally declare that the Lord is with me, that it would be a great day because I am His, and that Satan cannot steal the joy that I have in Him. I declared that and I prayed and from that point on, my day was very good.
Today was the first day of classes so, admittedly, I had some butterflies in my stomach. Although, I'm sure some of that was due to the fact that our language level placement was still in process. I got an introduction to both of my classes and then we had to take another placement test in each class. There was an A test and a B test. Everyone was required to take the A test because it was essentially a review of the material from the previous level. The B test was for people that wanted to attempt to get into the next highest level. I only took the A test because I was already in the level that I wanted to be in. However, when I got that first test it was as if I had never taken any Japanese before. The test was so confusing and I thought it didn't go all that well. The A test in my second class went much better but I was still quite concerned that I might get dropped down to 400-level. Note: As of today, I'm happy to say that I maintained my 500-level status and there doesn't appear to be any danger of me riding the line in between the two levels. My feeling about this semester is that I will do very well as long as I continue to work very hard and do the best that I can. To me, this semester is no different than a semester at Oakland would be. My philosophy is this: 100% effort all the time, start strong, finish stronger.
The highlight of today was our visit to Nagoya Castle for our first CJS field trip. We were broken up into small groups and Japanese students from the university acted as our tour guides. My group's guide was named Aoi and she was the best guide ever! I learned a lot from her, much of which I will share here with you. This castle was constructed in the feudal Japan era, which, unfortunately, I cannot quite remember the year. It was absolutely majestic to behold. The main castle had a tiled roof that curled upward at the edges and corners, with two golden fish statues on the very top that made the castle appear like it had horns. We entered through the main gate and went inside the castle, going to the very top which housed the observation deck. Looking out, you could see the Nagoya city skyline along with the mountains in the distance. The view was breathtaking and I felt a great sense of awe towards God for His immense creativity in the nature that he created there. We descended from the observation deck and visited each floor, each having their own exhibits and artifacts. The floor that I found the most amazing was the second floor, which housed the exhibits on katanas. It was fascinating to see all of the different blades and sword guards that were used during that time. It was here that I learned the most interesting fact that I had heard all day. Japanese people drive on the left side of the road but the driver's seat is on the right side. Why is this? Aoi told me that it is because of the samurai. When samurai would battle they would always run to the left of their adversary and wield their sword with their right hand. The right hand was used because it could quickly reach across the body, pull the sword from its sheath and deliver the most powerful blow by slicing backward. It has been proven that the most powerful move while fighting is to thrust your elbow backward. Therefore, a driver of a car is like the powerful, sword-wielding right hand and driving on the left side of the road is like going into battle against your adversary. Very interesting! This was pretty much the end of the tour so we made our way out of the castle, onto the subway and back to the dorms. What a great day this turned out to be!
As you could probably tell, this was a wonderful day in Japan for me. I also learned that when the cherry blossoms bloom in April they will be all over the castle grounds. Even better still is that on the castle grounds there are also green cherry blossoms that bloom in the spring! This is the only place in Japan where you can see green cherry blossoms. With that said, I will definitely be going back in April to see the cherry blossoms and take a lot of pictures. Thanks again for sharing in my Japanese journey with me! I will have another post up real soon but until then, I'll catch you all later.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Mega Market Wandering Plus Some Cultural Perspective
Welcome back all! At this point I will continue to describe the beginnings of my travels throughout the city. This day was very exciting and action-packed, so fasten your seat belts and away we go!
January 13, 2013
This day began much the same as the previous days before it. I woke up, got dressed and chatted with my wife on Skype. After that, I went with my roommate J-kun to the front gate of Nanzan University to wait for other international students and our Japanese student guides. There is a group of Japanese students at Nanzan called NaSA, Nanzan Study Abroad, that employ the buddy system to help international students make the transition to life in Japan smoothly. Today our guide Kanako took us to the Showa-ku ward office to register our addresses and apply for the Japanese National Health Insurance. In order to get to the ward office, however, we had to take the subway. This was my first time being on a subway anywhere in the world so it was a little confusing at first. You have to look at a map of the stops and decide which stop you want to get off at and pay accordingly. Sometimes when you are en route to a destination you have to transfer from one subway line to the next. This was immensely intimidating at first but I got the hang of it in the end. At the ward office, the process for what we had to do was interesting as the application form was completely in Japanese and completely confusing. Soon enough, though, we worked our way through the application and completed the process. Afterward, we stopped and had lunch at a nice little restaurant. At this point, I would like to point out the difference between ordering food in Japan and in America. In Japan, restaurants having vending machine-like machines that have buttons with the names of the meals that you can order on them. You insert your money and then press the button of the meal you would like and then you receive a ticket. This ticket is your order and as such you give it to whoever is serving you. One other thing that I would also like to mention is that tipping is not something that is done in Japan. Japanese people believe that the pay that they receive from their employment is their greatest reward for serving guests well. Therefore, in their eyes, tipping is unnecessary. Suffice it to say that this is hard for me to not do because I work at a restaurant back home and tips are very important. I had a dish called katsudon at this restaurant. Katsudon is a fried slice of pork on top of a bed of cheesy egg and rice. It was very delicious as the egg was sweet and perfectly countered the savoriness of the pork. I will definitely be having that again.
After lunch, we went to try and get cell phones. I say try for a couple of reasons. First, the plans were so hard to decipher that even Kanako and our other guide Hiroki had a hard time trying to translate for us what it meant. The second reason was because the store we went to, called SoftBank, didn't have anymore of the prepaid phones in stock so we had to order them. This was certainly a major challenge but certainly a parallel to America because US cell phone plans can be just as frustrating to try and decipher.
After phones were ordered, the group decided to go to this mega-shopping district called Osu. We took a little longer subway ride and then arrived at the biggest shopping center that I have ever seen. At the entrance to the center, we were given a map, which after looking at it we knew that it would take several days or even a week to navigate through this labyrinth of shops. J-kun and I decided to just walk around and go in a shop if it caught our interest. J-kun really likes anime so we went into many stores that had an affiliation with Japanese animation, particularly those that feature female characters, as they are extremely popular in Japan. There were a lot of stores that I found interesting as well, such as this store that had four or five floors that were full of video games, models, books and all sorts of things. As the day wore on, however, I began to be overstimulated by all of the sights, sounds, and smells. My inner introvert started screaming at me to take myself home and lock myself in my quiet room so that I could process everything. Thankfully, I didn't let this internal struggle overwhelm my emotional self-control and I still managed to enjoy myself a lot. After a long day of walking, we returned to the dorm and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. This was quite the enjoyable day.
I want to dedicate the last section of this blog entry to some cultural observations that I have been having. I would like to first mention the influence of entertainment media in Japan such as manga, anime, and video games. In the United States, if you are an adult and you participate in any of these things you are considered immature and childish. It is the exact opposite in Japan. I noticed that almost all of the people that were looking at these things ranged from young adults to men possibly in their 30s or 40s. This society doesn't bind its people into giving up things that they enjoy because it is seen as childish. I agree with this idea, provided that it doesn't interfere with the more important things in one's life. There was another common theme that I noticed while at Osu and, quite frankly, I was quite bothered by it. There was a lot of animated nudity in the stores and whole sections of product were devoted to this very thing. I knew this coming in but was flabbergasted by the sheer amount of it all. I know that the exaggerated bodily features of these cartoon women are not real but I still felt very wrong for seeing any of it. All I could think of was how I would not want my kids in the future to see anything like this and it would be very unacceptable in the US. This just kind of called into question for me what kind of morality a people group hopes to have when they do not have God and His Word at the foundation. I am just happy that this is not the kind of media entertainment that I enjoy.
Lastly, I want to discuss something that I really admire about Japanese society, and that is their thoroughness. We have had to do tons of paperwork before and after arrival and we will have more to do before we come home. While this can be somewhat annoying, as a detail-oriented person, I am impressed by it. Everything is done so as to ensure that all bases are covered, the good and the potential bad. This attention to detail is also evidenced in their emergency preparedness. Today we went through what to do in the event of a fire, earthquake, tsunami, burglary, traffic accident, interpersonal altercation and more. Everything was precise and detailed right down to the last step. While this was tedious for us students, as most of our own home countries do not hold to this level of preparation, this showed me the great lengths that are gone to in order to preserve a well-functioning society. The Japanese are a very resilient people and that is strongly evidenced by their level of preparation for a vast array of situations. As you may be able to tell, I'm learning a lot already!
With that I will conclude this blog post, but stay tuned because tomorrow I will describe our recent nabe party as well as my first day of classes and our field trip to Nagoya Castle. Thanks for continuing to stick with me on this incredible journey!
January 13, 2013
This day began much the same as the previous days before it. I woke up, got dressed and chatted with my wife on Skype. After that, I went with my roommate J-kun to the front gate of Nanzan University to wait for other international students and our Japanese student guides. There is a group of Japanese students at Nanzan called NaSA, Nanzan Study Abroad, that employ the buddy system to help international students make the transition to life in Japan smoothly. Today our guide Kanako took us to the Showa-ku ward office to register our addresses and apply for the Japanese National Health Insurance. In order to get to the ward office, however, we had to take the subway. This was my first time being on a subway anywhere in the world so it was a little confusing at first. You have to look at a map of the stops and decide which stop you want to get off at and pay accordingly. Sometimes when you are en route to a destination you have to transfer from one subway line to the next. This was immensely intimidating at first but I got the hang of it in the end. At the ward office, the process for what we had to do was interesting as the application form was completely in Japanese and completely confusing. Soon enough, though, we worked our way through the application and completed the process. Afterward, we stopped and had lunch at a nice little restaurant. At this point, I would like to point out the difference between ordering food in Japan and in America. In Japan, restaurants having vending machine-like machines that have buttons with the names of the meals that you can order on them. You insert your money and then press the button of the meal you would like and then you receive a ticket. This ticket is your order and as such you give it to whoever is serving you. One other thing that I would also like to mention is that tipping is not something that is done in Japan. Japanese people believe that the pay that they receive from their employment is their greatest reward for serving guests well. Therefore, in their eyes, tipping is unnecessary. Suffice it to say that this is hard for me to not do because I work at a restaurant back home and tips are very important. I had a dish called katsudon at this restaurant. Katsudon is a fried slice of pork on top of a bed of cheesy egg and rice. It was very delicious as the egg was sweet and perfectly countered the savoriness of the pork. I will definitely be having that again.
After lunch, we went to try and get cell phones. I say try for a couple of reasons. First, the plans were so hard to decipher that even Kanako and our other guide Hiroki had a hard time trying to translate for us what it meant. The second reason was because the store we went to, called SoftBank, didn't have anymore of the prepaid phones in stock so we had to order them. This was certainly a major challenge but certainly a parallel to America because US cell phone plans can be just as frustrating to try and decipher.
After phones were ordered, the group decided to go to this mega-shopping district called Osu. We took a little longer subway ride and then arrived at the biggest shopping center that I have ever seen. At the entrance to the center, we were given a map, which after looking at it we knew that it would take several days or even a week to navigate through this labyrinth of shops. J-kun and I decided to just walk around and go in a shop if it caught our interest. J-kun really likes anime so we went into many stores that had an affiliation with Japanese animation, particularly those that feature female characters, as they are extremely popular in Japan. There were a lot of stores that I found interesting as well, such as this store that had four or five floors that were full of video games, models, books and all sorts of things. As the day wore on, however, I began to be overstimulated by all of the sights, sounds, and smells. My inner introvert started screaming at me to take myself home and lock myself in my quiet room so that I could process everything. Thankfully, I didn't let this internal struggle overwhelm my emotional self-control and I still managed to enjoy myself a lot. After a long day of walking, we returned to the dorm and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. This was quite the enjoyable day.
I want to dedicate the last section of this blog entry to some cultural observations that I have been having. I would like to first mention the influence of entertainment media in Japan such as manga, anime, and video games. In the United States, if you are an adult and you participate in any of these things you are considered immature and childish. It is the exact opposite in Japan. I noticed that almost all of the people that were looking at these things ranged from young adults to men possibly in their 30s or 40s. This society doesn't bind its people into giving up things that they enjoy because it is seen as childish. I agree with this idea, provided that it doesn't interfere with the more important things in one's life. There was another common theme that I noticed while at Osu and, quite frankly, I was quite bothered by it. There was a lot of animated nudity in the stores and whole sections of product were devoted to this very thing. I knew this coming in but was flabbergasted by the sheer amount of it all. I know that the exaggerated bodily features of these cartoon women are not real but I still felt very wrong for seeing any of it. All I could think of was how I would not want my kids in the future to see anything like this and it would be very unacceptable in the US. This just kind of called into question for me what kind of morality a people group hopes to have when they do not have God and His Word at the foundation. I am just happy that this is not the kind of media entertainment that I enjoy.
Lastly, I want to discuss something that I really admire about Japanese society, and that is their thoroughness. We have had to do tons of paperwork before and after arrival and we will have more to do before we come home. While this can be somewhat annoying, as a detail-oriented person, I am impressed by it. Everything is done so as to ensure that all bases are covered, the good and the potential bad. This attention to detail is also evidenced in their emergency preparedness. Today we went through what to do in the event of a fire, earthquake, tsunami, burglary, traffic accident, interpersonal altercation and more. Everything was precise and detailed right down to the last step. While this was tedious for us students, as most of our own home countries do not hold to this level of preparation, this showed me the great lengths that are gone to in order to preserve a well-functioning society. The Japanese are a very resilient people and that is strongly evidenced by their level of preparation for a vast array of situations. As you may be able to tell, I'm learning a lot already!
With that I will conclude this blog post, but stay tuned because tomorrow I will describe our recent nabe party as well as my first day of classes and our field trip to Nagoya Castle. Thanks for continuing to stick with me on this incredible journey!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Walking the Streets of Nagoya
Welcome back to my blog everyone! The last two days I have started to come out of my shell a little bit more to the point where I started walking around the city a bit to explore my new surroundings. It was a very enjoyable time and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all today. So, let's dive in!
January 12, 2013
Today started off good and bad all at the same time. I was on Skype with Jamie all morning, which was absolutely awesome because I love my wife to death, but during the video call I had reached some really low points emotionally. All during the conversation my mood resembled several camel humps with all its peaks and valleys. I kept allowing myself to dwell on the fact that I was alone for 4 months and getting through that time seemed impossible. I felt like I wouldn't succeed, that I shouldn't be here, and that I just wanted to go home. It was at that moment, like those of a few days before, that I felt like being away from Jamie was much more than I could hope to overcome. But Jamie told me to pray to the Lord first and accept His peace, and then to go do something like take a walk so I would not continue to dwell on what I could not change about the situation. I took her advice and did both of those things. Don't worry everyone, things get better from here. :-)
I decided to walk to the local supermarket called "Valor" because I needed to pick up a few things, plus I already knew where that was. Walking around aimlessly without knowing where I was going would have increased my anxiety and stress. Japanese supermarkets are very much like those in the United States but there are a few differences. For example, for snack foods like potato chips and such, the portions are significantly smaller than in the US. If there is one thing that I can take away from Japanese grocery stores, it is that portion size is much smaller and more controlled. One other thing that is different is that while grocery bags in America are free, you have to buy bags along with your groceries if you want them. While it's a nominal for each bag, 5 yen, it is still different from what I am used to. Another thing that I have found interesting is that certain foods considered "common" to us are a little bit harder to find in Japan. For example, I have yet to see any cheese, people tell me it's there but hard to find, and peanut butter is rather uncommon as well. I would consider these staple foods, so this will continue to be a test of my ingenuity to come up with different things to eat. This is not a bad thing at all just different.
I was intending to stay in the rest of the day but my roommate J-kun came to my room and asked if I would like to walk around with him and find a place to have dinner. I agreed and off we went. He had already been walking around the city for about 5 hours that day so this second long trek was a test of stamina by my estimation. We walked up and down a few streets looking to see if we could find any place that we would like to have dinner, which we didn't find. J-kun then suggested that we go to this mega department store called Aeon. The place had myriad stores and a food court, so off we went.
At the risk of redundancy, this department store was absolutely massive! There were stores for everything that you might need or have interest in plus a great selection of excellent eateries. I decided that I wanted to get a dish called karekatsu, fried pork curry, because I had eaten katsu dishes before and they were very good. This dish, I would argue, was even better. It was composed of non-spicy curry, rice, and a fried slice of breaded pork. It was more than I could eat but the flavors were simple yet very refined. It was very good to the palate, that's for sure. J-kun and I also split a dish called takoyaki, which is baked octopus. They were basically these little pancake balls with octopus in them. These were also very delicious, however, initially, the texture of the octopus was a little awkward to get past. After dinner, we walked around to explore some of the stores a little bit and then began the 20 minute or so trek back to the dorm. All in all, this was a very successful evening.
Now before I end this section of the blog, I would like to tell a little anecdote of mine since I have been here, so here goes. It didn't occur to me before I came that I should pack a towel; I had just assumed that they would have some here in the dorm for us. Suffice it to say, I was wrong in my assumption. The first day I took a shower I managed to get a hold of a towel but I knew that I needed to get one. My roommate Ryota took me to 3 different places to try and find one and, at last, we had struck gold at the last store we went to. The store was called hyaku en or 100 yen, which is the equivalent of an American dollar store. We found the bath towels but, the problem was that they were not even close to long enough and were very thin. If I dried my hair with one that was it, it would be too soaked to use for the rest of my body. So, I bought two of those towels. Needless to say, I was still not happy with the towels I had. Hoping to have better luck, one of the stores J-kun and I went to after dinner at Aeon was a home goods kind of store. We looked around a little and found some towels that were thicker than the previous ones I had purchased and a little longer. I picked up a couple of those towels and am happy to say that they work well. I wanted to tell this story because of all the things that one has to adjust to when living in another country for an extended period of time, the thing that has given me the most trouble so far is finding a towel of an adequate size and thickness. Guess I'm just spoiled from having my awesome bath sheets at home.
I will continue the next day of my journey around Nagoya in my next blog post that should be up tomorrow. Stay tuned and I hope you're enjoying sharing the journey with me!
January 12, 2013
Today started off good and bad all at the same time. I was on Skype with Jamie all morning, which was absolutely awesome because I love my wife to death, but during the video call I had reached some really low points emotionally. All during the conversation my mood resembled several camel humps with all its peaks and valleys. I kept allowing myself to dwell on the fact that I was alone for 4 months and getting through that time seemed impossible. I felt like I wouldn't succeed, that I shouldn't be here, and that I just wanted to go home. It was at that moment, like those of a few days before, that I felt like being away from Jamie was much more than I could hope to overcome. But Jamie told me to pray to the Lord first and accept His peace, and then to go do something like take a walk so I would not continue to dwell on what I could not change about the situation. I took her advice and did both of those things. Don't worry everyone, things get better from here. :-)
I decided to walk to the local supermarket called "Valor" because I needed to pick up a few things, plus I already knew where that was. Walking around aimlessly without knowing where I was going would have increased my anxiety and stress. Japanese supermarkets are very much like those in the United States but there are a few differences. For example, for snack foods like potato chips and such, the portions are significantly smaller than in the US. If there is one thing that I can take away from Japanese grocery stores, it is that portion size is much smaller and more controlled. One other thing that is different is that while grocery bags in America are free, you have to buy bags along with your groceries if you want them. While it's a nominal for each bag, 5 yen, it is still different from what I am used to. Another thing that I have found interesting is that certain foods considered "common" to us are a little bit harder to find in Japan. For example, I have yet to see any cheese, people tell me it's there but hard to find, and peanut butter is rather uncommon as well. I would consider these staple foods, so this will continue to be a test of my ingenuity to come up with different things to eat. This is not a bad thing at all just different.
I was intending to stay in the rest of the day but my roommate J-kun came to my room and asked if I would like to walk around with him and find a place to have dinner. I agreed and off we went. He had already been walking around the city for about 5 hours that day so this second long trek was a test of stamina by my estimation. We walked up and down a few streets looking to see if we could find any place that we would like to have dinner, which we didn't find. J-kun then suggested that we go to this mega department store called Aeon. The place had myriad stores and a food court, so off we went.
At the risk of redundancy, this department store was absolutely massive! There were stores for everything that you might need or have interest in plus a great selection of excellent eateries. I decided that I wanted to get a dish called karekatsu, fried pork curry, because I had eaten katsu dishes before and they were very good. This dish, I would argue, was even better. It was composed of non-spicy curry, rice, and a fried slice of breaded pork. It was more than I could eat but the flavors were simple yet very refined. It was very good to the palate, that's for sure. J-kun and I also split a dish called takoyaki, which is baked octopus. They were basically these little pancake balls with octopus in them. These were also very delicious, however, initially, the texture of the octopus was a little awkward to get past. After dinner, we walked around to explore some of the stores a little bit and then began the 20 minute or so trek back to the dorm. All in all, this was a very successful evening.
Now before I end this section of the blog, I would like to tell a little anecdote of mine since I have been here, so here goes. It didn't occur to me before I came that I should pack a towel; I had just assumed that they would have some here in the dorm for us. Suffice it to say, I was wrong in my assumption. The first day I took a shower I managed to get a hold of a towel but I knew that I needed to get one. My roommate Ryota took me to 3 different places to try and find one and, at last, we had struck gold at the last store we went to. The store was called hyaku en or 100 yen, which is the equivalent of an American dollar store. We found the bath towels but, the problem was that they were not even close to long enough and were very thin. If I dried my hair with one that was it, it would be too soaked to use for the rest of my body. So, I bought two of those towels. Needless to say, I was still not happy with the towels I had. Hoping to have better luck, one of the stores J-kun and I went to after dinner at Aeon was a home goods kind of store. We looked around a little and found some towels that were thicker than the previous ones I had purchased and a little longer. I picked up a couple of those towels and am happy to say that they work well. I wanted to tell this story because of all the things that one has to adjust to when living in another country for an extended period of time, the thing that has given me the most trouble so far is finding a towel of an adequate size and thickness. Guess I'm just spoiled from having my awesome bath sheets at home.
I will continue the next day of my journey around Nagoya in my next blog post that should be up tomorrow. Stay tuned and I hope you're enjoying sharing the journey with me!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Eventful Days at Nanzan University
The past few days have been quite eventful due to the impending start of classes next Wednesday. Therefore, we will dive in in greater detail!
January 10, 2013
Today marked the first day of three days of orientation that would familiarize us with all the aspects of Nanzan University that we would need to know. We began this day, however, with our Japanese language placement test. This test would determine which of the five possible levels we would be able to take. My goal was to reach the 500-level, the middle level, and I will enlighten you on the results a little later in the blog. I felt the test was pretty easy for the most part. I can definitely tell that my JLPT preparation made a huge difference in how I did on the test.
After the test came my first big test of my skill in Japanese: how to order and successfully pay for a meal. Nick and I went into the Shokudo, or school cafeteria, to get some lunch. The challenge began first in trying to read the kanji names of the menu items as well as figuring out the process for ordering. We literally stood staring at the menu for about 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, making for a very uncomfortable and stressful situation. Finally, we were able to decide what we wanted and then successfully order and pay for our meals. This day also marked a momentous milestone in my war with the use of chopsticks. For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm not very good with chopsticks and almost always have to use my chopstick cheaters or just grab a fork. Well I'm here to tell you that today was a different day. I picked up those chopsticks, placed them in my hand properly, and was able to use them with great success. So now I'm one step closer to evening the score with chopsticks: Courtney 1 Chopsticks 87
We had a couple more orientation sessions and then we were taken on a guided tour of the campus by some Japanese students. Nanzan has a very nice campus with very well kept facilities and everything a student needs to be successful. The area that most has me enamored is a place called the Green Area. It's not much to look at now but when it becomes spring the grass will be as green as can be and the many trees around the area will be full of beautiful cherry blossoms that only last about a week or so. This will be a time when the creative genius of God will be on full display and I cannot wait to capture it with my camera.
After the tour, the Center of Japanese Studies threw us a welcome party! It was a nice meet and greet with the CJS faculty and the returning students. It was a fun and enjoyable experience even though I was fighting a strong bout of depression at that moment. After this party there was another party that needed to be prepared for. My dorm, NKK (for those of you that forget or didn't read my first blog entry :-P), was having its own welcome party and each dorm room had to make a dish together for a potluck meal. My room made a New Orleans style spicy rice stir fry and I believe that it was a good bonding experience for us. This party was an absolute blast! I met and conversed with a large number of people and did surprisingly well when I was speaking Japanese to my new Japanese friends. The party got even more fun when we played bingo. There were a lot of prizes if you got a bingo and some of them were just plain hilarious. For example, one guy literally won an action figure of a FedEX delivery man. This is something you would see only in Japan so I had to get a picture of it. (All pictures that I am taking will be uploaded to Facebook as they are taken. First group should be up tomorrow) I won a packet of a sweet snacks that are in the shape of the head of a Buddha, which I found very ironic since I am a follower of Jesus Christ. All in all, it was just good, clean fun all around.
Unfortunately, that night was even worse for me emotionally than the previous one. I woke up at 4:00 in the morning weeping with the greatest "wifesickness" I had ever experienced. It was so bad that I only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. Once again, the Lord used Jamie to help me relax and calm down and just pray. I know things will get better soon but, right now, it stinks.
January 11, 2013
There wasn't a whole lot that happened today but I will give the gist of what was important about today. We had a couple more orientation sessions in the morning concerning the school's computer system and library. After lunch, we got to the part of today's scheduled events that I was most looking forward to; finding out our language placement and registering for classes. I was very happy to see that I achieved my goal of testing into 500-level Japanese but I'm also looking forward to the other classes that I registered for. I registered for Shodo, calligraphy (Japanese brush writing), a Japanese literature course that focuses on some of the classic works in Japanese literary history, and a Japanese art and culture course. The latter course I'm really excited for because it covers subjects such as anime, video games, Hayao Miyazaki's fantastic movies, and Tezuka Osamu's legendary, standard-setting manga. This is going to be a great class, although, my Mondays will be jam packed as a result.
I hope that you are enjoying the blog so far and I will be posting again very soon about my continued adventures in Japan. Stay tuned and please keep praying for my wife and I!
January 10, 2013
Today marked the first day of three days of orientation that would familiarize us with all the aspects of Nanzan University that we would need to know. We began this day, however, with our Japanese language placement test. This test would determine which of the five possible levels we would be able to take. My goal was to reach the 500-level, the middle level, and I will enlighten you on the results a little later in the blog. I felt the test was pretty easy for the most part. I can definitely tell that my JLPT preparation made a huge difference in how I did on the test.
After the test came my first big test of my skill in Japanese: how to order and successfully pay for a meal. Nick and I went into the Shokudo, or school cafeteria, to get some lunch. The challenge began first in trying to read the kanji names of the menu items as well as figuring out the process for ordering. We literally stood staring at the menu for about 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, making for a very uncomfortable and stressful situation. Finally, we were able to decide what we wanted and then successfully order and pay for our meals. This day also marked a momentous milestone in my war with the use of chopsticks. For those of you that know me well, you know that I'm not very good with chopsticks and almost always have to use my chopstick cheaters or just grab a fork. Well I'm here to tell you that today was a different day. I picked up those chopsticks, placed them in my hand properly, and was able to use them with great success. So now I'm one step closer to evening the score with chopsticks: Courtney 1 Chopsticks 87
We had a couple more orientation sessions and then we were taken on a guided tour of the campus by some Japanese students. Nanzan has a very nice campus with very well kept facilities and everything a student needs to be successful. The area that most has me enamored is a place called the Green Area. It's not much to look at now but when it becomes spring the grass will be as green as can be and the many trees around the area will be full of beautiful cherry blossoms that only last about a week or so. This will be a time when the creative genius of God will be on full display and I cannot wait to capture it with my camera.
After the tour, the Center of Japanese Studies threw us a welcome party! It was a nice meet and greet with the CJS faculty and the returning students. It was a fun and enjoyable experience even though I was fighting a strong bout of depression at that moment. After this party there was another party that needed to be prepared for. My dorm, NKK (for those of you that forget or didn't read my first blog entry :-P), was having its own welcome party and each dorm room had to make a dish together for a potluck meal. My room made a New Orleans style spicy rice stir fry and I believe that it was a good bonding experience for us. This party was an absolute blast! I met and conversed with a large number of people and did surprisingly well when I was speaking Japanese to my new Japanese friends. The party got even more fun when we played bingo. There were a lot of prizes if you got a bingo and some of them were just plain hilarious. For example, one guy literally won an action figure of a FedEX delivery man. This is something you would see only in Japan so I had to get a picture of it. (All pictures that I am taking will be uploaded to Facebook as they are taken. First group should be up tomorrow) I won a packet of a sweet snacks that are in the shape of the head of a Buddha, which I found very ironic since I am a follower of Jesus Christ. All in all, it was just good, clean fun all around.
Unfortunately, that night was even worse for me emotionally than the previous one. I woke up at 4:00 in the morning weeping with the greatest "wifesickness" I had ever experienced. It was so bad that I only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. Once again, the Lord used Jamie to help me relax and calm down and just pray. I know things will get better soon but, right now, it stinks.
January 11, 2013
There wasn't a whole lot that happened today but I will give the gist of what was important about today. We had a couple more orientation sessions in the morning concerning the school's computer system and library. After lunch, we got to the part of today's scheduled events that I was most looking forward to; finding out our language placement and registering for classes. I was very happy to see that I achieved my goal of testing into 500-level Japanese but I'm also looking forward to the other classes that I registered for. I registered for Shodo, calligraphy (Japanese brush writing), a Japanese literature course that focuses on some of the classic works in Japanese literary history, and a Japanese art and culture course. The latter course I'm really excited for because it covers subjects such as anime, video games, Hayao Miyazaki's fantastic movies, and Tezuka Osamu's legendary, standard-setting manga. This is going to be a great class, although, my Mondays will be jam packed as a result.
I hope that you are enjoying the blog so far and I will be posting again very soon about my continued adventures in Japan. Stay tuned and please keep praying for my wife and I!
Friday, January 11, 2013
A Rough Way to Begin
Welcome to my blog everyone. It took me a few days but here I am with my first post and it is quite the doozy. So hang on as I give you an overview of my first day here.
January 9, 2013
After a very long flight we landed in Nagoya, Japan at the Nagoya International Airport. At this point, my stomach was in absolute knots because I was finally in Japan and I had no idea what to expect. My friend Nick and I got off of the plane and proceeded to get our resident card, pick up our luggage, and go through customs. His host family was there to meet him and take him back to their home and a Japanese student named Mako was waiting for me to take me back to the dorm I would be staying in. As we made our way out of the airport I found myself looking around to see the differences between that airport and airports in America. I noticed that the Nagoya airport had smoking rooms where people could, of course, go and smoke. I was also intrigued by the efficiency with which they operate. Everything was very orderly and precise, evidence of many years of perfect rehearsal.
From the airport we were taken by taxi to my dorm, Nagoya Koryu Kaikan, on the campus of Nanzan University. As we were driving, I drifted in and out of consciousness as I was very tired from the flight. I was able to stay awake long enough to notice the differences between Japanese cars and roads when compared to those of America. First, the roads are very narrow so turns have to be very precise. There were quite a few moments when I thought we were going to hit another car. Another major difference is that Japanese people drive on the right side of the road. I knew this before seeing it, however, that didn't stop me from getting freaked out a little bit. As for the cars, the only major difference of note is that they are driven from the right passenger seat instead of on the left side. It took us about an hour to get to the university.
I made it into the dorms and was greeted very warmly by the dormitory staff as well as the other students that happened to be there, of whom were having a party. At this point, I became very overwhelmed because of the information overload from the dorm staff and the greetings from various people. My inner introvert was screaming at me to get back in that taxi and go back to the airport so that I could go home. After this initial introduction I met my roommates for the first time.First there is Joey, who had already been here the previous semester studying, then Johnathan whom we affectionately call J-kun, and last our Japanese student roommate Ryota. They welcomed me in and then showed me around the apartment before inviting me to come to the party downstairs. I decided to go down there for a little bit even though I was exhausted. I talked with a few people and then came back up to my room to try and go to sleep.
I chatted with my wonderful wife for a little bit that night but would get no sleep that night. Most people consider what I felt that night to be homesickness, but I would call it "wifesickness" instead. I was so upset and missed my wife so much that I just started weeping. I felt like I had made a terrible decision and that I was a terrible husband for doing this. I didn't know why I was here and wanted nothing more than to just go home. I was strongly considering going back to the airport the next day and buying a ticket to come home. Jamie did an excellent job of being there for me and prayed for me to get through that night. I spent some time praying after talking with her and then I received that wonderful peace that surpasses all understanding and was able to rest a few hours. Difficult situations are so much easier to deal with when I know that the Lord Jesus Christ is there to love me and give me peace.
As you can see, today was very difficult but I made it through. I just have to walk one day at a time and try not to focus so much on how depressed I am. You will be happy to know that in my next blog post things were better. Stay tuned for my next blog entry about the following day!
January 9, 2013
After a very long flight we landed in Nagoya, Japan at the Nagoya International Airport. At this point, my stomach was in absolute knots because I was finally in Japan and I had no idea what to expect. My friend Nick and I got off of the plane and proceeded to get our resident card, pick up our luggage, and go through customs. His host family was there to meet him and take him back to their home and a Japanese student named Mako was waiting for me to take me back to the dorm I would be staying in. As we made our way out of the airport I found myself looking around to see the differences between that airport and airports in America. I noticed that the Nagoya airport had smoking rooms where people could, of course, go and smoke. I was also intrigued by the efficiency with which they operate. Everything was very orderly and precise, evidence of many years of perfect rehearsal.
From the airport we were taken by taxi to my dorm, Nagoya Koryu Kaikan, on the campus of Nanzan University. As we were driving, I drifted in and out of consciousness as I was very tired from the flight. I was able to stay awake long enough to notice the differences between Japanese cars and roads when compared to those of America. First, the roads are very narrow so turns have to be very precise. There were quite a few moments when I thought we were going to hit another car. Another major difference is that Japanese people drive on the right side of the road. I knew this before seeing it, however, that didn't stop me from getting freaked out a little bit. As for the cars, the only major difference of note is that they are driven from the right passenger seat instead of on the left side. It took us about an hour to get to the university.
I made it into the dorms and was greeted very warmly by the dormitory staff as well as the other students that happened to be there, of whom were having a party. At this point, I became very overwhelmed because of the information overload from the dorm staff and the greetings from various people. My inner introvert was screaming at me to get back in that taxi and go back to the airport so that I could go home. After this initial introduction I met my roommates for the first time.First there is Joey, who had already been here the previous semester studying, then Johnathan whom we affectionately call J-kun, and last our Japanese student roommate Ryota. They welcomed me in and then showed me around the apartment before inviting me to come to the party downstairs. I decided to go down there for a little bit even though I was exhausted. I talked with a few people and then came back up to my room to try and go to sleep.
I chatted with my wonderful wife for a little bit that night but would get no sleep that night. Most people consider what I felt that night to be homesickness, but I would call it "wifesickness" instead. I was so upset and missed my wife so much that I just started weeping. I felt like I had made a terrible decision and that I was a terrible husband for doing this. I didn't know why I was here and wanted nothing more than to just go home. I was strongly considering going back to the airport the next day and buying a ticket to come home. Jamie did an excellent job of being there for me and prayed for me to get through that night. I spent some time praying after talking with her and then I received that wonderful peace that surpasses all understanding and was able to rest a few hours. Difficult situations are so much easier to deal with when I know that the Lord Jesus Christ is there to love me and give me peace.
As you can see, today was very difficult but I made it through. I just have to walk one day at a time and try not to focus so much on how depressed I am. You will be happy to know that in my next blog post things were better. Stay tuned for my next blog entry about the following day!
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