Monday, October 27, 2008

Rush

At the moment, I'm waiting for my rice to cook in my rice cooker and taking a small break from studying. Tomorrow is the midterm, and I'd like to do relatively well. I don't know how my credits are going to transfer, but it doesn't really matter. I wish I had more opportunities to speak the kind of Japanese we're learning. We're doing keigo, or polite language, which seems to be mostly used in business situations. We studied it a little bit last year, but I didn't memorize it enough to have it stick. I'm afraid this will be a repeat of that. The good thing is at least my casual Japanese has gotten good enough to get the basic idea across, but in many ways I still feel like a neanderthal.

I admit I still spend more time with Americans than anyone Japanese, but I don't feel like speaking English during the day is hindering me necessarily. I'm still improving, slowly but surely, by talking with teacher and so on. Despite it feeling more and more like I've been here a longer time, I still have a long ways to go. Hopefully by doing volunteer work and helping those in the library at school, I'll be able to brush up on a little more polite Japanese. While I probably won't gain any kind of fluency by being here, it's opening the door for me. It's making me question what I want to do in the future, and if I really want to be here forever. I don't know if I'm just having a bout of homesickness or what, exactly. Maybe it's just a temporary feeling. I think it's always easy to get down mid-semester, as the excitement has cooled off and now it's just the grind. I think I'm getting sick of Nagoya and the school's bureaucracy.

Anyway, despite all the negativity I'm feeling in this tiny window of time, I'm also having a lot of fun. I don't have any regrets about being here at all, and I feel close to the people here. Saturday was my birthday, and because we had gone out many times before I decided to just take it easy. I made hot wings and spaghetti, and thought about my favorite places back home. Sigh. D-bos. My friend TJ found me a delicious chocolate and strawberry cake from some place that is comprable to the French Bakery I work at back home. I got a lot of adorable stuffed animals and little sweets, and two of my Japanese friends got me a body pillow. Happyfacegoeshere.

Next month I plan on going to Osaka to see my friend who studied at my school last year, and to get out of this place. Others here have already gone to Tokyo and Kyoto on the weekends, but I've been tied to things there. What I'm really looking forward to is when my sister comes into town during Christmas break and we can travel. Free time in Japan is what I'm hurting for.

This weekend I'm going to Shiho's to bake a cake and just hang around her house. Sadly, that's the furthest I've been away from the dorm on my own. Soon, I will go out and see the world more.

Nagoya itself isn't that impressive, but I guess big cities don't necessarily do much for me. We went down the port either last week or the week before, and it was really nice. I love seeing the water. It was super windy and chilly, but we hilariously ate at Red Lobster then went to a tiny amusement park. We went through a very cheap looking haunted house, rode around on these crazy animatronic bears that were half-dying, and then went up on a ferris wheel and got a beautiful skyline view of Nagoya at night. I plan on going earlier in the day next time so I can go to the aquarium and go to this dog-petting place. Typical Japan.

We went on a school fieldtrip up to Gifu prefecture at the beginning of this month. I actually really enjoyed it despite other people thinking it was boring maybe. The bus ride was long and ridiculous, but it was nice to get out. We went to this special tiny town, Shirakawago, in the mountains that had these complicatedly thatched roofs. I like historical stuff like that, especially in a country with such a rich history. The best part was that we got to stay in a pretty nice Ryokan. They served awesome traditional food, and I got to go to a really nice onsen. It was pretty embarrassing, me being a silly American with lots of other silly Americans, naked together. Despite that, it was really relaxing and we got to sit outside in the bath next to a river flowing through the mountains.

2 comments:

Tora Mulligan said...

All I could think of when I read this was: There's a Red Lobster in Japan? Woah.

Also,

Tora Mulligan said...

Oops, I didn't even finish the comment.

Also, tell Macha I said hi and give him a hug for me when you go to Osaka. You deserve it. :)