As Was Foretold

January 31

Today, I awoke peacefully after a sound sleep. It didn't feel particularly early and it was very quiet outside of the room. I couldn't help but feel that something was amiss, particularly since my phone was not making noise via its alarm. Looking at my watch, I began to wonder if I had accidentally turned on a stopwatch, as the time did not make sense to me. After determining that the numbers on the watch were those of the actual time, I bolted out of bed to begin getting ready to rush to campus so I would not be more late to class than I already was going to be.

My phone very clearly stated that the alarm had gone off as it was supposed to, but despite its functionality, it did not do the job - just as I knew would happen. I also knew that waking up at 9:45 with a 20 minute walk to campus would not facilitate my being on time to my 10:00 Japanese class. Within five minutes of waking, I was walking out the door while preparing myself mentally to burn my legs out in order to rush there. After the tiresome hike to campus, I woefully entered the classroom for my second day of Japanese class.

The teacher, Tokashiki san, seemed to pretend that I wasn't late and carried on as if nothing happened after I sat down. After the class was over, I went to explain myself and apologise for my tardiness. She seemed more than eager to forgive me and completely understood the situation. At lunch, I looked at my phone to figure out a way that I could better the chances of waking up until I found a real alarm clock. Previously, I had set the alarm to get progressively louder for ten seconds so that there would be less of a chance that it would wake up my roommate. After having gone through this morning's events, I decided to start the alarm at its maximum volume and keep it on for 50 seconds.

After lunch, I decided to venture off to the bookstore so that I could find my Japanese textbook. After finding the store without much trouble, I located the book and the accompanying workbook and purchased it for ¥4,050, which is equivalent to about $35.64. Not only was the cost about $100 less than it would have been in America, but it was also discounted since I was a student. Just another reason to dislike the CSU bookstore...

After awhile, it became time to go to my last new class, International Negotiation. Once the class started, the teacher simply told us to ask questions about him and the class. Until people started asking questions, he just sat and waited. After we finshed our Q&A session, he began the class by presenting us with a scenario of catching a friend's fiancee kissing someone else and he wanted to know who would tell the friend about it. As people started to answer, the teacher discontinued his silence and challenged everything they said with more questions. He had already told us his thick background with negotiations, and now he was using it. After a fairly long discussion about the scenario, he pointed out several differences in the typical responses from different cultures. He then asked us to ask six people from different countries the same question for homework. Perhaps in this class, I will learn how to better ask questions about people and other various things.

For dinner, I got to do something different for a change. I got my roommate, Mitch, to accompany me to go someplace to eat. We walked down a road that I haven't been down before and eventually found a restaurant that looked good. The restaurant had teriyaki chicken on the menu - something that I didn't think actually existed in Japan. I was intrigued and I wanted to see if it tasted any different. Once the food came out, I observed a tray including three moderately sized pieces of chicken, a piece of chicken tempura (like fried chicken), miso soup, and a mountain of rice. Considering the quantity of food and the excellent taste, I would estimate the price to be about $20+ in America. Here, it was ¥500, which is equivalent to about $4.40. Let's just say that I shall be seeing that restaurant again many times before I leave.

After returning to the dorm, I began implementing the Michael method of doing my negotiation homework. I typed up the scenario and a few questions and printed six copies. That way, I could have a quick and easy way to get the answers without having to remember what to ask. From there, I finished three of my forms by using my dormmates as subjects. After that, the night came to a close.