A Week's Worth

Having both been too lazy to write a blog for the past week and not having done more than one or two reportable things each day anyway, I thought that it might save time in writing and reading if I were to condense the week into one post.

Monday was the designated 'off' day for National Foundation Day which was on Sunday. This holiday was founded in celebration of the first emperor of Japan who is said to have descended from the Sun god. After World War II, the USA insisted that the holiday be cancelled since it reflected back to the Japanese way that led to the war. After a few years, the Japanese people voted the holiday to be reinstated since it showed a part of Japanese history. Despite this, some Japanese protest the holiday even today because they do not want to look back upon their past since it could lead them back to their old way of thinking.

Since the day was school-free, I was left with nothing to do. Albert and I had planned to get dinner at 5:00, but it was only 11:00 when I woke up. For lunch, I decided to make the rice and shrimp dish that I bought earlier. Come 3:00, I received a message from Albert that asked for me to meet him in 15 minutes. Once I found him, he explained that he heard about a place in which we could play pool. The problem was that he wasn't sure where the place was. Our first step was to find Makino Station since the pool place was nearby it. After walking around for awhile, we finally asked someone and were oriented properly. Next, we had to find the pool place. We also had to ask someone for that, during which, we discovered that Japanese people, like others, call it billiards instead.

The building we had to go to was a giant game building that advertised bowling as its main activity. Again, we had to ask where the billiards tables were. The third floor where they were situated had two separate sections, so it was harder to find than we had hoped. Once we found the tables, we paid for 30 minutes and played. Having not played pool in years, I was, of course, awful at it. After the game, we went for bowling, which I already knew I was awful at from the last time I played. On top of that, all of the balls had small holes which made throwing the ball incredibly difficult. Overall, bowling is an incredibly expensive sport since it cost ¥600 per game and you had to rent shoes from a vending machine. Pool only cost ¥500 for 30 minutes.

After we played, we rode the train to Hirakata-shi so we could find somewhere to eat. The city was surprisingly devoid of places to eat as compared to the area around the school. We picked a Japanese restaurant (most of the others featured foreign foods) and ate there, after which, we went home.

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Tuesday was the first day of school after the long weekend. Other than that, nothing particularly interesting happened until dinner. For dinner, I went to an Okinomiyaki restaurant by myself. This was the first time that I went to a restaurant by myself. By the time I figured out what I wanted from the all-Japanese menu (which I was able to read enough to choose), I discovered that they had an English menu. After ordering, I compared the menus so I could figure out what some things said. After eating and paying, I finished the night off.

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Wednesday was Valentines' Day. It seems that many people do not know if Japan celebrates V-Day. The answer, quite simply, is that they do; just not the same way. In America, Valentines' Day is a free-for-all in which everyone gives everyone chocolate and other confections. In Japan, however, only the girls get to give chocolate. The boys have to wait until a month later (White Day) to reciprocate the favor.

I started off the day in my Japanese class, where one of the assistant teachers (student in training) handed out what is called 'obligatory' chocolate. This particular kind of giving is simply to show that the person feels a duty to give chocolate as a gesture toward a person. From that point on, I expected that I would not receive any more chocolate of any kind.

While waiting for my next class (5 hours later) in the lounge, I was joined by two Japanese girls looking for seat. Eventually, Keisuke and Albert shuffled through the area as well. A third girl joined the other two and Albert began talking with them. Eventually, he got to the point where we would all go to dinner after class. One of the girls went to a convenience store to pick up a few items and came back with chocolate that she distributed to everyone. We continued talking until class.

In Negotiations, we went over our actual negotiation from the previous class day. As it turned out, I happened to get the highest price that he had ever seen in the exercise (good thing I was the seller!). Hopefully my partner will learn from the experience and not give in so quickly next time. The teacher also addressed the issue about why he was being so hard on the Japanese students. He explained that in order to become a foreign exchange student in Japan, the students had to go through a series of very difficult tests to be accepted to the school, go through a series of training classes taught in English with other Japanese students, go through the classes available to us (as in people like me) with a passing grade, have an interview in English to ensure that the students can survive in a foreign country, and finally, have an interview in Japanese to judge their character and motives. All of this occurs without letting the student actually decide where they will go. Because of this, the teacher doesn't want to let Japanese students who aren't worthy pass his class since the students who fail bring shame upon the home institution, their family, and their country, as well as incur a heavy financial penalty if they fail abroad. I just had to fill out an application!

After class, we all met up and went to a restaurant that one of them worked at part-time. Albert seemed to have taken a liking to one of them and talked to her fairly often. On the way home, one of them separated from the group since she lived in a different direction. Albert talked to his new friend, and I was left with the one who I thought was the prettiest. We talked until we reached her appartment where we parted ways. From there, I followed Albert and his friend until our usual parting point and I went home while Albert walked his friend to her home. We did all of this and I never was told any of their names.

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On Thursday, Albert and I ran into two of the girls from last night. They were talking with some guy, so we sat elsewhere. While the girls were talking, the girl who "lived in a different direction" told the guy her name. Having learned one of their names, I was on my way to rectifying the lack of such knowledge. Before too much longer, it was time for class.

Today in my culture class, we were to do a mock interview for the big project that we are to do for the class. I chose to ask about 'Group Membership in Japan.' I phrased my questions in a way that required the person to think about the responses in order to answer. This would help keep the answers interesting and also help with the paper I have to write. My mock interviewee agreed with the idea. When we switched partners and roles, I was faced with an exclusively female interview that was done in an intense and forceful way. I advised her to change the questions to be more universal and to try to not be so strong in her method of interviewing.

After class, I went back to the lounge so I could wait for a reasonable time for dinner. I was eventually joined by Albert who told me that he would be dining with his new friend tonight. Eventually, she came by to meet him. It was at this point that I was able to learn her name and I asked the other's, who I spoke to the night prior. Finally having learned their names, Takako (Albert's friend), Masumi (the other direction), and Mami (the one I talked to), I was glad to have caught up with reality. After Albert and Takako departed, I went to the Ramen shop to quench my appetite.

While in the Ramen shop, I was joined by an old Japanese couple. They seemed to be quite roudy and at times, they spoke to me, though I did not understand. I cannot gauge what they were saying to me, or perhaps about me (if they were), but as I was leaving, the man of the couple got up to shake my hand, bow, and say goodbye. An interesting experience behind me, I went forth back to my dorm.

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On Friday, the first interesting event occured at lunch. I got to eat with two of the teaching assistants - one from my class, and her friend from another class. We spoke of various things about Japan and America while we ate. At one point, I put them to the test to see if they knew who the musician Kana was. As expected, they had no clue, even after I played a sample for them on my MP3 player. Once lunch was over, we returned to the CIE where they went to the teacher's lounge, and I went to the student's lounge.

While sitting in the lounge, I broke out my laptop that I brought with me to ease the 4 hour wait for my class. I was joined by Kim and her friend Alex who I also knew. After talking some, I began a picture show of a bunch of jokes that I had obtained from my friend Jeff a few years ago. After mentioning that I had a lot of cat pictures during a particular picture featuring a cat, Kim became interested to see the pictures. We watched a slideshow of little kittens doing various things until the class that we happened to have together.

After class, I met up with Albert who insisted that we go to the Ramen shop that I went to yesterday for dinner. I reluctantly agreed since the alternative was to eat by myself. After we finished, we walked back to the dorms in the freezing wind.

Back at the dorm, it became apparent that everyone was once again scheduled to have some late-night fun. Once they all left, I got to sit peacefully in the dorm. I did my laundry and watched a movie. I saw in my email that my meeting with my speaking partner would include her bringing some Takoyaki, which meant that I would be trying octopus tomorrow. That should be interesting...