Almost a Week's Worth

Wednesday

There were no Japanese classes held today because some people still had to the their oral assessment test that I completed the day prior. Because of my freedom, there was no need to worry about going to school early. Despite this, I found it easier to make way to the school in order to eat lunch and study.

For the last few days, there had been a guard at the school who seemed to take a special interest in talking to me as I passed by each day. Today, we had a longer discussion and exchanged names. Mr. Mori (which means forest in English) then produced some chocolate from his pocket and dubbed it a present. As I walked onward away from him, I began wondering what his intent was. It could simply be that he wanted an international friend, but there could also be negative reasons. I figured that I would just keep my eye on what he does and let it continue. Afterall, our meeting point is surveyed by a camera in case anything goes awry.

Lunch was particularly busy today as it seemed that the halls were again filled with Japanese students. After finishing my meal, I went to the lounge to begin studying for my two tests tomorrow. I began by attempting to find the last few answers for my culture study guide in the book. After awhile, I saw Koichiro, a Japanese friend that I met toward the beginning of my stay here who asked me for help in English. He explained that today was class registration day and that is why so many people are there right now.

After working on my study guide for about two hours, I began working on my three page Japanese study guide which I finished in one sitting and checked for correctness. By that time, I was completely burned out and could no longer stand to study. From that point on, I played games on my Nintendo DS until it was time to go to class, afterwhich, I studies some more.

Thrusday

Today was the day of the tests. I began by waking up a little early so I could have a last minute review before the tests. At the school, I again had a conversation with Mr. Mori and he passed on another set of chocolates before I went on my way.

We had the test in a different room than usual. I arrived to find other classmates standing around. There were people already in the room who appeared to be taking the test. After awhile, it became apparent that the test would be administered to all of the Japanese 2 classes together. I took the rest of the waiting time looking over vocabulary words as a final preparation.

When the test began, I started my way down the page. Once I finished about 1½ pages, the teachers began the listening section. The first example was very difficult to hear. I was certain that I missed two parts of it. The other two examples were easy to hear and gave me no trouble. After that, I continued to work on my test. Nabil had told me earlier that he would finish first (because he likes to compete), but I finished well before it looked like he would, so I checked over my test because I felt bad that he would be so behind. After stalling all that I could, I handed in my test and left Nabil in the dust.

After the test, I ran off to lunch to suck up my food and study for my culture test. When time came to take the test, I was more than ready to get it over with at long last. Taking the test could be described as a person learning to drive for the first time. Go-stop-go-stop-go-stop; which translates as I know this-I don't know this-I know this-I don't know this. Fortunately, I went more than I stopped, so I would hope for a reasonable grade. I was able to answer the bonus questions too.

After my next class, I discovered that I had lost the ability to send email with my phone. This was a particular negation to my existance in Japan since most people here thrive on using email and rarely ever dial a number. I did not feel up to dealing with the situation at the time though. I went home and did nothing for the rest of the night to recuperate from my long study time.

Friday

Without Japanese class, I again went to school for lunch. This time, I came prepared to accept Mr. Mori's gift with a gift of my own. I exchanged some rice crackers for his chocolate, which he expressed jokingly was lunch.

Today's goal was to regain my cellphone email. In order to do so, I would have to find a Japanese student to help me translate. A translator was especially important since my cellphone is a rental from a thrid-party company and it was especially important that I confirm that email is possible under the circumstances.

The first person I came across was Kimie. She was misfortuned with having to write a paper today, so she could not go. The next person I came across was Keisuke. He had class and had to meet a friend, so he could not go. The next person was Taka, a friend I met through Will and Daan. He was able to assist me, and so we went to the SoftBank store to explain the situation.

The process was fairly simple. After Taka explained the situation, the saleswoman said that she would have to tack on only a small extra charge to the bill in order to make the email work. Since my account had been deactivated, I lost my previous email address, which, despite being long and ridiculous, was replaced by an even more ridiculous email address. The fun part was figuring out how to change my email address. After the SoftBank employee could not figure it out herself, she took the phone over to the computer and changed my address manually to one that I chose. Having resolved my troubles, we returned to school where Taka and I parted ways since he had to meet friends for studying. Now I just have to see if I can still email a week later...

In my negotiation class, we talked about various things including why it is better to have a translator when doing international negotiation. I was proud that I did that exact thing just a few hours ago, which verified what he was saying. I was also glad that I had no more tests to care about and I sat peacefully while waiting for the last class of the week to end.

After class, I went with Albert, Yusuke, and Yu to Hirakata City to do a 'teambuilding' exercise since we were all in the same group in Human Resources. Our outing began by eating dinner and having a meeting on what to do about the project. Our topic is Special Employment Issues Regarding Age in Japan. We decided to have everyone find all the material they could on the topic and report their findings the Monday we go back to school. From there, we will divy up the work among the four of us and go from there.

After lunch, we went to an entertainment center called Ring where we played pool. Despite my previous atrocity last time I played pool, I had somehow magically improved substantially. I was suddenly able to make shots that I couldn't even come close to the last time I played. At one point, we played 9-ball and everyone but me bet 100 yen for the winner. I did not want to bet since I was the least skilled and would probably lose. Ironically, I was the victor of the first game by sinking the 9 ball with another ball (which I did intentionally)! They had to start another game in order to get a winner.

Once our gaming came to a close, Yu headed home while Yusuke, Albert, and I went to MOS Burger, the Japanese version of McDonalds (even though they have McDonalds in Japan). I wasn't particularly hungry, so I just ordered some chicken nuggets. They seemed to be healthier than McDonalds', but nothing special. Once we finished, Yusuke went home and Albert and I walked back to the dorms.

Saturday

Today was graduation day for the Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai. It was supposed to be a very traditional setting, so I journeyed over there to see what was happening. Please visit http://profile.imageshack.us/user/exite13/ and view the images under the 'graduation' tag for many kimonos! I also watched part of the ceremony via TV at the school to see what it looked like. Each class was represented by one person who came up to receive a certificate for the class. As I was told, the students would later go to an assigned room to pick up their diplomas. This practice makes the Japanese graduation ceremonies typically last about 30 minutes and no more.

After I had my fill of pictures (and my camera started complaining about low batteries), I started on my way back home. I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some items. My goal today was to buy some actual food and try cooking something. I bought some gyoza (I really don't know how to describe it), udon (real big noodles), and shrimp. I had to ask an employee how to use the flavoring for the udon. After we struggled to communicate, she recommended using powder flavoring that you can mix with water. Happy with my forshadowed meal, I made my purchase along with some other items for less than $10.

Cooking the food was a bit of a trick. I was eventually able to figure out the steps in making the flavoring, but I was not sure what exactly to do. I decided to ask Okaa san since I heard that she was good at cooking. After only a minute or two of trying to explain what to do, she decided to come up and show me. From there, the woman who most people in the dorm curse everyday practically cooked the meal for me. I will forever be baffled as to how so many people can look down upon her as they do. I enjoyed the finished product greatly.

Sunday

For lunch, I decided to take my own crack at making udon since I was show how to do it. Before cooking, I mandated that I had to get a bigger bowl since the miniscule bowl provided by the dorm was barely suited for the meal. At the advice of my roommate Todd, I made my way to Sanko, the supermarket that tends to close whenever they feel like it. On this particular occasion, they happened to be open. I found the bowl I was looking for in a side store, but I had only a 10,000 yen (~$100) bill with me and I did not want to buy a measly bowl with such large currency. I visited the food section of the store and picked up a few items first. I was able to buy a large bottle of Coke on sale for $2 which was about a thrid of what it would cost from a vending machine and some very peculiar pumpkin flavored KitKat Bars as well as some other items. After then obtaining my bowl for a simple dollar, I returned home to cook. On the way up, I showed Okaa san my bowl since she would understand its significance.

It was simple to cook the meal now having been taught how. It was pretty much exactly like it was yesterday.

Monday

Today, Todd and I went to Osaka just to go somewhere. We began our journey by going to Yodobashi Camera (where I bought my electronic dictionary). Todd decided to purchase a large box for an anime that he liked so he could get all of the episodes. After the purchase, we went to the game section so I could think about buying something. Not wanting a game enough to get a Japanese version, I decided to wait until I got back to America. From there, we began walking around the city looking for something to do. After awhile, it became apparent that we were not very successful in finding anything to do. This was exactly the reason that I do not like going places without a plan. I always thought that I would wind up just walking around not knowing what to do and today proved that I was right.

We came to a grassy hill and took a rest. Todd decided to open his anime box because he had started to wonder if it really was what he thought. As he discovered, it was actually an action figure with one special feature DVD - a set quite contrary to the box set he had hoped for when he bought it. He firgured that since he opened it, he could not bring it back and so he decided to leave it by a trashcan and go on without it. I couldn't help but think that it was such a waste of money to do that, but he insisted. From there, we returned to the station to go home. It was quite fortunate that I was there because Todd started goinging the opposite direction to the station at first and I had to correct him. I may not be able to find my way anywhere, but I can almost always find my way back. This theory was verified after we got off at Makino station and I was able to remember how to get back home from there.

While we were walking, we passed the yet again open Sanko and we stopped for some shopping. I decided to get some sushi since I had yet to eat any in the land of sushi. I made sure the there were no raw materials in the sushi since some sushi has such things. After returning home, I prepared the gyoza and ate it with the sushi.

Tuesday

For lunch, I finished off the rest of the sushi that I could not eat the night before. I then spent the day doing various things around the dorm including laundry. For dinner, I could not decide whether to go out to eat or make something at home. I decided that I would go to the grocery store or eat somewhere along the way. Before I set off too far, Nabil called me and wanted to go eat. My question seemed to have been answered. We went to 'big food place'/'that place' which I believe is actually called Michiko's. After eating we returned home where I finished writing my catch-up blog.