新しい目的

日本に行く時、これを見つけよう！

準備

I've turned in my COE and am waiting until I can apply for my visa now. Plane tickets are on the verge of being purchased and pre-internship vacation is being planned. Now I'm entering the mental preparation stage. How will I survive for 10 weeks by myself? This is one of the scariest things ever. It's totally different from coming to college, or even studying abroad in Japan or China. College was 35 minutes from home, China had relatives, Japan had classmates. This time it's just me. And when I realize that, I start remembering having to go to register myself as an alien and when cops thought I was stealing a bike and that whole fiasco. But back then I had a DESA partner and the other time I had 分ちゃん who calmed me down. Yikes. And in the mental preparation stage, I've thought about my goals again. Remembering back to what they were just a little over a year ago, I have to say: This time, we'll succeed, I promise you. がんばりましょうね！ I'd like to think my Japanese will increase by leaps and bounds, but who knows.

戻る

すぐに、日本に戻る！今度は京都じゃなくて、奈良県の生駒に行く！NECで言語学について研究のインターンシップをしよう。楽しみにしてるけどさ、怖いでしょう。今回私は一人で日本に住んでいるし、何でも自分でやってなくちゃはいけないね。それにもと着いて、緊張してる。京都で留学する時は一杯他のスタンフォード大学生やSCTIの先生がいた。

戻るの時に「fish-eye」というカメラを持って来たい。分ちゃんの写真が本間にかっこいから、私もやりたいなぁ。それに、先より、もっと写真をとりたい。いい経験を守るのためだ。

旅行する時間があまりないと思う。残念ながら、生駒で一所懸命日本語の練習をしよう！生駒のいいポイントは奈良や大阪や京都など所の近く待ち。できたら、北海道や沖縄に行くつもり。

もちろん当たらし傘を買う　♪♪

Fashion

One more post for the day before I try and do something more productive! So when I first got here I definitely was like wow, what IS this fashion? Everything is super flowy and pastely and frilly! I mean, there are a few things we could always agree on, such as pleated skirts and argyle, but in general, I recognized they were completely unwearable in the states. But the more time passes, the more and more I find myself drawn to being temped to buy and it's driving me nuts. I can no longer distinguish between ok and fobby! It's all starting to look ok to me! Ahhh fob goggles.

List Additions

+ Vending machines and juice. Japanese juice is amazing. They have every fruit flavor ever -- except maybe passionfruit which is my favorite ... - But kiwi and peach and mango ... In the states I normally don't like apple and orange juice all that much. But here they are ridiculously delicious.
+ Conbinis. They seriously put their American counterparts to shame.
+ the Philosopher's Walk.

- My bed and mattress pad.

Dating

This is a topic that's come up a few times with some of the SCTI people so I decided to talk about it a little here. Not the fact that everyone in SCTI is hooking up with each other as well as with Japanese people, but, that the Japanese people are so into dating. I mean, yes, of course it's a big deal in every culture, but I've never met one where having a significant other is such a given desirable state. Every Japanese person I've met wants to be in a relationship, and stat!

I'll start with the girls. In our SCTI classes, there are Japanese auditors. A few of us were talking about it and we all agreed that one of them in particular from the start came in looking for a boyfriend out of the Stanford guys. Don't worry -- she has a happy ending -- she narrowed it down very quickly and just recently succeeded. And you should see all the DESA girls that swarm around some of our guys! From blatantly asking them out over a microphone in front of everyone to being invited to dates and getting stood up, the women of Japan have been testing out the American boy.

The boys of Japan are a little more interesting. They too all want girlfriends, at least everyone that I've spoken to. Actually, it's kind of funny, you see so many couples here all the time (it really seems to be a culture that supports and encourages coupling off) and yet almost everyone I know personally does not have a significant other at all. I've heard there's no hooking up in Japan -- it just means you're dating but it sounds like there has been some, at least with American guys -_- Anyway, back to Japanese guys. They're waay shyer than their girl counterparts so I don't think we'll be seeing any American girl/Japanese boy matchups. At the river the other night a few came over to talk to us and they were definitiely like oh yeah we don't have girlfriends ... but we want some, all the while staring pointedly at our group. Poor Lawrence.

This is one of the bigger cultural differences I didn't anticipate. To me, in general it's better to be single. Only when you meet someone who's worth giving up that status for should you enter a relationship. As in, you want to be with that person so much, then you'll be willing to go for it. Conversely, once in a relationship, if being in it is not better than being single, it's not worth it. Nothing should be done halfheartedly is how I view my own relationship status. Thank you Japan, for making me rethink my values ;D

Oh and according to bunchan, about 70% of our Stanford guys are looking for a Japanese girl or any girl in general so that probably helps contribute ;)

日本についてじゃないことでしょう (because all this is completely unrelated to Japan and basically just about me, I'll try and do at least some of it in Japanese alone

じゃ、夕べ奥さんのテストをできた。７５は一番いい点だけど、あたしは＋１だけをもらった。ハハハ。めっちゃ悪い奥さんでしょうね？でも、ある質問はよっぽどお菓子なああ～
例えば、'squeezes toothpaste from the top' とか'has pleasant disposition in the morning - not crabby' ：Pさあ、あたしはまだ奥さんのことじゃないね　＾＾

それに、あたしの計算にとって、二人だけはこれを読んでる。そして、AMARA and Joachim! Hi! (tabun john mo hi!!)　＾＾　今まで、もっと面白い話を言うつもりね？

So, the other day I had a little run-in with the law. I had just left the post office after sending a couple of packages and when I was getting onto my bike I sort of notice a police officer without really paying any attention. I started biking off and he started running alongside me, passed me, and then raised his hand to halt me. I was like uhh ok? So I got off and he apologized and started examining my bike. I didn't really know what was going on but I was just like whatever. He hardly talked to me, but he did ask me if it was my bike. This went on for awhile. Keep in mind it was on a somewhat busy street in the middle of a Friday afternoon. So I got quite a few stares, being the law-breaking gaijin that I am. Anyway, eventually his partner got out too and started examining my bike. We had to move my bike out of the way and they continued their stuff. Occasionally they would ask me a question, usually one I thought I had already answered. I did text Alex when I started to get worried but he was unable to come help me. I then asked them if something was wrong and they sort of puttered around answering. They also checked all my legal documents and looked at my host family's address. After a bit over half an hour, they asked me if I was heading home and when I said I was, they told me I could go. So I figured it was ok for now and that they'd call my host family and it would be sorted out. Then I realized that they were following me home. That's when I started getting freaked out. Cause the bike belongs to my family; it was one of the exchange student's bikes from the past and I was like what if it's a problem that it's not mine? What if she had actually stolen it or just not registered it?? And I still had no idea why they picked ME out of the crowd of bikes. They stayed outside in their car and then I got really freaked out. It sort of felt like I was under house arrest. Finally they rang the doorbell and sort of apogized and said 'jitensha is ok, ok.' But at this point I was on the phone with Alex and on the verge of tears and that did not cut it as reassuring me that I was ok. I also still had no idea why and if they were leaving for now but would send me like a ticket later or something.

Anyway, Stephen and I had planned to meet up for lunch at a maid cafe he had found but obviously that was pushed back. We did eventually meet up to buy our bus passes and he was very sympathetic and made me feel a whole lot better. Hahah so that was my brush with the LAW. My young and wild days, if you will.

Oh and I wanted to add another item to my list:
~ the smell of freshly cooked rice