Placement results...

Unlike everyone else who is registered in the Japanese Language Program, I have not officially studied Japanese before coming here; however, the coordinators have decided that although there is no one else at my level, I can join the 101 class... as long as I study the first 14 chapters on the text book before classes start! So, over the past 5 days, I have studied the first 7 chapters and I have until Monday to study the rest! It's a challenge and good motivation to learn quickly! I can always switch back to the Culture Program. Anyways, I'm excited for class to start and see what things are going to like!
We had a welcoming ceremony yesterday and it was lots of fun! Good food and many Japanese students who made presentations about the various university clubs. I also met the 3 guys from Quebec who are living in the other residence building. It was nice to speak French with people who have the same accent as me!!
Anyways, I'd better get back to studying!

First pictures!!

Here are some images from Iwasaki Castle (the one where I'm in a t-shirt), turtle-watching in a park with Tatsuya (the RA) and some international students, and visiting Inuyama Castle with John and Shoko. I'm not sure how the layout is going to end up, but I don't have time to fix it as I'm off to a welcoming party at the U this morning!

Placement tests!

Woohoo! Placement tests are over! There are two programs here, one that includes mostly culture classes and the other that includes mostly language classes. I was originally going to be in the culture program because I have not studied Japanese before, but with some self-study, I wrote the placement test (which were grueling!) and made it into the basic level of the Japanese Language program! Now I have just over a week to study 14 chapters (half a book) in order to catch up to my classmates before the semester starts on April 6th.
It has been a little stressful trying to figure out my classes and everything. Then in the middle of it, I came down with a cold! Here in Japan when you are sick or have allergies, you wear a face mask. I have seen many people wearing them, but never foreigners. Since it is obvious from my voice that I am sick right now, I thought it would be polite to try wearing one. However, they are rather uncomfortable... I'm sure I would get used to it, but I feel really out-of-place wearing one. While leaving the university this morning, I saw Yui (who studied at Selkirk College last semester) in the cafeteria. I quickly took off the mask before going to say hi so I didn't have to be introduced to her friends with a mask on my face. But it's another one of those interesting cultural experiences!
It was cool to see Yui again! She has dyed her hair back to a natural dark brown colour from the bright blond it had been in Canada. She explained that it's because she's back in Japan. One of her friends (who I am supposed to call Blue) has studied in Texas for a while. I also met up with Keisuke and his girlfriend at the university yesterday.
The Sakura blossoms are still coming out here and it's starting to look beautiful! I found out that I can put photos on my blog, so hopefully I'll find some time in between studying to do that soon!

Nagoya Castle

Despite the clouds and slight rain, our trip to Nagoya Castle was wonderful! Several volunteer students from NUFS organized the trip and showed us around. The castle was built nearly 400 years ago!! However, it burned down during the war and then was rebuilt on the remaining stone foundation in 1959. This year they have begun the re-construction of the lower castle buildings, expected to take about 15 years (in time for the 400th anniversary in 2025). The castle gardens are quite beautiful especially since the cherry blossoms have just started to come out. The castle itself is quite tall, about 7 stories (nearly the same height as the statue of liberty apparently). Inside is a museum and top-floor observatory. Back at the bottom we bought green tea and cherry-blossom flovoured ice cream and waffle-like things with red bean paste in the middle... very interesting! On the way home we stopped at an electronics store and I was able to buy a used 2008 electronic dictionary for about $250 with English, Japanese and Spanish already in it. It costs about $100 per language to add other ones to it.

First day of spring, March 20th

Yesterday, for the first day of Spring I went up to Konan, on the other side of Naogya where Selkirk’s partner college is. There I visit John Armstrong (a Selkirk ELS instructor who is working at Konan College) and his wife, Shoko. They live in a one-bedroom apartment on the 10^th floor, of one of the two apartment buildings in that city. There was quiet a nice view from there… I could even see a snow-capped mountain in the distance!

Shoko prepared red rice and miso soup for lunch, mmm mmm… Then we went to Inuyama castle in the next town over. It is a beautiful wooden castle beside the river which is about 400 years old. And up until a few years ago, it was still privately owned, but now belongs to a foundation so we could go inside and take a tour. We also took a walk along the river on the way back and the cherry blossoms are just starting to come out!

In the evening we all went for dinner at Dr.Kondo’s place (a Japanese doctor who knows many of the Selkirk ESL instructors from when they lived in Konan). His wife, Michie prepared a beautiful and most delicious dinner!! First was fish, mushroom, etc. etc. tempura dish with side vegetables and sauces and then a chicken curry rice. For dessert, fresh strawberries! I stayed at John and Shoko’s place that night because it was too late to take the train/subway/bus back to Nisshin (about an hour and a half commute).

This morning (March 21st) we went to a street market and then I came home to International House. I have just about settled in here, I just need an electronic dictionary, a cell phone and bank account (I will have to wait until I have me alien registration card for those) and a camera (my must have fallen out in one of the airports on the way here).

Sunny Sunday, March 15th

It is my family tradition to eat waffles for dinner on Sundays. During another one of my adventures (in Quebec) we often called them woeful waffles because they became comfort food after woeful events that somehow almost always happened on Sundays, but today, they were wonderful waffles!

The sunshine in the morning was beautiful after two days straight of rain. I could not resist going outside. My walk took me three blocks away to a park on a small mountain. Along the road up to the top were various monuments and graveyards staggered amongst the trees. From the road, many trails and stair cases lead into the trees, but I stayed on the road not wanting to step where I shouldn’t. It is a stunningly peaceful and beautiful place. I went back there in the evening with one of the 3 Japanese RAs, Yuka. She had lived in Calgary and studies English at the university, but says that she doesn’t want to speak English with the international students, she just wants to teach us Japanese which I think is fabulous! We talked in Japenglish while exploring some of the trails and staircases that lead to a small waterfall and some graves.

Later on a shopping trip (still trying to stock up on the necessities), I was successful in finding a waffle maker that cost less than $100 (as they had at the store we went to the day before). I had begun to think that maybe I would have to give up on having waffles during my time in Japan and that thought was starting to get me down when I found a waffle maker for only $45!! Buying it, however was another story… an embarrassing, but good experience. I tried to pay with my Mastercard and apparently there are three choices here when you pay with a credit card… but I had no idea what the three choices meant… so after 7 minutes, we finally just decided option one was the best, whichever that was. I felt so bad because I couldn’t communicate in Japanese and he didn’t know any English and there were a bunch of people in line behind me. It was a very sobering experience that has made me realize just how useful gestures can be, but also how useless I can feel when not able to communicate the simplest, and most important things.

Arrival in Japan, March 12th

First impression/ culture shock, the toilets in Tokyo airport (and in general throughout Japan)… There are the traditional Japanese style ones on the floor that we squat over and then there are the full-on “deluxe” toilets… heated seats, bidet function, spray function, water pressure control and even a “flush sound” music note button that will produce the sound of running water while you use the toilet so that no one will listen while you pee!

Jun, Keisuke and Mari (Japanese students from NUFS who studied at Selkirk last semester) met me at the airport in Nagoya! It was so nice to see them again!!! Some volunteer students from the university were also there to help me and two other students find our way to International House. We arrived late on Thursday, March 12th.

I have been settling in since then, stocking up on food and supplies, getting to know my way around, and making interesting discoveries. At there residences, I have been speaking Spanish a lot and some French, but mostly English is spoken here, which is good for the moment as we settle in, but not so conducive to learning Japanese. The “senior” students and the resident assistants have been extremely helpful. We had orientation last week, placement tests are this coming week, then a second orientation the week after and classes start on April 6th.