Arubaito and Nomikai

(Picture above the tracks at Oyama station)

Today, I went with Brian to go have an "interview" (more like a test) of teaching a student that wanted to start taking classes at his part-time job (アルバイト）. It was with a woman named Mrs. Naka. She likes traveling the world and has home stayed in Australia. Her English was pretty basic, but she could carry on a conversation. I wasn't sure at first if I could teach a beginner, but as the lesson went on, I became more comfortable. That's usually what happened. After the lesson was over, Brian's boss gave me the okay to basically replace him next week as this was his last week of lessons.

Later on I had Nomikai (drinking party) with my Kyudo members. I went to practice to meet up with them to find out where the location of the Izakaya. I did fine in there, but we did a game to change the seating arrangement and it became harder to order and find to conversate with someone. I normally do better talking to girls in Japanese and guys for some reason (which is the opposite I think in English), so being surrounded and near Akiba sempai, I really didn't know him all that well. Come to think of it, outside of Suzuki-Sempai, Shori-Sempai, Mitsue, Miwa, and Chihiro, I didn't know many people that well. This was the first time I actually questioned my involvement in the club. I wanted to join a club to become better at speaking and listening Japanese, but still I had lots of trouble sometimes following the conversation. Normal conversation is like a variety show on Japanese TV, without subtitles, it makes a poor study tool at lower levels because of the quickness of changing the topic at a drop of a hat. Also, I think the outfits are cool and everything, but for some reason, on days hotter than hell (or very cold for that matter) I didn't like wearing the clothes for practice. It makes it difficult sometimes. But, the thing that was bothering me was that I didn't know a lot of people already, despite 3 months into the club. That was partly blamed on my schedule of not being able to attend practice, but a little bit as well blamed on my lack of Japanese ability. It was warming up faster now, but it isn't at a level I find sufficient at all, which is my motivation to continue to only improve. But, still....I should have gotten to know more people.....

Hakuoh Survival Guide Post 1

"The lone matsuri float near Oyama Station"

Okay, this is first in a series of posts I decided to do because I love you guys. But seriously, the real reason is that finding out all these things is because it takes forever to find out these things on your own, and seeing how I feel this blog is 2/3 my experience blog, 1/3 tell people about life with the Hakuoh program, the whole purpose is to share the experiences I had.

Today has several links and will talk about general things dealing with things around Oyama along with places where you can buy food at (not restaurants).

Here's a link to the map of Oyama. It's in one of the Japanese online map sites, so if you can't handle the Japanese for some reason, I'll pull up what google maps has on the region.

http://www.mapion.co.jp/c/f?el=139/48/12.215&scl=70000&uc=1&grp=all&nl=36/18/41.346 (The Japanese online map site)

Not really a link, but by typing "日本栃木県小山市" into Google Maps search engine, you should be able to get a similar (but not as detailed as the Japanese site's one) map of Oyama city.

Other links relating to the city:
The wikipedia (oh how lovely) on Oyama, Tochigi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyama,_Tochigi

http://www.city.oyama.tochigi.jp/ (Oyama's website in Japanese)

http://www5.city.oyama.tochigi.jp/english/sitemap.html (An English site that has links pertaining to Oyama)

http://web.hakuoh.ac.jp/index.html (Hakuoh University's Website)

http://web.hakuoh.ac.jp/english/index.html (Hakuoh's English website, which is a far cry from the Japanese one)

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Anyway, my post will talk about several things to keep in mind that take a bit of exploring to figure out.

First off, cobinis (convenience stores) can be your friend. All are open 24 hours and have various products that can be purchased at those places. You have three major ones in Oyama to choose from: Family Mart, 7-11, and Ministop. Family Mart is average in terms of what convenience stores offer, but it's also the closest cobini right near the men's dorm (to the left of Toys R' Us. Ministop has a wider variety of foods and also has tables in most of it's stores so you can sit down and relax or eat in the store. However, me being an enthusiast of coffee knows that ministop's offering of coffee is pitiful versus the other two convenience stores. 7-11 by far is usually the best. They have about the same offerings as the competition, but they also are the only one I trust (because I know I can do it, thank you Takahashi's class) that I can pay my bills at. Yes, you can pay any scan bar bills you receive at a 7-11 in Japan. Makes it handily nice. There are other cobinis in the Oyama area, but they are rare (I found a Am and Pm the other day near the station, and they had the biggest selection I've seen a cobini have of books) or are specialty (like the ones in train stations or platforms).

For those that cook (or can deal with the prices of cooking), there are several stores in the Oyama area you can go to. There's a grocery mart in Oyama station that has a wide variety on things. Fruit is sometimes extremely expensive here. The good thing is, this store (and other stores like it) have pre-made foods ready for the consumption. Wait until about 7:30 PM here and you'll notice they'll mark down all the pre-made items half-off. You can get dinner for the next three days for like 600 yen or something. Just be sure to refrigerate it.

There's an import store near the post office called Marche that sells a lot of imported food from America, but it's pretty expensive. They however have probably one of the better pre-made food areas of most of the other grocery stores in Oyama, but it comes to be a little bit more expensive in price though.

There's a shopping center called harvest walk a little away from the station. They have a bus near the station that comes every 15 minutes to go to Harvest Walk. At Harvest Walk, there's a Ito-Yokado which is pretty big and has lots of available items. They have a limited portion of imported food, but it's expensive.

There's also another Ito-Yokado near the station right next to Yamada Denki. It has about the same fair as the one at Harvest Walk does.

I do a lot of my shopping sometimes at a drug store called Welcia that has a decent selection of what you would find at a grocery store. No fresh vegetables or anything, but it has the lowest prices on drinks like milk, coffee, and juices than most of the other stores in Oyama.

I'll try to make a map later pointing out various locations in Oyama.

Dual Audio.

Well, looks like I am bored in Japan again. My dad once made a comment that within one month of being here in Japan he read my message on facebook saying that I was bored and he responded "You were anxious to go to Japan, and now that you're there you're already bored of it?" Exactly. Well, it's the start of my summer break, but it is getting off to a slow start. I want to go places and do things with people so I don't hit a plateau over the summer in my Japanese ability. There's only so much time I can spend on my computer before I go insane. Japan....broke the spell that the computer had over me. I used to not want to go outside at all. But, now I try to find ways to get outside of the apartment. Doesn't help that occasionally Oyama is like Indianapolis. Not a lot of things to do at all. If you do the Hakuoh exchange, I'd advise making lots of Japanese friends so you can go do things with them and get out every other weekend and go to Utsunomiya or Tokyo. Preferably Tokyo, but one-way costs nearly 2000 yen. And...most of my Japanese friends have finals this and next week, so I have to wait a while before I can do things with them.

Anyway, I re-watched Lost in Translation tonight (I somehow stumbled upon the article for the movie on wikipedia from searching for the names of songs in Taiko no Tatsujin). It's strange how much I recognized pop-culturally from the movie and how much of the Japanese that was spoken in the movie I was able to pick up. Well, given that it has been since 3 year Japanese in high school that I actually watched the movie, it has definitely been an improvement. After watching it, it made me realize about many different things and re-sparked feelings I had when I first came to Japan nearly 4 months ago. I remember that I definitely had more knowledge in Japanese language and culture than Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson, but some of the feelings felt were similar. I couldn't understand anything that was spoken to me when I first came here. During the student orientation, I felt like I was being led around on a leash. I remember dreading or joking about my "broken Japanese" any time having to give a "Jishokai" (a self-introduction) because chances are from my early experiences trying to speak Japanese were horrible I couldn't make myself look intelligible. Textbook Japanese is not usually used, and I have a bad habit of forgetting vocab sometimes. I understood many customs already, but some I either forgot or were new--I forgot some etiquette when me and Rin went to the Onsen and I was surprised and amused when I was asked by a employee to take off my shoes before entering a dressing room at Sano Outlet mall. I used to get annoyed when people would encounter me and say "hi" or some other phrase, as the only English they knew. I thought they assumed I couldn't speak any Japanese. When I first came here, there were many situations where I was forced to use only English. I wanted to speak Japanese, but couldn't. I even had one person say to me "Please only speak in English" to me. I was shocked and somewhat upset at the time.

But, now is definitely something different has come about. I noticed it around late June but even closer in early June. I started to use dual audio (my explanation for bilingualism). I more and more got used to normal speaking rate and how an average Japanese person speaks. I picked up more vocabulary. And by getting in more and more "Japanese only" situations, I was reinforcing the vocab I knew and I was studying for JLPT. I purposely put myself in the situations because I wanted to relate and meet new people, and make friends, but also improve my Japanese. The point I started realizing that I was getting better was when I translated several of the Hawaiian exchange student's request at karaoke. I didn't want it to sound too completely rude, and I felt it somewhat did, but it eventually got the situation under control for everyone. But, before this moment, I was realizing more and more I was able to hold conversations with people better and on my own than I previously had. I eventually stopped carrying my electronic dictionary everywhere (first my DS, then the electric I bought to replace it). I became more dependent on myself and using the explanations of others to explain words and concepts. I still use my dictionaries if I want to look up a particular word to say in Japanese, but usually I rarely use it in most situations. From the start, I watched a lot of Japanese TV. I read a lot of manga I bought without a dictionary, and even if I couldn't understand the meaning of a word or what it meant, from the action going on and the expressions on peoples' faces, I could understand a lot more than just the words (Fred Gallagher from Megatokyo suggested the same thing, but with anime). It feels weird to start becoming more and more bilingual. As usual, the more you avoid and stop using your native language, the more you lose of it. My losing of English has been more gradual at best as my extents on the internet reinforce what I am losing. But, honestly it has happened in my speech sometimes. I also notice a lot more in my spelling. I told Hiro the other day Sweden was spelled "Sweeden", but after looking it up in katakana in a katakana dictionary, I discovered I had an extra e. Another really cool thing is that you can go back and forth between languages pretty decently easily once the seeds of bilingualism are planted. One minute you're speaking to your English speaking friend and then you meet a Japanese friend of yours and you start speaking in Japanese. It's really cool, and I wish I could do it in more languages. But, the "use it or lose it" way are brain tends to be as we get older makes it harder to do so. But, immersion is the best way to get into and learn a foreign language. But, it also takes more and more to abandon your language. I am more and more thinking in Japanese, but there's also times whether or not I don't know what language I am thinking in, I am just speaking what's on the tip of my mind. And that's where I want my ability to be.

So, I could tell you how to get decent bilingual in Japanese, but it really depends on your own way of how you think and your ability at the language when you arrive. I wanted to meet new people and make friends and test and continue to grow in my language ability, but your goals might be different, or you might have your own problems to deal with. But, at the same time, I use "dual audio" rather than bilingualism to represent where I am at (yeah, I used bilingual more in my post than dual audio, so go sue me). It takes years to reach what I truly feel where bilingual would be. But, I should be decently fluent by the time I leave here. And that's one of my hopes at the end of this program here.

Anyway, on another topic, I got sideswiped by a car today (more or less she hit me slowly from the side as I passed, but she was already slowing down which caused my balance to buckle and fall in slow motion) and landed on my right palm, which hurts only a little now, but hurt like a bitch earlier. With two in the past, I know how broken bones feel, but I felt that this feels more like how you legs would feel if you jumped off a two story building and landed exactly on your feet. That force pitch or force impact stings for a while. I should be okay, but if the pain is dull and lasts for more than a week, I'll go to a doctor. I am typing just fine right now, so it should be nothing to really worry about.

And wow, and earthquake is occuring right as I am typing this. It feels like a 3.0 on the Richter scale here in Oyama. Oh wow, it was a 6.8 in the northern part of Japan.

And here's a picture:


"This is a statue guardian in Toshougu in Nikko"

Gion Matsuri

"The taiko drumists"

Well, today was Oyama's Gion Matsuri. I wasn't too entirely sure what it was about, so I searched for it online. Apparently, there's a bigger one that is in Kyoto that lasts most of the month of July.

Here's what the wikipedia article said about the Kyoto festival:

"This festival originated as part of a purification ritual (goryo-e) to appease the gods thought to cause fire, floods and earthquakes. In 869, the people were suffering from plague and pestilence which was attributed to the rampaging deity Gozu Tennō (牛頭天王, Gozu Tennō?). Emperor Seiwa ordered that the people pray to the god of the Yasaka Shrine, Susanoo-no-mikoto"

Interesting that it seems a "former" emperor (Tennō in Japanese) would be causing havoc to the people. But, the word Tennō makes more sense with that is what the people call out that carry the portable shrines (mikoshi).

Anyway, I went and arrived. Hiro always likes to make the point that I need friends or a girlfriend or something because I am always going places by myself. And, that is usually true. I had NO idea where everyone else was at the time except for Keleih whom was at Shingo's funeral and Beth whom was performing dancing in the matsuri. I later met Satomi and her boyfriend, so we went around the matsuri looking at things at the festival.

The taiko drumists were awesome. I hope I get to see more of that at Oyama's next matsuri in two weeks from now. It's definitely something to stay in town for. You begin to realize how many people you've seen in the city participate in the festival. I probably would have but 1) I saw the sign up sheet once, and never saw it again and 2) I am somewhat borderline sick, so I don't think that would have helped me much. But, there were other gaijin in the matsuri along with the strong showing of Brazilian Japanese.

This week.....looks like to be boring. Nothing to really do or go any places. I confused the last entry and thought it was the last week in July, but it's not. I need to find something to starve off boredom....

And the summer starts!

A few things have happened over the few days worth mentioning. But, first I must peddle out my idea that I will actually have time to update more often and catch up on updates I needed to do in the past. I am done with finals and anything associated with them, so I have tons of time to sit here and be lazy in the land of rising sun.

Anyway, to actual updates.

My finals I felt went really well because Iijima-Sensei added some things to the exams that just made it easy for the American students to comprehend (peeved at the fact that she said we would have to study, but then when the grammar means were given, it made it feel like time I wasted studying). My report (paper sort of speak) was kind of more difficult, and my corrector (aka Hiro) having little time to correct said paper. So whom knows what is going to happen about grades.

I finally got around to having a talk with the teacher that runs the ESS, and I realized that I like that system a lot more than the forced system that the language lab seems to be. It took previous students (from IUPUI) only a month or two to figure that out, but with everyone being busy and me being the only one (out of Keleih, Beth, and I) that knew the location of said ESS office, I would have been the only one to do something about it. But, I avoided ESS like the plague. I knew about ESS and where it was at within the first few weeks of being here, but around that same time with "you must only speak in English" type of situations I experienced, I avoided it (ESS) like the plague. I really wanted to improve on my ability in Japanese, so I avoided it. But, against most odds, when we were told to use as much as English as possible in the language lab, I refused. I felt if I relied to much on my own language, I felt I would never be able to speak and understand another one. But, at ESS, I was proven incorrect on some notions. I don't necessarily have to speak always in English in/at ESS, but it's more about making a personal connection with students--students that want to enjoy learning English and meeting people from other cultures and learning about them. The message of ESS I really enjoyed.

Despite not knowing about ESS, we realized that making students come 5 times a month to the language lab wasn't the answer at all. Many came in with groups because they were afraid to use what English they knew. But, we spruced up the place and had fun with the students there to make sure that they would come back, perhaps on their own volition instead of their teachers. But, generally that didn't happen. But, I guess that really can't be helped. So, I (and I am sure Keleih too) next semester will make more of an effort to attend ESS and be around in general for more students. ESS's message has inspired me to work harder at teaching English, but to relate and have fun with more students than I could have been in the past.

Other than that, currently working on a video to show at my sister graduation open house today. I need to figure out how to boost the volume that the mic catches sound. I didn't want to skip out on Kyudo today (third Saturday doing so), but I feel a bit sick today. Figures the first time I am sick in Japan, I would have to be in the Summer. This humidity is crazy. Tomorrow is the Oyama Gion festival (not sure what it's about), but if I am better, I probably participate. Monday is Uminohi and I might go somewhere for that maybe. 30 dollars is expensive to go anywhere though. Tuseday is Brian's and the other Taiwanese formal going away ceremony. Wednesday, I have my first trial session with a potential student at the language school. Wish me luck!



"This is a picture of the classroom where the foreign exchange students have classes"

So.....

Yesterday's post I said I was going in for my final interview, which, I got the job. Yay for that! However, I also have to teach English at a really basic level, and I am not really sure if I can completely do that. Well, I also want to be perfect the first time, which I know isn't going to happen and it will take some time to get used to things. I start in August, once Brian steps down from teaching.

The strange thing is during my mock interview is that I feel that I made too many mistakes, and if it weren't for the fact that I was 1) a foreign native-speaker of English and 2) she had no one else to ask/give it to, that she overlooked the mistakes and gave me the job. If I would have done the same in America, I probably would have been not offered the job. I don't know, I really think it's a cultural difference in the fact that if I "try my best" things will be good.

Other than that, that is the only update worth mentioning right now. I have several things to get done before the end of the school semester, so I am working on them now (also on working on getting the blog up to date). But, first, I have to go and help Hiro (a Japanese friend of mine) write an English report (in English) for a presentation. If it is anything like last night, Hiro, Rin, and I will be up until 3AM working on and off the report (i.e. 10 mintues studying, 30 minutes ADHDing on random things) with me being really sleep deprived (I'm good as drunk when I am really sleepy, but can't sleep). But, I did get free dinner out of it. Yay, conbini (convenience store) food!

Dunno, why I am using this photo for this post, but....this really doesn't have a picture that suits it.



(Several friends in Kamakura at a Okomiyaki restaurant)

The last one of these filler "I need to catch up on all previous posting" entries....for now.

Yes, I have four, count them, FOUR entries that are filler that basically say among the lines that "I need to catch up on posting I have never did/have finished, because tonight is the night I am neglecting all other duties (except sleep and food of course) to actually catch up on previous posting. With my way of taking 1 hour per post, it will be impossible to actually catch up. My first entry will be finishing my Fourth of July post that I didn't finish (>__>) and from there, working on entries that were in the past that the longer I dwell and dillydally on them, the harder it will be to remember what happened later.

This really isn't a filler, as I have basically other things to say than just "filler!".

For instance, I learned a fun card game today from Saori and some other girls in the language lab today. Basically it involves famous mukashibanashi (fairy tales) in Japanese. You lay out a deck of playing cards in a circle (or a doughnut as was explained) and someone decides on the game. For instance, in the game Shichigosan (also name of a Japanese holiday) you are looking for sevens (shichi), fives (go), and san (3) that are drawn. The order of whom goes first is decided by janken (rock-paper-scissors), and each person in turn takes a card from the circle and reveals it in the center of the ring. Whatever game you're playing, when one of the cards that you're looking for is revealed, you slap your hand on the card. You want to be quick, because the slowest person (i.e. last person) to touch the card gets the card. The winner is the person with the least amount of cards.

I have learned since being here other Japanese games to pass the time. But, that will be for another entry.

Tomorrow, I go to Utsunomiya for my final interview for a English-teaching job, so wish me luck!

In keeping with the fact that this will probably be a "photo" journal, here's a picture for you. The most random picture because this post doesn't have a picture the suits it.



This is at the top near the Tokugawa Ieyasu's shrine. A all green tea vending machine.

Speed Go!

Okay, so I just got back from the movie Speed Racer which came out today in Japan. The reviews were mainly thrashing the movie and with some good reason. But, I'll talk only a little bit on impressions of the movie and more of the day and some things I found interesting about Japanese cinema.

Originally, it was Yoshiko, Laura, Beth, and I, but Yoshiko had things to do and was recovering from being sick, so she left slightly before after dinner. When the rest of us got to the movie theater, we found out that the showing we picked only had Japanese dubs. Beth decided to go home and I like listening challenges sometimes, so I decided to stay with Laura to watch the movie. We entered the theater, and it was really small and narrow. The interesting things I noticed were that at this particular theater, the curtains were strung over the screen until the pre-movie ads/movie started. About a minute before the started, a chime played signaling moviegoers to get in their seats. I thought that was amusing, because it was exactly like the chime or tune that is played when a train is about to leave a station.

Anyway, from what I understood of the plot is that Speed was the next upcoming star and this guy wanted to sponsor him. However, this other guy did shady deals with another guy that was the main bad guy in the movie, but speed declined before all that is shown. The racers that are sponsored cheat like hell, and this Rex X guy decides to help Speed and this other dude to form their own team against the bad guys. Yes, I didn't remember names real well because of the fact that it was dubbed in Japanese. Nor did I understand why the bad guy was doing things sometimes. But, other than that, I can understand general plots of American movies. Especially, one as pretty straight forward, packed with action and less storyline. The art was pretty amazing in the sense it was like I was on LSD or something. Lots of bright colors and such. After the movie was over (omg, it ran over 2 hours long), Laura had to catch her last train, so we left. It was amusing to note that the lights in a movie theater in Japan don't come back on until the very end of the credits. Nor do Japanese people leave before the end the credits. I was confused. Maybe it is out of courteously or something, but I felt we take for granted movies and we didn't really care about the names of actors that actually were in the movie. I don't know, but it was interesting to see anyway.

Anyway, planning on going to see another movie tomorrow called 花より男子 or Hana yori Dango (Boys before Flowers) a romantic movie based on the best selling manga with Yoshiko and possibly Keleih. Another thing to note is that Japanese movies can be expensive and don't usually change prices depending on what time of day you go. At least not the movie theater at Oyama station. It's 1200 yen normally or 1000 yen if you show your student ID.

Happy アメリカの建国記念！

The title basically means "Happy America Foundation Day" (literal translation) or "Happy Forth of July!"

I was going to make two separate entries for the past few days, but I decided to combine the two.

First off, I went to Utsunomiya Wednesday with Brian to his English conversation school he works at. His last working day is only in a few weeks as he prepares to leave to go back home and his employer is looking for another person to potentially replace him when he leaves. So, basically the job consists of just having English conversation with people. It's not teaching English per say, but if a "student" has questions about English and such, we are supposed to answer them. She's looking for a someone to potentially teach/converse with people from the beginner level and up as Brian is currently not teaching beginning level students right now. So I go in next Wednesday for a "final interview" where I show my "teaching" ability to the employer. I don't know how well I can simplify myself as I have the "technical" mindset, but I'll see how hard I can try.

Anyway, for today's entry, it's officially the Fourth of July in Japan, and what way to celebrate that is with fireworks (hanabi). Everyone seemed to have their own separate plans, but Rin, Hiro (michan) and I were trying to round up people for a fireworks show on the Omoigawa River. Beth, Akira, and Kyuu would also be along, but we were trying to see if Brian and Yoshiko also had any plans. However, we assumed they had plans already, so we decided to go to the track next to the Omoigawa River and near the school to light off fireworks. We went to family mart to purchase the fireworks, but we decided to wait until Akira got off work. When we finally got to Omoigawa River and started launching fireworks, it was about 11PM. The fireworks weren't too incredibly powerful, but did the trick. One of the bigger fireworks was a dud, but Hiro nearly burned most of the casing off and it could have exploded on it's own. Beth and I realized that we were incredibly cautious around the fireworks when Hiro, Rin, and Akira were pretty involved and were doing things with fireworks that could have been bad (like aiming the flames around other fireworks not set off already). Anyway, it was fun and it's strange to celebrate something so unique to your culture and life in another country.