No, I'm not the first person to talk about this, but I got a question from a friend and the answer became so long I thought I'd just post it here. If I could find the AJATT post that explains it exactly as I need, I'd have just linked to it, but well, this happened.
Q: I would imagine that most of what you are learning there can only be obtained through actual experience there?
A: Well, that's arguable. Language is not a mass of knowledge, it is a skill. Skills need to be practiced to be learned. But you don't necessarily need to travel to practice a language.
Somewhat random related article by a wise and funny man on the subject: http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/critical-frequency-a-brand-new-way-of-looking-at-language-exposure Eh, it's kind of a side point but it gets at the point of how you just need to get the practice in.
Most of my exposure is to teachers and class materials, which are basically dumbed down for us. I got to the point I could understand class, but I still couldn't understand my conversation partners without constantly digging through my dictionary. I only see them for 1-1.5 hours a week, and I don't know anyone else, but an American, a Lithuanian, an Australian, and some Koreans. And I don't even see them that much. So I marathoned Azumanga Daioh (no subs) for at least a solid week. Every moment I was in my room it was playing, even when I slept (just in case). The next week, I understood more of what the *real* people were saying. I understood more of everything. So I kept doing this. I'm noticing it's my vocabulary that's lacking, not my listening. So I'm working on that. I'm reading the translation of Eragon. Slowly, and without understanding everything, much like a child who just sounds out all the words in a book without really knowing what they mean. But you figure it out from context and from what you know, and you put it together. And I'm studying flashcards. I made too many at first, and I still haven't gotten throught them all. I wasn't doing them for a while because there were a lot I just hated, so I started deleting, and now I can do my daily repititions of my main deck in around half an hour to 45 minutes. And it doesn't feel like a chore.
So, yeah, the main reason I've been getting better has been constantly watching/listening to anime and flashcarding interesting sentences and reading (despite lack of actual, competent literacy).
And it's definitely working. Sometimes it does help to slow down and use google and a dictionary to translate stuff, because you do learn from that, but it's slow and bothersome and boring as all hell. By just reading I learn the meanings and real usage of a word intuitively. My conversation partner always says, "sorosoro I have to go." I've never looked it up, but I can tell you it means something like "before long".
Actually, here's the guy who inspired this, talkng about it himself, and DOING it during the interview and just refusing to stop. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34i9lr94pI It's noisy and split into a few parts, but it can save you some reading, because he tries to explain it all in this interview. Just do what he says and know that Michael Jordan failed more than anyone else in the NBA.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Cool Shit I've Done with Linux 1
Whenever someone's computer crashes, I can barely contain the "If it had been Linux!" fits. Fact is, Linux allows you to do any number of things to protect yourself from software failures, hardware failures, and user error. I guess I'll start by explaining some of that first.
The first and simplest thing you can do to prepare for Windows breaking (aside from backing up) is to keep a linux live disc around. Maybe just download an Ubuntu install CD and never actually install it. If Windows breaks, you can use it to sift through the rubble before rebuilding. Just because you deleted Win32 doesn't mean anything's happened to your vids, pics, and docs.
Onto techniques for if you're actually using Linux...
Partitioning! One of the coolest fucking things. Basically the act of splitting your hard drive into sections and saying, "This is for this, and this is for this." Software sees these partitions as completely separate drives. Now, the basic idea to protect your shit from a broken operating system, is to put your /home directory on it's own partition. Gets kind of complicated...
Unix systems use a filesystem heirarchy standard that basically dictates how the system should be arranged. You have the top directory, called / (pronounced root). This is basically C: on windows. Everything goes in here. Under /, there is a directory called home, which contains the various users' home folders. All your personal shit goes in there, including most configuration files for programs, and usually media, etc. So, /home/user is just about the same as C:\\Users\user (or whatever it is).
So, what you want to do is put the usual contents of / (or C:)on one partition and the contents of /home (or C:\\Users) on another, so that when the OS breaks, you can just reinstall to the same partition, and all the users' stuff is completely untouched. All you have to do is recreate the users with the same names (probably just your own).
This is usually given as an option at install. In the widely used Debian installer simply tell it where you want your partitions, how big you want them, and what you want them to be used for. This is also how you get a system with multiple operating systems. You just make sure it will NOT format the partitions that have the data you want to keep.
When making partitions, I'd say allot 10GB for / at the beginning of the disk (or empty space thereon), and something like twice your ram in a swap partition at the end of the disk, then fill in what's left between with the /home. Don't worry, the options are there and will make sense when you're looking at it. The swap partition is used when your RAM is full, and that size is some general rule of thumb I read, but I honestly don't think I've ever filled my 2GB of RAM.
There! That's the basic scheme! Separate / and /home partitions.
Now! I find the /home partition tends to get quite cluttered with configuration files, and it can be frustrating when some fucked up setting has caused you to reinstall in desparation, but which still persists because it's in some config file in your home directory. So, from here on, I plan on just keeping my /home directory in the same partition as my / directory and using the majority of the disk as a large storage partition.
I think I'll just use my own example for this part.
Currently, on my laptop I have a fairly simple partition scheme. I have a 10GB Ubuntu partition, a 5GB Arch partition, a large chunk that is the Ubuntu /home directory, but which I'm working on changing to storage. (No Ubuntu link, cuz their site and documentation are shit!)
To change that into a storage partition, I simply put the entire Arch install on one partition. The home folder contains nothing but config files, a couple screenshots I happened to take, and a directory for temporarily keeping files for things I build to install using the tools and systems of Arch linux (dun worry about that).
Mountpoints! These are basically the second key component to my little scheme here. Mountpoints are just directories where storage devices are mounted in order to be accessible to your OS. I can't explain everything behind it but that's what it do. To learn how to actually do this, look up a tutorial. I'm just going to explain what you can do and why it's so freakin' cool!
So basically, I edit the right files in the right way to make the system mount the large storage partition on my internal drive to the mount point /home/username/internal. Now, whenever I turn my computer on and boot Arch linux, I can just go to /home/username/internal and see what's there. Usually the default is to start in your home folder, so all I have to do is click or type my way into internal and get what I want. It's super convenient.
The typical way of mounting things like external USB drives is to put the mount point in the /media directory, but it's an internal disk, it will always be there, and I'm the only user, so this is a thousand times more convenient. I also did this with my large external drive. Though it uses a USB connection, I hardly move any of my computer stuff here in the dorm. So for that and the same reasons as above, I just mount it to a mount point in my home directory at boot.
So, using this scheme, I have the entire operating system in one partition of my hard drive. Within it is my home folder, which is tiny, but which contains what are essentially "links" to larger partitions. They're not there, they just lead there, but as far as user experience goes, they might as well be there.
In addition to convenience, if you combine something like this with occasional or scheduled backups of your most important config files (or stuff like chat logs and your firefox profile) to one of the other drives (physically separate is safest), if the OS breaks, all your shit is safe.
Oh, and a note on / partition size. My Ubuntu is 10GB, and I've installed a bunch of crap, both of the largest desktop environments, and I think I barely take up half of it. The Arch is a little more cramped at 5BG containing the home directory as well. I wish I'd made it 10GB. But I plan to reinstall the Ubuntu sometime and free the large partition from it's dedication as a /home, so I may be shifting everything around...
The first and simplest thing you can do to prepare for Windows breaking (aside from backing up) is to keep a linux live disc around. Maybe just download an Ubuntu install CD and never actually install it. If Windows breaks, you can use it to sift through the rubble before rebuilding. Just because you deleted Win32 doesn't mean anything's happened to your vids, pics, and docs.
Onto techniques for if you're actually using Linux...
Partitioning! One of the coolest fucking things. Basically the act of splitting your hard drive into sections and saying, "This is for this, and this is for this." Software sees these partitions as completely separate drives. Now, the basic idea to protect your shit from a broken operating system, is to put your /home directory on it's own partition. Gets kind of complicated...
Unix systems use a filesystem heirarchy standard that basically dictates how the system should be arranged. You have the top directory, called / (pronounced root). This is basically C: on windows. Everything goes in here. Under /, there is a directory called home, which contains the various users' home folders. All your personal shit goes in there, including most configuration files for programs, and usually media, etc. So, /home/user is just about the same as C:\\Users\user (or whatever it is).
So, what you want to do is put the usual contents of / (or C:)on one partition and the contents of /home (or C:\\Users) on another, so that when the OS breaks, you can just reinstall to the same partition, and all the users' stuff is completely untouched. All you have to do is recreate the users with the same names (probably just your own).
This is usually given as an option at install. In the widely used Debian installer simply tell it where you want your partitions, how big you want them, and what you want them to be used for. This is also how you get a system with multiple operating systems. You just make sure it will NOT format the partitions that have the data you want to keep.
When making partitions, I'd say allot 10GB for / at the beginning of the disk (or empty space thereon), and something like twice your ram in a swap partition at the end of the disk, then fill in what's left between with the /home. Don't worry, the options are there and will make sense when you're looking at it. The swap partition is used when your RAM is full, and that size is some general rule of thumb I read, but I honestly don't think I've ever filled my 2GB of RAM.
There! That's the basic scheme! Separate / and /home partitions.
Now! I find the /home partition tends to get quite cluttered with configuration files, and it can be frustrating when some fucked up setting has caused you to reinstall in desparation, but which still persists because it's in some config file in your home directory. So, from here on, I plan on just keeping my /home directory in the same partition as my / directory and using the majority of the disk as a large storage partition.
I think I'll just use my own example for this part.
Currently, on my laptop I have a fairly simple partition scheme. I have a 10GB Ubuntu partition, a 5GB Arch partition, a large chunk that is the Ubuntu /home directory, but which I'm working on changing to storage. (No Ubuntu link, cuz their site and documentation are shit!)
To change that into a storage partition, I simply put the entire Arch install on one partition. The home folder contains nothing but config files, a couple screenshots I happened to take, and a directory for temporarily keeping files for things I build to install using the tools and systems of Arch linux (dun worry about that).
Mountpoints! These are basically the second key component to my little scheme here. Mountpoints are just directories where storage devices are mounted in order to be accessible to your OS. I can't explain everything behind it but that's what it do. To learn how to actually do this, look up a tutorial. I'm just going to explain what you can do and why it's so freakin' cool!
So basically, I edit the right files in the right way to make the system mount the large storage partition on my internal drive to the mount point /home/username/internal. Now, whenever I turn my computer on and boot Arch linux, I can just go to /home/username/internal and see what's there. Usually the default is to start in your home folder, so all I have to do is click or type my way into internal and get what I want. It's super convenient.
The typical way of mounting things like external USB drives is to put the mount point in the /media directory, but it's an internal disk, it will always be there, and I'm the only user, so this is a thousand times more convenient. I also did this with my large external drive. Though it uses a USB connection, I hardly move any of my computer stuff here in the dorm. So for that and the same reasons as above, I just mount it to a mount point in my home directory at boot.
So, using this scheme, I have the entire operating system in one partition of my hard drive. Within it is my home folder, which is tiny, but which contains what are essentially "links" to larger partitions. They're not there, they just lead there, but as far as user experience goes, they might as well be there.
In addition to convenience, if you combine something like this with occasional or scheduled backups of your most important config files (or stuff like chat logs and your firefox profile) to one of the other drives (physically separate is safest), if the OS breaks, all your shit is safe.
Oh, and a note on / partition size. My Ubuntu is 10GB, and I've installed a bunch of crap, both of the largest desktop environments, and I think I barely take up half of it. The Arch is a little more cramped at 5BG containing the home directory as well. I wish I'd made it 10GB. But I plan to reinstall the Ubuntu sometime and free the large partition from it's dedication as a /home, so I may be shifting everything around...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The Results
It kind of freaks me out that I understand almost 90% of what I hear when I pay attention to the movies I watch.
I refer specifically Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Admittedly, the're not particularly advanced titles, but not exactly Totoro-simple either. Actually, I've also enjoyed this sort of comprehension of the Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded. And Shaun of the Dead, and Resident Evil (called Biohazard here). I think the dubs are easy to understand because everything that's said is coming initially from an English oral's head (like mine!). But it all helps, because it's real Japanese.
I've been doing the AJATT sort of method as much as I can. I've been using Anki on my ipod, and sort of just comfortably reading the odd comic here and there (weekly One Piece ftw). I bought some books. I tried translating every word I didn't completely understand in Eragon and spent about 5 days on as many pages. Then I just went ahead and read the first chapter and I can understand quite a bit just from context. It used to bug the hell out of me when I couldn't sound out the unknown word, but I just sort of put a "ng" sound or "that" in it's place or use the English for what I think it is when I get to one I don't know or can't say. I've started avoiding dictionaries this week. I can, however, understand Japanese dictionary entries (used when something seems important and I just can't figure it out), so there's no longer any need for me to use a J-E dictionary (but when I do, I use Jisho.org).
I think this all adds up to one thing: I understand Japanese. Not all Japanese, not all the time, but a lot of it. I'm now learning from context, from kanji, and from the symbols that kanji are made of. Of course I get English input from definitions given in class, and my SRS cards (of which I still have around 150 I added and haven't gotten to yet. 大変だよ) and of course that helps, but the amazing fact is that I just don't need it.
I understand Japanese. It has reached critical mass, and the reaction will now continue without further external input.
So, when learning a language, you really do want to just jump in and go! asap. You don't understand shit at first, but your brain figures it out. More about this at AJATT (and wherever he links).
Oh, and most of this has little to do with the fact that I live in Japan now. I don't really know anyone with whom I can hang out after class, so I spent most of my time in my room, watching homework, doing movies, and (lately) reading. Oh, anime too, but I can only loop what I have nonstop for so many weeks... I'm too cheap to actually pay for anything and torrents are blocked on University internet....(FUCK)
You know how kids will watch the same movie over and over and over like 3 times a day for a week? That's basically the idea. I didn't know it as a child, but I was practicing and rehearsing English. Memorizing sentece models and mannerisms...
Oh, important part! Focus on what you do understand, and get over what you don't, and before long, you'll be surprised to find you undrstand that too.
Wheee!
I refer specifically Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Admittedly, the're not particularly advanced titles, but not exactly Totoro-simple either. Actually, I've also enjoyed this sort of comprehension of the Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded. And Shaun of the Dead, and Resident Evil (called Biohazard here). I think the dubs are easy to understand because everything that's said is coming initially from an English oral's head (like mine!). But it all helps, because it's real Japanese.
I've been doing the AJATT sort of method as much as I can. I've been using Anki on my ipod, and sort of just comfortably reading the odd comic here and there (weekly One Piece ftw). I bought some books. I tried translating every word I didn't completely understand in Eragon and spent about 5 days on as many pages. Then I just went ahead and read the first chapter and I can understand quite a bit just from context. It used to bug the hell out of me when I couldn't sound out the unknown word, but I just sort of put a "ng" sound or "that" in it's place or use the English for what I think it is when I get to one I don't know or can't say. I've started avoiding dictionaries this week. I can, however, understand Japanese dictionary entries (used when something seems important and I just can't figure it out), so there's no longer any need for me to use a J-E dictionary (but when I do, I use Jisho.org).
I think this all adds up to one thing: I understand Japanese. Not all Japanese, not all the time, but a lot of it. I'm now learning from context, from kanji, and from the symbols that kanji are made of. Of course I get English input from definitions given in class, and my SRS cards (of which I still have around 150 I added and haven't gotten to yet. 大変だよ) and of course that helps, but the amazing fact is that I just don't need it.
I understand Japanese. It has reached critical mass, and the reaction will now continue without further external input.
So, when learning a language, you really do want to just jump in and go! asap. You don't understand shit at first, but your brain figures it out. More about this at AJATT (and wherever he links).
Oh, and most of this has little to do with the fact that I live in Japan now. I don't really know anyone with whom I can hang out after class, so I spent most of my time in my room, watching homework, doing movies, and (lately) reading. Oh, anime too, but I can only loop what I have nonstop for so many weeks... I'm too cheap to actually pay for anything and torrents are blocked on University internet....(FUCK)
You know how kids will watch the same movie over and over and over like 3 times a day for a week? That's basically the idea. I didn't know it as a child, but I was practicing and rehearsing English. Memorizing sentece models and mannerisms...
Oh, important part! Focus on what you do understand, and get over what you don't, and before long, you'll be surprised to find you undrstand that too.
Wheee!
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Book
I bought Eragon from Amazon.jp. It is used, was reported as in fair condition, and cost 1円, and 250円 shipping. It is the most beautiful book I've ever owned. No, it's not leather-bound, but it's nicer than if it had been.
Despite expecting a worn paperback, I recieved a well cared for hardcover. The paper cover has only a little wear on the edges. The cover art appears to be identical to the original as published in 2003, but Saphira's scales are lined with a shiny blue foil. Actually, what was most eye-catching at first was the silver band around the lower part of the book, but that was just a paper ad saying how well the book sold, etc. I also noticed the book had an attached cloth bookmark of shiny silver. Opening the book, the prologue (which takes place at night) pages are negatives of the normal pages, every one of which has a mountain range bordering the bottom. I looked for the glossary (of all the made up words) that is in the back of the English version and couldn't find it. I later discover that the inside of the dust jacket, while protecting a plain, but smart smooth, blue cover, has a map of Alagaesia printed on it's inside, with the glossary arranged around it on the inner flaps. The map (black printed on blue) has the route taken in the book marked in white.
All these pretty, and nifty features, as well as being in better condition them most books that pass through my possession, for the price of about two and a half American dollars is pretty fucking awesome. I'm psyched, and I can feel my grades dropping already. Sadly, this book is too nice for what I originally intended for it: to be a learning book I could write in. So, I shall just have to keep a paper reference sheet with the damn thing. As a bookmark perhaps. Gonna figure that out as I go.
Oh, and did I mention I paid for it at 711? Yeah, you can do that in Japan. Pay for online goods with cash at convenience stores. I could have even had it delivered there if I wanted.
Despite expecting a worn paperback, I recieved a well cared for hardcover. The paper cover has only a little wear on the edges. The cover art appears to be identical to the original as published in 2003, but Saphira's scales are lined with a shiny blue foil. Actually, what was most eye-catching at first was the silver band around the lower part of the book, but that was just a paper ad saying how well the book sold, etc. I also noticed the book had an attached cloth bookmark of shiny silver. Opening the book, the prologue (which takes place at night) pages are negatives of the normal pages, every one of which has a mountain range bordering the bottom. I looked for the glossary (of all the made up words) that is in the back of the English version and couldn't find it. I later discover that the inside of the dust jacket, while protecting a plain, but smart smooth, blue cover, has a map of Alagaesia printed on it's inside, with the glossary arranged around it on the inner flaps. The map (black printed on blue) has the route taken in the book marked in white.
All these pretty, and nifty features, as well as being in better condition them most books that pass through my possession, for the price of about two and a half American dollars is pretty fucking awesome. I'm psyched, and I can feel my grades dropping already. Sadly, this book is too nice for what I originally intended for it: to be a learning book I could write in. So, I shall just have to keep a paper reference sheet with the damn thing. As a bookmark perhaps. Gonna figure that out as I go.
Oh, and did I mention I paid for it at 711? Yeah, you can do that in Japan. Pay for online goods with cash at convenience stores. I could have even had it delivered there if I wanted.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Excuses
You may have noticed, but this blog is all but defunct. I'm spending too much time trying to undrstand everything in my everyday life to come here and write several pages about it in any language, let alone English. I've really been cracking down on my homework after a couple weeks of poor performance. I've been dealing with the death of my snakes, which just turned up dead for no apparent reason. I've also been reading a bit. In Japanese. 34 pages of Harry Potter down. Doesn't seem impressive, but it's mostly a time problem. I blew through 14 pretty well understood pages on the bus to and from Ise. Which is a pretty neat place that produces delicious beer and tasty udon.
However, I've been frustrated by the fact that, through constantly playing anime on my computer for a few weeks led to a good (~50%?) understanding of the materials contained therein, and in class, I'm still unable to understand a few actual people when they engage in conversation with each other. Just tonight, I decided to remedy this by doing the same thing I did with the anime, but with things I still can't understand. Just like when the Spearows get too easy, you move on through Mt. Moon and constantly keep yourself on the edge of your ability. Then by the time you come back around for the Elite Four, you wonder how you ever had trouble with the annoying little buggers. It's the grind. So I'm watching some Yakuza movies. The classic, Yakuza Papers, to be followed by Kitano Takeshi's Outrage. All week. As always, no subtitles. Believe me, it helps. You don't have to be ready for it either. That's the point.
So, yeah, that's pretty much what I've been up to. Don't expect updates. But do know that I'm alive and well. Periodically check my facebook, and maybe twitter (facebook annoys me, but is such an inescapable standard now) to see how I am. Also, check Chelsea's. She updates more.
I suppose I shall append some links that have been helpful in this time:
How to become an early riser (huge problem of mine - much better already)
Do it now! (this one really kicked my ass in gear)
Listening (I just found it on google, but it got me to quit complaining and just start listening to what I needed to; despite having already done that once already, I needed to be almost made to do it again)
However, I've been frustrated by the fact that, through constantly playing anime on my computer for a few weeks led to a good (~50%?) understanding of the materials contained therein, and in class, I'm still unable to understand a few actual people when they engage in conversation with each other. Just tonight, I decided to remedy this by doing the same thing I did with the anime, but with things I still can't understand. Just like when the Spearows get too easy, you move on through Mt. Moon and constantly keep yourself on the edge of your ability. Then by the time you come back around for the Elite Four, you wonder how you ever had trouble with the annoying little buggers. It's the grind. So I'm watching some Yakuza movies. The classic, Yakuza Papers, to be followed by Kitano Takeshi's Outrage. All week. As always, no subtitles. Believe me, it helps. You don't have to be ready for it either. That's the point.
So, yeah, that's pretty much what I've been up to. Don't expect updates. But do know that I'm alive and well. Periodically check my facebook, and maybe twitter (facebook annoys me, but is such an inescapable standard now) to see how I am. Also, check Chelsea's. She updates more.
I suppose I shall append some links that have been helpful in this time:
How to become an early riser (huge problem of mine - much better already)
Do it now! (this one really kicked my ass in gear)
Listening (I just found it on google, but it got me to quit complaining and just start listening to what I needed to; despite having already done that once already, I needed to be almost made to do it again)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The Nara
Just got back from Nara. Saw a bunch of old temples and shit. One building was actualy 1,300 years old. The whole trip was through a bus tour company, and the tour guide woman constantly spoke in super-keigo and almost never shut up. Got pretty annoying on the bus when she starts pointing out lots of innane things along the road. The scenery was amazing though. If you ever come to Japan, take a bus trip between Nagoya and the Oosaka area, and stay awake to look out the window. Most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Mountains, with rice fields and villages built right into all the little nooks and crannies. Just wonderful.
Well, pictures may be forthcoming. My camera's still fucked up. Check facebook, as I'm certain to be tagged within the week.
Oh, and at this park in Nara, the deer are everywhere, and walk among the people and beg for food. Really weird, as they have absolutely no fear. You can just pet them. And feed them. They somehow know to leave the people selling the food alone, but bug the hell out of the people who buy it.
Friday, April 8, 2011
The First Week of Class
Classes started Monday. Had to drag myself out of bed at 8:30 in the morning, eat breakfast, and get my shit together. Classes start at 9:30 everyday. Classes are different everyday. Sometimes I have 3, sometimes 2. They're an hour and a half long each. I have around 45 minutes for lunch, which is actually not a lot considering how crowded the campus 711 is at that time. It's easier to just buy it in the morning before class, and run into the 711 at lunchtime to heat it up if it needs it.
Our classes are at times painfully simple. I think they might be trying to reach an aggregate between our individual levels of Japanese. I'm not going to post my whole schedule here because that's far too tedious, but for example, the "Japanese things" class was all about the freaking cherry blossoms, while the grammar class is just slightly above our heads where we need it to be. Our writing class is a bit ironic, because while we can all read and understand 90% of the kanji in the book, we cannot write them all (I guess it is writing class), nor do we know all the words formed by them (or at least not the ones they want us to). But, because we said it seemed so simple, they allowed us to try to test to the next book, but as per the aforementioned problem...I don't think we got it. But they do seem to understand and want to challenge us appropriately. I even managed to get our grammar lessons to NOT use English grammar terms by just asking what a couple were called. Aside from the asininity of teaching Japanese in English, it's not exactly fair to the Korean kid who doesn't know English, just because the Australian and the Lithuanian and the American do. So classes are overall...okay. I was expecting to be looking outside the classroom to do any real learning anyway. Just being here a few weeks has taught me a LOT.
I think Wednesday night there was a party for CUPS and exchange students and freshman joining CUPS. Maybe ESS (English as a Second...Something?) too. It was a fun little affair. I got to meet more people. Most interestingly, there were two guys in jumpsuits, one of which was wearing an orange one and whose name was "Stick" (so he said), the other of which was wearing a black jumpsuit and who's name was D.K. (for Donkey Kong).
After this official party held on campus, there was an after party at a bar. There's this amazing thing in Japan called a 飲み放題(nomihoudai), which pretty much literally means "all you can drink". We paid ￥3000 for two hours of this with some food, too. Didn't get as drunk as I'd have liked to, but it was a hell of a good time. Met a number of cool people, and got extremely comfortable holding a conversation in Japanese. In class the next day, a teacher asked us about it and taught us the word for after-party. This whole country is like Morgantown.
The next day (Thursday), I had a date with Chelsea. We just went and hung out around Sakae (I still have to write about that, don't I? Shit!). She's already written about the date here. That restaurant was really cool. I just wish I'd known what it meant when the guy said, "末席" when we came in, instead of looking like a retarded foreigner. Why they never seem to find these things important enough to teach, I'll never know... Makes me want to teach Japanese to save the poor students from whoever else they might be getting it from.
Wonderfully, I have most Fridays off. I only have class on certain occasions for the culture class, such as the tea ceremony and flower arranging. Not too interesting, unfortunately, especially when compared to the culture I do know (swords and fighting!). But, hey, the tea ceremony was popularized by Oda Nobunaga, so that makes it cool right? ...right?
This classless Friday was spent sleeping, paying a class fee, catching up on my flashcards, and sampling the karate club. Their karate is much different than mine. I'm not sure how it's going to conflict with the knowledge and technique I already have. And I also want to try a bunch of other martial arts clubs. So I don't really know what I'm going to do. I could probably spend a week sampling each one, and find something that's really interesting to me. That could take time, though...
But when I went, the guy who basically made me his responsibility had trouble speaking simply enough for me to understand. Not his fault, that's tough. I also think I have trouble expressing the difference between when I don't understand and when I do understand and am listening for you to continue. Something physical like karate is a surprisingly difficult thing to do in a foreign language. Lots of little instructional words like body parts and positioning, types of movement, breathing, time. It didn't help that the kempo club was on the other side of the same room being very loud. I was basically a beginner again because the basic movements are totally different from what I know. Also because they don't know what I know, which is always a frustrating thing.
So that's pretty much my week. I've got to go and shower now. My room is freezing. Idk why, but it feels like the coldest part of the building.
Oh, and for the record, Blogger's post composer/html generator sucks. I would be better off if I just wrote it in html myself. But, tags are tedious...
Our classes are at times painfully simple. I think they might be trying to reach an aggregate between our individual levels of Japanese. I'm not going to post my whole schedule here because that's far too tedious, but for example, the "Japanese things" class was all about the freaking cherry blossoms, while the grammar class is just slightly above our heads where we need it to be. Our writing class is a bit ironic, because while we can all read and understand 90% of the kanji in the book, we cannot write them all (I guess it is writing class), nor do we know all the words formed by them (or at least not the ones they want us to). But, because we said it seemed so simple, they allowed us to try to test to the next book, but as per the aforementioned problem...I don't think we got it. But they do seem to understand and want to challenge us appropriately. I even managed to get our grammar lessons to NOT use English grammar terms by just asking what a couple were called. Aside from the asininity of teaching Japanese in English, it's not exactly fair to the Korean kid who doesn't know English, just because the Australian and the Lithuanian and the American do. So classes are overall...okay. I was expecting to be looking outside the classroom to do any real learning anyway. Just being here a few weeks has taught me a LOT.
I think Wednesday night there was a party for CUPS and exchange students and freshman joining CUPS. Maybe ESS (English as a Second...Something?) too. It was a fun little affair. I got to meet more people. Most interestingly, there were two guys in jumpsuits, one of which was wearing an orange one and whose name was "Stick" (so he said), the other of which was wearing a black jumpsuit and who's name was D.K. (for Donkey Kong).
After this official party held on campus, there was an after party at a bar. There's this amazing thing in Japan called a 飲み放題(nomihoudai), which pretty much literally means "all you can drink". We paid ￥3000 for two hours of this with some food, too. Didn't get as drunk as I'd have liked to, but it was a hell of a good time. Met a number of cool people, and got extremely comfortable holding a conversation in Japanese. In class the next day, a teacher asked us about it and taught us the word for after-party. This whole country is like Morgantown.
The next day (Thursday), I had a date with Chelsea. We just went and hung out around Sakae (I still have to write about that, don't I? Shit!). She's already written about the date here. That restaurant was really cool. I just wish I'd known what it meant when the guy said, "末席" when we came in, instead of looking like a retarded foreigner. Why they never seem to find these things important enough to teach, I'll never know... Makes me want to teach Japanese to save the poor students from whoever else they might be getting it from.
Wonderfully, I have most Fridays off. I only have class on certain occasions for the culture class, such as the tea ceremony and flower arranging. Not too interesting, unfortunately, especially when compared to the culture I do know (swords and fighting!). But, hey, the tea ceremony was popularized by Oda Nobunaga, so that makes it cool right? ...right?
This classless Friday was spent sleeping, paying a class fee, catching up on my flashcards, and sampling the karate club. Their karate is much different than mine. I'm not sure how it's going to conflict with the knowledge and technique I already have. And I also want to try a bunch of other martial arts clubs. So I don't really know what I'm going to do. I could probably spend a week sampling each one, and find something that's really interesting to me. That could take time, though...
But when I went, the guy who basically made me his responsibility had trouble speaking simply enough for me to understand. Not his fault, that's tough. I also think I have trouble expressing the difference between when I don't understand and when I do understand and am listening for you to continue. Something physical like karate is a surprisingly difficult thing to do in a foreign language. Lots of little instructional words like body parts and positioning, types of movement, breathing, time. It didn't help that the kempo club was on the other side of the same room being very loud. I was basically a beginner again because the basic movements are totally different from what I know. Also because they don't know what I know, which is always a frustrating thing.
So that's pretty much my week. I've got to go and shower now. My room is freezing. Idk why, but it feels like the coldest part of the building.
Oh, and for the record, Blogger's post composer/html generator sucks. I would be better off if I just wrote it in html myself. But, tags are tedious...
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The Other Castle
Today we went to Inuyama. There's a festival going on right now, but I'm not sure why. Probably for the cherry blossoms and spring in general. They had these huge floats that were basically a wooden cart, 30 feet high, with puppets on top. They would start in front of the shrine, do a puppet show, start playing music involving something-resembling-a-flute players and drum playing children riding the thing, and then start pulling it down the street. But not before a bunch of young men lifted it up onto a wheelie, spun it around, and started pulling it down the street in this manner. I shit you not. These things' wheels don't turn, so they just turn them like Hot Wheels cars. And those videos are pretty much exactly what it's like to be there. It's just nowhere near as weird seeming in person. When you're there the whole thing seems like a fairly normal thing to do. The atmosphere was comparable to Wellsburg's Applefest.
Follow the festival and you'll end up at a shrine, which leads to the castle, one of the oldest in Japan and a National Treasure. This one is a bit cooler than Nagoya castle in that fact. It was not destroyed and "rebuilt" in the last century, and every part of it is around 400 years old. Unfortunately, it's mostly empty. Probably because of it's age, it is unsuitable as a museum environment (the building is not "sealed" like a modern structure). Nagoya castle is cooler in that it has lots of cool stuff in it (specifically swords). All the castles around here seem to have something to do with the Oda clan, which produced the serious badass, Oda Nobunaga, who was one of three generals who resulted in a unified Japan. The whole Sengoku Jidai is very interesting. Awesome reading material, which has also has a lot of really cool modern interpretations. Oda Nobunaga lived in Nagoya Castle, I hear.
I ate lots of cool food. First some okonomiyaki, which is always delicious, and which also had some yakisoba in it (also delicious). I washed that down with an Asahi beer. They apparently have no public drinking laws here. Also, I was not carded, and hear Joe never been either. They either don't care, or are overestimating our ages. I tried a corndog, which was labeled as an "American Dog". It really wasn't any better. And the mustard was HOT in that horseradish-type way. I washed that down with a snow cone, the syrup for which was extremely thick and sweet. Not watery like in America. Just outside the train station on the way home, I grabbed a can of Pepsi from a vending machine. They're 500ml here!
So, the day overall didn't involve a lot of various things. Just being there for a long while. And train rides. Look through albums I'm tagged in on facebook for photos, as my camera is still broken. I'm in the middle of a back-and-forth with Nikon US about what to do about that.
Follow the festival and you'll end up at a shrine, which leads to the castle, one of the oldest in Japan and a National Treasure. This one is a bit cooler than Nagoya castle in that fact. It was not destroyed and "rebuilt" in the last century, and every part of it is around 400 years old. Unfortunately, it's mostly empty. Probably because of it's age, it is unsuitable as a museum environment (the building is not "sealed" like a modern structure). Nagoya castle is cooler in that it has lots of cool stuff in it (specifically swords). All the castles around here seem to have something to do with the Oda clan, which produced the serious badass, Oda Nobunaga, who was one of three generals who resulted in a unified Japan. The whole Sengoku Jidai is very interesting. Awesome reading material, which has also has a lot of really cool modern interpretations. Oda Nobunaga lived in Nagoya Castle, I hear.
I ate lots of cool food. First some okonomiyaki, which is always delicious, and which also had some yakisoba in it (also delicious). I washed that down with an Asahi beer. They apparently have no public drinking laws here. Also, I was not carded, and hear Joe never been either. They either don't care, or are overestimating our ages. I tried a corndog, which was labeled as an "American Dog". It really wasn't any better. And the mustard was HOT in that horseradish-type way. I washed that down with a snow cone, the syrup for which was extremely thick and sweet. Not watery like in America. Just outside the train station on the way home, I grabbed a can of Pepsi from a vending machine. They're 500ml here!
So, the day overall didn't involve a lot of various things. Just being there for a long while. And train rides. Look through albums I'm tagged in on facebook for photos, as my camera is still broken. I'm in the middle of a back-and-forth with Nikon US about what to do about that.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The Timeskip
So the last couple days we've been sorted into classes. As I mentioned in the last post, I had to write an essay, and take a short, simple interview, as well as a straightforward test to see where I'd go. I got into the bottom of the three JSL classes, but it doesn't really bug me because I know I don't do all that well at all and I get better every day anyway. I also think that if me and the three others got the lowest scored, even if they weren't that bad, we'd have to be in the lowest class. So it doesn't so much mean we suck, just that we're not as good as everyone else here, which was already fairly obvious.
Anyway, after all that, there was an official welcome party, held at the Center for International Programs, which involved the staff members, the teachers, and the Chubu University Peer Support (CUPS) students. Food. Soda. Good. Everyone had to give "speeches". Really just an introduction, but I was terrible anyway. The Koreans are really good.
I've also finally applied for my foreigner card. It's required to get on within 90 days, and I have to carry it with me at all times. If a cop asks for it, and I don't have it, and I've been here over 90 days, I'll be arrested. The application involved riding a bus to Kasugai City hall, signing two things, paying 300 yen, and waiting for 3 hours. Of course there were about 9 of us applying, so individually, it may have taken much less time.
That night (3/31), a few of us went into the woods to find a temple. It actually happened to be the temple I found during the day just this week. It was still interesting. Very creepy. I will track down some pictures sometime. It reminded me of Fatal Frame II. That game scares the hell out of me.
Was that just last night? Today we got the results of the placements test, which I've already talked about above. Hmm... Well, after we found out, we split into our respective classes, got our schedules, and were given orientation sessions by the teacher who would be teaching us first next week. We also applied for the JLPT August. I decided to wait and take it in December. 1.) Because it's kind of expensive and 2.) it just doesn't really mean that much. The biggest point made in that link is that if I can manage to apply and interview for a job in Japanese, why would I need a certificate to tell you I am proficient in Japanese?
After all that, we kinda split up around campus, but met in CIP to get some papers needed to purchase cell phones. However, that requires payment using credit card or Japanese bank account, or post office account. So I'll be getting something in the next few days. With the student discount, the basic plan is free for 36 months, the basic data plan is free for 36 months, and there's some sort of discount plan also applied so that the data packet charge starts at certain amount and can never go over a certain amount. With the student discount, it starts at zero and I don't get charged until a certain amount. Cell phone hours are virtually opposite of America. You get free, within-network calling during weekdays, and are charged nights and weekends. So all I'm really paying for are a phone and activation fee. I would also be paying for a charger (yes, it doesn't come with the phone), but we have some spare phones and chargers in the dorm from previous students who don't need them outside Japan, and all this company's phones use the same chargers.
So that was pretty much today. I looked at some bikes. Didn't like any of the rentals available, and I really want my own shiny new bicycle. They did look nice, but between $150 and $200 means I can wait another month for my next scholarship payment.
After we got back, I walked with Joe through the club fair again. He finally found the computer club, and I finally went to look for the karate club. Still never found them, but found a graduate practicing. He took some information and said he's pass it along. On my way back, the kyuudou club go ahold of me and I finally got to go try it out. For some reason I had to aim really low and to the left to hit the target, but it worked and I got a few bullseyes in the 30-45 minutes they let me shoot. I would really enjoy joining this club, but I also want to see the karate club. The Judo club is a bit too brute force for me, but maybe. Of course, they weren't very inviting when I was around the dojo. I have no idea what kenpo is like; apparently it's probably kung-fu. Aikido is high on the list, of course. I've always admired it. I'd join them all, but dammit, there's no time! I also haven't found any sword school, but I'd jump right on that! Oh, crap, there's supposed to be a kendo club...
To describe the environment of the first week, when the clubs gather in the center of campus and set up tables and hand out flyers and do whatever it is they can to get your attention, I will draw from what I said to a friend: "You have any idea how rabid the clubs here are? They're all advertising themselves to the freshman right now. There's a huge crowd in the middle of campus pushing flyers on anyone walking by. I saw a guy in a Tony Tony Chopper costume! And another in a Pikachu costume! And I have no idea why!" So, yeah, I also described this a bit in the preceding post, so look if you missed it.
So gosh, did all that, came home, at dinner. Did my usual thing, studied, watched some videos on ニコニコ動画, and waited for the girlfriend to get online. She was having trouble figuring out how to put the bedding together, and from her description, I would too. I've just been watching some stuff online and decided to skip ahead to the latest stuff that's been happening, because trying to remember older stuff to write is getting harder and harder to do and I just don't really want to, though I always feel about writing about the latest happenings. Why fight it?
じゃ、それだけです。明日また!
Anyway, after all that, there was an official welcome party, held at the Center for International Programs, which involved the staff members, the teachers, and the Chubu University Peer Support (CUPS) students. Food. Soda. Good. Everyone had to give "speeches". Really just an introduction, but I was terrible anyway. The Koreans are really good.
I've also finally applied for my foreigner card. It's required to get on within 90 days, and I have to carry it with me at all times. If a cop asks for it, and I don't have it, and I've been here over 90 days, I'll be arrested. The application involved riding a bus to Kasugai City hall, signing two things, paying 300 yen, and waiting for 3 hours. Of course there were about 9 of us applying, so individually, it may have taken much less time.
That night (3/31), a few of us went into the woods to find a temple. It actually happened to be the temple I found during the day just this week. It was still interesting. Very creepy. I will track down some pictures sometime. It reminded me of Fatal Frame II. That game scares the hell out of me.
Was that just last night? Today we got the results of the placements test, which I've already talked about above. Hmm... Well, after we found out, we split into our respective classes, got our schedules, and were given orientation sessions by the teacher who would be teaching us first next week. We also applied for the JLPT August. I decided to wait and take it in December. 1.) Because it's kind of expensive and 2.) it just doesn't really mean that much. The biggest point made in that link is that if I can manage to apply and interview for a job in Japanese, why would I need a certificate to tell you I am proficient in Japanese?
After all that, we kinda split up around campus, but met in CIP to get some papers needed to purchase cell phones. However, that requires payment using credit card or Japanese bank account, or post office account. So I'll be getting something in the next few days. With the student discount, the basic plan is free for 36 months, the basic data plan is free for 36 months, and there's some sort of discount plan also applied so that the data packet charge starts at certain amount and can never go over a certain amount. With the student discount, it starts at zero and I don't get charged until a certain amount. Cell phone hours are virtually opposite of America. You get free, within-network calling during weekdays, and are charged nights and weekends. So all I'm really paying for are a phone and activation fee. I would also be paying for a charger (yes, it doesn't come with the phone), but we have some spare phones and chargers in the dorm from previous students who don't need them outside Japan, and all this company's phones use the same chargers.
So that was pretty much today. I looked at some bikes. Didn't like any of the rentals available, and I really want my own shiny new bicycle. They did look nice, but between $150 and $200 means I can wait another month for my next scholarship payment.
After we got back, I walked with Joe through the club fair again. He finally found the computer club, and I finally went to look for the karate club. Still never found them, but found a graduate practicing. He took some information and said he's pass it along. On my way back, the kyuudou club go ahold of me and I finally got to go try it out. For some reason I had to aim really low and to the left to hit the target, but it worked and I got a few bullseyes in the 30-45 minutes they let me shoot. I would really enjoy joining this club, but I also want to see the karate club. The Judo club is a bit too brute force for me, but maybe. Of course, they weren't very inviting when I was around the dojo. I have no idea what kenpo is like; apparently it's probably kung-fu. Aikido is high on the list, of course. I've always admired it. I'd join them all, but dammit, there's no time! I also haven't found any sword school, but I'd jump right on that! Oh, crap, there's supposed to be a kendo club...
To describe the environment of the first week, when the clubs gather in the center of campus and set up tables and hand out flyers and do whatever it is they can to get your attention, I will draw from what I said to a friend: "You have any idea how rabid the clubs here are? They're all advertising themselves to the freshman right now. There's a huge crowd in the middle of campus pushing flyers on anyone walking by. I saw a guy in a Tony Tony Chopper costume! And another in a Pikachu costume! And I have no idea why!" So, yeah, I also described this a bit in the preceding post, so look if you missed it.
So gosh, did all that, came home, at dinner. Did my usual thing, studied, watched some videos on ニコニコ動画, and waited for the girlfriend to get online. She was having trouble figuring out how to put the bedding together, and from her description, I would too. I've just been watching some stuff online and decided to skip ahead to the latest stuff that's been happening, because trying to remember older stuff to write is getting harder and harder to do and I just don't really want to, though I always feel about writing about the latest happenings. Why fight it?
じゃ、それだけです。明日また!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I've Got a Rant on my Tongue
There's an ongoing debate in language learning (read: geek) circles over whether you should experience a massive amount of input before trying to say anything, or to start speaking as soon as possible. While I lean toward the latter, I have a feeling that they both meet somewhere in the middle. They both have good points, and I think they're just slightly mis-expressing the same thing.
So, the point on the side of NOT waiting that has bugged me throughout my entire shower time tonight is: how freaking hard is it so say "domo arigato"? I mean, really! EVERY American knows how to say "domo arigato"! I don't even know who Styx are, but I'm certain I knew those two words by the time I was nine!
So look! You can already speak Japanese! So why wait to use it if the opportunity presents itself? Wanna learn more? Here's how you ask for a hamburger: "han(like Han Solo)baww(like a baby)gaa(same thing) koo(like the clan)daa(like dog)sigh" Again,
Han (Solo) baww(ing baby) gaww koo(ky) daw(n) sigh
han baa gaa koo daa sigh
Then what do you say when you get your hamburger? Yes, it's
domo arigato (mister roboto)
See, this is all it takes to just get started! You can already order a hamburger! And quite often you can just swap the word for whatever you want with hamburger! And it all works the same! Words not working? Point at pictures! Use hand signals! Become a mime! Communicate!
You've been doing it for years. One new sentence won't kill you.
I mean, why, why on Earth would you wait to put this to use?
I was going to throw some background info on the debate down here, but I think the first two links probably cover it pretty well, and might even make my blog a waste of your time. Hmm...
Some sidenotes:
This is just sad. I hear he also did poorly in his first conversation (perfectly normal) after wasting 2 years of his life to "prepare" for that conversation.
And today, after writing a page long self-introduction (more than I've ever had to write) IN JAPANESE and WITHOUT A DICTIONARY, I took an interview IN JAPANESE, and after I left, I shied around the club fair before calling myself an idiot and going back and walking through the crowd to grab a bunch of flyers. I got to see lots of the clubs here and had a few interesting conversations. People were literally lining up to give me flyers. They do this to everyone, of course, but that's the thing! I was one of everybody! And as for the essay and interview, I just did what I could and didn't worry about what I couldn't!
And heck, my first week here, there was a day that was a national holiday (spring equinox), and I wasn't sure if dinner was being served or not. I could have either gone upstairs to the cafeteria to see, or asked the old couple that rule our dorm. I decided to throw caution to the wind and give asking them a go. I looked up what I needed to say, went up to the front desk, and just said it. Turned out dinner was being served. But asking about it was a thousand (at least) times more fun and rewarding than "just going to see for myself."
So, the point on the side of NOT waiting that has bugged me throughout my entire shower time tonight is: how freaking hard is it so say "domo arigato"? I mean, really! EVERY American knows how to say "domo arigato"! I don't even know who Styx are, but I'm certain I knew those two words by the time I was nine!
So look! You can already speak Japanese! So why wait to use it if the opportunity presents itself? Wanna learn more? Here's how you ask for a hamburger: "han(like Han Solo)baww(like a baby)gaa(same thing) koo(like the clan)daa(like dog)sigh" Again,
Han (Solo) baww(ing baby) gaww koo(ky) daw(n) sigh
han baa gaa koo daa sigh
Then what do you say when you get your hamburger? Yes, it's
domo arigato (mister roboto)
See, this is all it takes to just get started! You can already order a hamburger! And quite often you can just swap the word for whatever you want with hamburger! And it all works the same! Words not working? Point at pictures! Use hand signals! Become a mime! Communicate!
You've been doing it for years. One new sentence won't kill you.
I mean, why, why on Earth would you wait to put this to use?
I was going to throw some background info on the debate down here, but I think the first two links probably cover it pretty well, and might even make my blog a waste of your time. Hmm...
Some sidenotes:
This is just sad. I hear he also did poorly in his first conversation (perfectly normal) after wasting 2 years of his life to "prepare" for that conversation.
And today, after writing a page long self-introduction (more than I've ever had to write) IN JAPANESE and WITHOUT A DICTIONARY, I took an interview IN JAPANESE, and after I left, I shied around the club fair before calling myself an idiot and going back and walking through the crowd to grab a bunch of flyers. I got to see lots of the clubs here and had a few interesting conversations. People were literally lining up to give me flyers. They do this to everyone, of course, but that's the thing! I was one of everybody! And as for the essay and interview, I just did what I could and didn't worry about what I couldn't!
And heck, my first week here, there was a day that was a national holiday (spring equinox), and I wasn't sure if dinner was being served or not. I could have either gone upstairs to the cafeteria to see, or asked the old couple that rule our dorm. I decided to throw caution to the wind and give asking them a go. I looked up what I needed to say, went up to the front desk, and just said it. Turned out dinner was being served. But asking about it was a thousand (at least) times more fun and rewarding than "just going to see for myself."
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Hidden Costs
Ok, so it's not a food post. This came up in a conversation with someone today and it seemed like a good time to write about it.
When you learn about study abroad programs at WVU, such as the one for Chubu, you are told that you pay tuition and board to WVU, and the student at Chubu pays theirs there, and then you just switch places. Well, it's not so simple. There are many hidden costs that WVU fails to inform you of. These things don't really worm their way to the surface until you're already in the process, sometimes very far in.
First, and most obviously, there are travel expenses. These include passport fees (roughly $130), visa application fees ($0 for US citizens, but the shipping is about $40), and of course, airfare (depends on your time frame; a round trip can be around $1500, but since I'm here for a year, can't get that; my ticket was around $1000, and probably will be on return as well, maybe as low as $750 if I buy it at the right time (who knows when?)).
Less obvious, but of which you are informed, is the international health/emergency insurance that WVU requires you to pay. This cost us $528. And we didn't find out about this until late November. I accepted the scholarship offer at the beginning of the semester in August, and didn't register for the spring semester at the beginning of November. And I hadn't even recieved any confirmation of acceptance yet!
About 3-4 weeks before I was to leave, I finally recieved an acceptance packet, which was pretty much just an invoice for ￥28,000. ￥20,000 of this is for "Administrative Fees" and the rest is for Insurance (Emergency and Accidental). The packet said to wire this before March 4th. WVU wasn't going to do it for me (as the packet suggested), so I had to do it myself. This cost (with the transfer fee) $350. Also, Wesbanco was unable to send it as yen, whereas PNC was able to convert it, then send it to protect it from fluctuating exchange rates. Since I've arrived, I've heard from Joe that the recieving bank also charges a transfer fee, so they don't even get all the money I sent, and I'll have to pay the difference the bastards at Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Bank took out, when I could have just carried it all over with me! I also have to enroll in the National Health Insurance plan, which costs ￥2,500/month and covers routine health/dental. That's three different, overlapping insurances now. All "required". I'll also have to eventually pay for "texts, materials, and fees for the Japanese Culture Class (estimated total: JPY48,000)." Though, that one isn't too surprising, tbh. Edit: I actually got a good bit of that back at the end of the semester.
On top of all that, there's day-to-day expenses, like food and transportation, possibly clothing and personal amenities. Breakfast and dinner are provided on weekdays, so food isn't a big deal. An electronic dictionary is recommended, most of which are like TI-83s: overpriced and outdated. I bought an ipod touch instead and got a free dictionary app (Kotoba). Now, it's a dictionary and much, much more(link to come). I've yet to get a cell phone, but I'll probably get the bottom-line, prepay plan of unlimited SRS for ￥300/month. I hate making phone calls anyway. I don't think we have to buy a lot of text books. I'm going to be traveling to Nagoya hopefully every weekend, so JR and Manaca (subway) card purchases are in my future. Prepay should suffice. It's about $10 there and back.
When you learn about study abroad programs at WVU, such as the one for Chubu, you are told that you pay tuition and board to WVU, and the student at Chubu pays theirs there, and then you just switch places. Well, it's not so simple. There are many hidden costs that WVU fails to inform you of. These things don't really worm their way to the surface until you're already in the process, sometimes very far in.
First, and most obviously, there are travel expenses. These include passport fees (roughly $130), visa application fees ($0 for US citizens, but the shipping is about $40), and of course, airfare (depends on your time frame; a round trip can be around $1500, but since I'm here for a year, can't get that; my ticket was around $1000, and probably will be on return as well, maybe as low as $750 if I buy it at the right time (who knows when?)).
Less obvious, but of which you are informed, is the international health/emergency insurance that WVU requires you to pay. This cost us $528. And we didn't find out about this until late November. I accepted the scholarship offer at the beginning of the semester in August, and didn't register for the spring semester at the beginning of November. And I hadn't even recieved any confirmation of acceptance yet!
About 3-4 weeks before I was to leave, I finally recieved an acceptance packet, which was pretty much just an invoice for ￥28,000. ￥20,000 of this is for "Administrative Fees" and the rest is for Insurance (Emergency and Accidental). The packet said to wire this before March 4th. WVU wasn't going to do it for me (as the packet suggested), so I had to do it myself. This cost (with the transfer fee) $350. Also, Wesbanco was unable to send it as yen, whereas PNC was able to convert it, then send it to protect it from fluctuating exchange rates. Since I've arrived, I've heard from Joe that the recieving bank also charges a transfer fee, so they don't even get all the money I sent, and I'll have to pay the difference the bastards at Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Bank took out, when I could have just carried it all over with me! I also have to enroll in the National Health Insurance plan, which costs ￥2,500/month and covers routine health/dental. That's three different, overlapping insurances now. All "required". I'll also have to eventually pay for "texts, materials, and fees for the Japanese Culture Class (estimated total: JPY48,000)." Though, that one isn't too surprising, tbh. Edit: I actually got a good bit of that back at the end of the semester.
On top of all that, there's day-to-day expenses, like food and transportation, possibly clothing and personal amenities. Breakfast and dinner are provided on weekdays, so food isn't a big deal. An electronic dictionary is recommended, most of which are like TI-83s: overpriced and outdated. I bought an ipod touch instead and got a free dictionary app (Kotoba). Now, it's a dictionary and much, much more(link to come). I've yet to get a cell phone, but I'll probably get the bottom-line, prepay plan of unlimited SRS for ￥300/month. I hate making phone calls anyway. I don't think we have to buy a lot of text books. I'm going to be traveling to Nagoya hopefully every weekend, so JR and Manaca (subway) card purchases are in my future. Prepay should suffice. It's about $10 there and back.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sorry for the wait! Let's see, first day...
The Next Morning
I had to go to some orientation stuff. Met some CUPS students, which probably stands for Chubu University Peer Support. They're basically supposed to take care of us, get us used to Japan, take us to see stuff, etc. After the overall boring process of signing some papers, getting our student cards, and having our passports photocopied, we got a tour of the campus. This would probably have been enjoyable if it hadn't been about 35゜ out and the wind hadn't been blowing much faster than would have been pleasant. The campus is a nice place. There's a big koi pond, and apparently if you kill one of them, the president will come to your home and murder you in your sleep (so I've heard?). There's basically a nice little area just dedicated to nature in the middle of campus. Well, while we saw everything we might end up needing around campus, we went in lots of circles, so I don't really remember where any of it is. I'll be figuring that out when I need to. We have maps.
At basically, the end of the tour, we went to a cafeteria that was open (it's still spring break here) and I got some curry udon. The only chopsticks available were plastic (which I HATE), so I had to struggle to eat the big, slippery, noodles with even slipperier chopsticks, and got to enjoy feeling rather dumb for most of my meal. But the cool part about the cafeteria (and a lot of places are like this it turns out) is that is has a display menu filled with real food just outside of it. Most meals in general are around 500 yen. However, I only had one ￥10,000 bill from the airport. I had someone take me for change. Couldn't understand a thing, so I just said thanks when I got my money. Now here's the real neat part. You decide what you want, you put your money in to this machine, select what you want, it gives you a ticket for it, which you take to the counter, give to the cook, and then they prepare it for you. That's another thing a lot of places do (esp. trains): use automated ticket machines. So so much restaurants, but a lot of these cafeteria-type places.
The Town
After eating, a few of the CUPS students took us into town to do some shopping and see what's around. Chubu University is on top of a hill, and as you leave the entrance, you see a plain, entirely covered in city, with more hills a few miles off. I'm glad to know mountains will never be out of sight. So we walk down, out the front gate, past all the bicycle parking, past the bus stop, down this road that hugs the hill, and into town. The shopping plaza that was our target was about a 15 minute walk, and had a 100円 store (Daiso) where I bought some replacement notebooks (I lost the one I was using just before I left), a used book store (Book Off), a used electronics store (Hard Off (yes, really)), a drug store (B&D), and a grocery store (Valor). It's interesting to note that all these places had the same atmospheres as their American counterparts, just a little more crowded. Valor felt just like a Kroger's, B&D felt just like a RiteAid, and Daiso felt just like Dollar General.
So I had about 5 free days after that before I had to do anything official. I was to receive my JASSO money on the 22nd and then go on some CUPS "International Exchange Event". Oh goodness, the suspense.
The Castle
Well, I spent those five days doing lots of general stuff. Usually went to somewhere every day. One of the first things I did was be taken to Nagoya castle by Joe. This involved a thrilling adventure taking trains both above and below ground. We took a half hour walk to Jinryo (along the river, kind of scenic), and got on the train. This again involved a ticket machine. You observe the map, find your destination (for which a price is displayed), put your monies in the machine, select the amount you want to be charged, and get your ticket. Then you put in this turnstile-like machine that punches a hole in it. Then, at the destination, you go out through one and it makes sure you haven't gone further than you've paid to go. We had to do this twice, because the JR rail lines, and the subway lines are managed by different companies/groups/whatever. So we make our way to the center of Nagoya, and stare at a map a few minutes to find the castle, discovering there was another subway exit just across the street from it. The castle was cool, but was apparently destroyed during WWII, and subsequently rebuilt. From the landscaping and the outside, though, you'd never know. I'm just gonna link to my flickr, because it was mainly an observational trip, and words aren't for much.
Hmm, that seems like a good stopping point for this post. Since the rest of what I did was mostly restaurants, I think I'll do a food post next.
I had to go to some orientation stuff. Met some CUPS students, which probably stands for Chubu University Peer Support. They're basically supposed to take care of us, get us used to Japan, take us to see stuff, etc. After the overall boring process of signing some papers, getting our student cards, and having our passports photocopied, we got a tour of the campus. This would probably have been enjoyable if it hadn't been about 35゜ out and the wind hadn't been blowing much faster than would have been pleasant. The campus is a nice place. There's a big koi pond, and apparently if you kill one of them, the president will come to your home and murder you in your sleep (so I've heard?). There's basically a nice little area just dedicated to nature in the middle of campus. Well, while we saw everything we might end up needing around campus, we went in lots of circles, so I don't really remember where any of it is. I'll be figuring that out when I need to. We have maps.
At basically, the end of the tour, we went to a cafeteria that was open (it's still spring break here) and I got some curry udon. The only chopsticks available were plastic (which I HATE), so I had to struggle to eat the big, slippery, noodles with even slipperier chopsticks, and got to enjoy feeling rather dumb for most of my meal. But the cool part about the cafeteria (and a lot of places are like this it turns out) is that is has a display menu filled with real food just outside of it. Most meals in general are around 500 yen. However, I only had one ￥10,000 bill from the airport. I had someone take me for change. Couldn't understand a thing, so I just said thanks when I got my money. Now here's the real neat part. You decide what you want, you put your money in to this machine, select what you want, it gives you a ticket for it, which you take to the counter, give to the cook, and then they prepare it for you. That's another thing a lot of places do (esp. trains): use automated ticket machines. So so much restaurants, but a lot of these cafeteria-type places.
The Town
After eating, a few of the CUPS students took us into town to do some shopping and see what's around. Chubu University is on top of a hill, and as you leave the entrance, you see a plain, entirely covered in city, with more hills a few miles off. I'm glad to know mountains will never be out of sight. So we walk down, out the front gate, past all the bicycle parking, past the bus stop, down this road that hugs the hill, and into town. The shopping plaza that was our target was about a 15 minute walk, and had a 100円 store (Daiso) where I bought some replacement notebooks (I lost the one I was using just before I left), a used book store (Book Off), a used electronics store (Hard Off (yes, really)), a drug store (B&D), and a grocery store (Valor). It's interesting to note that all these places had the same atmospheres as their American counterparts, just a little more crowded. Valor felt just like a Kroger's, B&D felt just like a RiteAid, and Daiso felt just like Dollar General.
So I had about 5 free days after that before I had to do anything official. I was to receive my JASSO money on the 22nd and then go on some CUPS "International Exchange Event". Oh goodness, the suspense.
The Castle
Well, I spent those five days doing lots of general stuff. Usually went to somewhere every day. One of the first things I did was be taken to Nagoya castle by Joe. This involved a thrilling adventure taking trains both above and below ground. We took a half hour walk to Jinryo (along the river, kind of scenic), and got on the train. This again involved a ticket machine. You observe the map, find your destination (for which a price is displayed), put your monies in the machine, select the amount you want to be charged, and get your ticket. Then you put in this turnstile-like machine that punches a hole in it. Then, at the destination, you go out through one and it makes sure you haven't gone further than you've paid to go. We had to do this twice, because the JR rail lines, and the subway lines are managed by different companies/groups/whatever. So we make our way to the center of Nagoya, and stare at a map a few minutes to find the castle, discovering there was another subway exit just across the street from it. The castle was cool, but was apparently destroyed during WWII, and subsequently rebuilt. From the landscaping and the outside, though, you'd never know. I'm just gonna link to my flickr, because it was mainly an observational trip, and words aren't for much.
Hmm, that seems like a good stopping point for this post. Since the rest of what I did was mostly restaurants, I think I'll do a food post next.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
First post from Japan!
Wow. I've been in Japan for a week, and I have been too busy doing things to come on here and write about them. I shall try to start from the beginning.
The Visa
I waited too long to send for my visa. Then I sent it to the wrong embassy (NY), due to me putting my home address as my grandmother's where I'd be staying for the time. Luckily, my grandparents mailed it out to the correct embassy (Detroit) the day it came back (one week before takeoff). However there was a misunderstanding and it was sent without the required prepaid return envelope. So we mailed them another one (at $18 each). My very helpful stepdad, Brian, called the embassy and got them to rush it through processing. It returned Thursday.
The Earthquake
The M9.0 earthquake hit just offshore of Sendai, Miyagi-ken, Japan at about midnight, that night. Needless to say, everyone was worried. I watched coverage of it ALL weekend on TV, BBC, and even NHK. I emailed Chubu University and a friend and was reassured that the area was safe. Viewing Google's data about the earthquake also revealed that the Nagoya area was virtually unaffected. I also called the airlines Saturday night and found that flights were running through the slightly affected Narita airport in Tokyo. There was no reason to not go at this point.
The Flights
I hate flying. I hate this security theatre. It stresses me out like nothing else for some reason. So I wasn't looking forward to the actual trip itself. A total trip time of 22 hours, layovers longer than 2 of the 3 flights, and 14 hours on the plane in the middle. Wonderful. Economy class, no less. Yes, I was really looking forward to this day.
Well, it did kind of suck, but the longest flight was only about 12 hours, and seats had TVs in the back of them, so I put on Deathly Hallows I and fell asleep until about hour 5. Food. Bathroom. Reading. Bruce Willis movie. Food. Bathroom. Reading. Boredom and anticipation. Landing. Ok.
"Cool", I thought. "I'm in Japan."
Well, no. The flight was slightly late, so there were attendants waiting to rush us through to our connecting flights. I had to run to immigration, baggage claim, customs, bad directions, 3rd floor, good directions, 1st floor again, check in anew, security, boarding.
I hate airports.
That bus drove us out to the plane and we boarded it on the tarmac like in old movies (Casablanca?). The rest is quite uneventful. Reading.
I should add that customs and immigration were pretty quick. I had nothing to declare, so they didn't even check my bags. Just made a little smalltalk, and sent me on my way.
The Arrival
Well, I landed, followed the signs (lots of English here (also pictograms)), got my luggage, walked out of the terminal and saw a couple of girls and a teacher-looking person waiting for me with a sign. Said hi, exchanged introductions, went to sit down and wait for incoming South Korean students. I exchanged my pocket money for yen at this point. Once the other students arrived, we went to look for some food around the airport. It was a big and pretty place. The dining/shopping area was outside the security area, so we could actually use it. I got an expensive little salad to take home in case we didn't make it in time for dinner.
We went outside and got in a waiting van. Long drive. At least an hour. But the ride was quick and smooth and somewhat scenic. We drove through the heart of Nagoya. Despite being one of Japan's largest 5 cities, the building's there aren't really as tall as you'd think. The highways were mostly raised above the city streets, narrow and kind of walled in. Nevertheless, traffic moved smoothly and quickly. People actually drive better here, despite the stereotype. (And they should! I have been told the process of obtaining a license (training, testing, registering) costs about $3000.)
Well, they drove us right to the dorm, where I met the somewhat elderly couple who oversee the building, the Gotos, and some other international students, mostly Chinese. They had saved me a tray from dinner, so I heated everything up and ate some. (I'll do another post focused on food later.) I set up my computer, met the other WVU student here, and got someone to log me into the network so I could use the internet. I think I did a few things on facebook and went straight to bed.
It is 1am, so I am going to go to bed and will continue writing about day 1 tomorrow.
The Visa
I waited too long to send for my visa. Then I sent it to the wrong embassy (NY), due to me putting my home address as my grandmother's where I'd be staying for the time. Luckily, my grandparents mailed it out to the correct embassy (Detroit) the day it came back (one week before takeoff). However there was a misunderstanding and it was sent without the required prepaid return envelope. So we mailed them another one (at $18 each). My very helpful stepdad, Brian, called the embassy and got them to rush it through processing. It returned Thursday.
The Earthquake
The M9.0 earthquake hit just offshore of Sendai, Miyagi-ken, Japan at about midnight, that night. Needless to say, everyone was worried. I watched coverage of it ALL weekend on TV, BBC, and even NHK. I emailed Chubu University and a friend and was reassured that the area was safe. Viewing Google's data about the earthquake also revealed that the Nagoya area was virtually unaffected. I also called the airlines Saturday night and found that flights were running through the slightly affected Narita airport in Tokyo. There was no reason to not go at this point.
The Flights
I hate flying. I hate this security theatre. It stresses me out like nothing else for some reason. So I wasn't looking forward to the actual trip itself. A total trip time of 22 hours, layovers longer than 2 of the 3 flights, and 14 hours on the plane in the middle. Wonderful. Economy class, no less. Yes, I was really looking forward to this day.
Well, it did kind of suck, but the longest flight was only about 12 hours, and seats had TVs in the back of them, so I put on Deathly Hallows I and fell asleep until about hour 5. Food. Bathroom. Reading. Bruce Willis movie. Food. Bathroom. Reading. Boredom and anticipation. Landing. Ok.
"Cool", I thought. "I'm in Japan."
Well, no. The flight was slightly late, so there were attendants waiting to rush us through to our connecting flights. I had to run to immigration, baggage claim, customs, bad directions, 3rd floor, good directions, 1st floor again, check in anew, security, boarding.
I hate airports.
That bus drove us out to the plane and we boarded it on the tarmac like in old movies (Casablanca?). The rest is quite uneventful. Reading.
I should add that customs and immigration were pretty quick. I had nothing to declare, so they didn't even check my bags. Just made a little smalltalk, and sent me on my way.
The Arrival
Well, I landed, followed the signs (lots of English here (also pictograms)), got my luggage, walked out of the terminal and saw a couple of girls and a teacher-looking person waiting for me with a sign. Said hi, exchanged introductions, went to sit down and wait for incoming South Korean students. I exchanged my pocket money for yen at this point. Once the other students arrived, we went to look for some food around the airport. It was a big and pretty place. The dining/shopping area was outside the security area, so we could actually use it. I got an expensive little salad to take home in case we didn't make it in time for dinner.
We went outside and got in a waiting van. Long drive. At least an hour. But the ride was quick and smooth and somewhat scenic. We drove through the heart of Nagoya. Despite being one of Japan's largest 5 cities, the building's there aren't really as tall as you'd think. The highways were mostly raised above the city streets, narrow and kind of walled in. Nevertheless, traffic moved smoothly and quickly. People actually drive better here, despite the stereotype. (And they should! I have been told the process of obtaining a license (training, testing, registering) costs about $3000.)
Well, they drove us right to the dorm, where I met the somewhat elderly couple who oversee the building, the Gotos, and some other international students, mostly Chinese. They had saved me a tray from dinner, so I heated everything up and ate some. (I'll do another post focused on food later.) I set up my computer, met the other WVU student here, and got someone to log me into the network so I could use the internet. I think I did a few things on facebook and went straight to bed.
It is 1am, so I am going to go to bed and will continue writing about day 1 tomorrow.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Study Methods as of Late
In the last three weeks or so I feel like I've really improved my aptitude towards Japanese. I thought it might be worth mentioning how I've done that.
First, I've been translating manga. Manga is very good for learners. It's visual, so you can see the context of what you're reading. It's colloquial - i.e, it contains slang. Lot's of it. You'll learn the natural speech of the common world-saving teenager quite quickly.* Manga usually has furigana. This makes looking up words about a thousand times easier than without.
So what I've been doing is looking up every single word I don't know at jisho.org and crosschecking with Google translate and rikaichan (or rikaikun for chrome). Once I get the gist of the word and how it was used in the sentence, I'll write it down on graph paper using the new stroke order info on jisho.org. I'm using a brush pen, so I give myself 3x3 squares for kanji (marked out with a regular pen) and write the furigana and concise English definition above and below respectively with a regular, 0.5mm (extra fine) pen. I write grammar notes for small, functional words in the margins with an even smaller pen (which is especially suited to general kanji writing, btw). I'm still experimenting with the exact formatting and which pen is best, but the main point is to get it on the paper. If I write it down, I'm using it; I'm practicing it; I'm learning it.
So how do I know I'm making progress if I'm just only ever writing new words? Well, the more common or topical words get used more often, which reinforces them, but mainly I gauge my progress by watching anime and seeing how well I can pick out words or understand sentences or the structure of a sentence or the flow of speech or anything like that. I see how well the language is ingrained into my head. I see how well I can listen, and even how well I can speak, or even just make the right tone of voice or sound if I don't have the right word I want on hand. I think in Japanese. Everything I can. Have a thought? Try to have it in Japanese. Don't have the words you want? Look it up.
The manga and the anime, they will compliment each other. Each reinforcing things you learned from the other. Now, this is slow going at first, but keep at it and it can be really rewarding. I feel like I've had the biggest burst of progress since starting this. I've slowed down a bit on the manga and picked up on the anime (anime is easier, DUH!), but I've committed myself to filling just one page of graph paper a day. When I'm done, I don't always want to stop.
One more thing. Grammar is a bitch. The best I can say is to not worry about it too much. Yes, there will be sentences you just don't understand because there's some odd little word in there that's not in dictionaries or the verb is conjugated weird and you can't find what that means. You should let it go, but I never did (hehe). So what did I do? Google translate has actually filled this gap pretty well. Don't trust it completely, but if it makes the sentence make sense, go with it. Before they improved their whateveritis that makes Google translate work, I would just use regular Google. Something like "rareru japanese". And this seems to be the step that most people never seem to realize is there. Just google it. I don't know why this is such a hard step for people. Come on! The search bar's right there. Sometimes closer! Look at it. That's the collective knowledge of humanity at your fingertips. Use it!
Well, aside from studying, watching anime, and building a blanket fort in our kitchen, I just finished work today. It's amazing to think that I've worked at Summit Cafe for more than a year, and I was sad to say goodbye to everyone.
I'm also adding AJATT.com to the resource links. While not the top page, it's what I was linked to. Just pick through what seems interesting and try to get the gist of what he's saying. Really good stuff. Different method from Benny, but same attitude. Heck, I can't believe I never added his site, Fluentin3Months.com! Up it goes!
* Be careful of what sort of character you emulate. Japanese is very gender specific. If you're a rather manly man at heart, you don't want to be speaking like a moe schoolgirl, and vice-versa. Even then, don't take it too seriously until you see what real people are saying. Know what's rude and what's polite.
First, I've been translating manga. Manga is very good for learners. It's visual, so you can see the context of what you're reading. It's colloquial - i.e, it contains slang. Lot's of it. You'll learn the natural speech of the common world-saving teenager quite quickly.* Manga usually has furigana. This makes looking up words about a thousand times easier than without.
So what I've been doing is looking up every single word I don't know at jisho.org and crosschecking with Google translate and rikaichan (or rikaikun for chrome). Once I get the gist of the word and how it was used in the sentence, I'll write it down on graph paper using the new stroke order info on jisho.org. I'm using a brush pen, so I give myself 3x3 squares for kanji (marked out with a regular pen) and write the furigana and concise English definition above and below respectively with a regular, 0.5mm (extra fine) pen. I write grammar notes for small, functional words in the margins with an even smaller pen (which is especially suited to general kanji writing, btw). I'm still experimenting with the exact formatting and which pen is best, but the main point is to get it on the paper. If I write it down, I'm using it; I'm practicing it; I'm learning it.
So how do I know I'm making progress if I'm just only ever writing new words? Well, the more common or topical words get used more often, which reinforces them, but mainly I gauge my progress by watching anime and seeing how well I can pick out words or understand sentences or the structure of a sentence or the flow of speech or anything like that. I see how well the language is ingrained into my head. I see how well I can listen, and even how well I can speak, or even just make the right tone of voice or sound if I don't have the right word I want on hand. I think in Japanese. Everything I can. Have a thought? Try to have it in Japanese. Don't have the words you want? Look it up.
The manga and the anime, they will compliment each other. Each reinforcing things you learned from the other. Now, this is slow going at first, but keep at it and it can be really rewarding. I feel like I've had the biggest burst of progress since starting this. I've slowed down a bit on the manga and picked up on the anime (anime is easier, DUH!), but I've committed myself to filling just one page of graph paper a day. When I'm done, I don't always want to stop.
One more thing. Grammar is a bitch. The best I can say is to not worry about it too much. Yes, there will be sentences you just don't understand because there's some odd little word in there that's not in dictionaries or the verb is conjugated weird and you can't find what that means. You should let it go, but I never did (hehe). So what did I do? Google translate has actually filled this gap pretty well. Don't trust it completely, but if it makes the sentence make sense, go with it. Before they improved their whateveritis that makes Google translate work, I would just use regular Google. Something like "rareru japanese". And this seems to be the step that most people never seem to realize is there. Just google it. I don't know why this is such a hard step for people. Come on! The search bar's right there. Sometimes closer! Look at it. That's the collective knowledge of humanity at your fingertips. Use it!
Well, aside from studying, watching anime, and building a blanket fort in our kitchen, I just finished work today. It's amazing to think that I've worked at Summit Cafe for more than a year, and I was sad to say goodbye to everyone.
I'm also adding AJATT.com to the resource links. While not the top page, it's what I was linked to. Just pick through what seems interesting and try to get the gist of what he's saying. Really good stuff. Different method from Benny, but same attitude. Heck, I can't believe I never added his site, Fluentin3Months.com! Up it goes!
* Be careful of what sort of character you emulate. Japanese is very gender specific. If you're a rather manly man at heart, you don't want to be speaking like a moe schoolgirl, and vice-versa. Even then, don't take it too seriously until you see what real people are saying. Know what's rude and what's polite.
Monday, February 7, 2011
WVU Study Abroad Process
So. In five weeks, I'll be on a plane headed for Japan. At least I hope. I've never received any paperwork at any point during this process that said, "Congratulations, you're accepted!" or anything like that. They have a Certificate of Enrollment that they're mailing so I can get my visa, and they want me to arrive at a certain date, so I guess I'm accepted, but the idea that they could still somehow just say no and I've wasted an entire semester thinking I was in... It makes me nervous and a little angry. If this doesn't work out, I'll explode like an atom bomb on everyone who dropped the ball and convinced me to risk this on something that wasn't as certain as I was told... OIP has problems. Students need more feedback. Not to mention other students getting important forms months late after initially having no legitimate paperwork available to them as I've heard has happened...
At least it all seems to be working out. 中部大学へゆこう！
Also, I've been looking at maps of the area and formulating a zombie invasion escape route. There is some nearby farmland which connects to a large forest/mountainous region within 2km. Could make it there and be relatively safe. Getting the girlfriend from 金城学院 down the highway, however is another story...
At least it all seems to be working out. 中部大学へゆこう！
Also, I've been looking at maps of the area and formulating a zombie invasion escape route. There is some nearby farmland which connects to a large forest/mountainous region within 2km. Could make it there and be relatively safe. Getting the girlfriend from 金城学院 down the highway, however is another story...
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