February 2

Sorry, there will be no post for Sunday. Nothing happened. I’ll allude to it if it makes you feel better.

It wasn’t very eventful today. Okaasan made eggs with broccoli in them for me. They were really good! Last night, she said that she and otousan would be going to musuko’s house to help his family move to their new house (which was designed by their other architect musuko). I would have offered to help, but I knew I had class today until 5:30 (which turned out to be only 5:00, but still very late). Okaasan was really worried about me eating dinner and she offered to give me money to eat at a restaurant (since I don’t really know where all the cooking materials are in the house) and I reassured her I could do it all myself, that she didn’t need to give me money and I would be alright. However, we decided that I would eat at home since there was a lot of left over food from Sunday, so she made a point of showing me how to use the portable griddle.

On the chikatetsu ride to class, I saw the guy with the awesome jacket again. I really want a jacket like that! For a refresher; it’s a black leather jacket with four zipper pockets, zippers at the cuffs, and rabbit fur and buckles at the collar. I’ll probably go to Jusco again tomorrow after class (since I’m out early) to look for something similar.

In Japanese class, we had a vocabulary test (again) and I messed up a bit, but I hope my average comes out alright. I’m kind of on the fence as to whether I want my credits to transfer as grades or simply credits, because I’m thinking I’ll get a solid B in my (eight-credit) Japanese course, and I don’t want to mess up my GPA. On the other hand, I do have that Japanese minor, which might be degraded if I have a credit-only course like this (which might make grad school admission officers or others wrongly conclude that I got a C in the course).

I got some of the information on the students going to Tokyo for the big break (from the 6th to the 15th). Apparently, it’s not through IES. It’s just a bunch of students (coincidentally from IES) who want to go to Tokyo. They’re talking about staying in a youth hostel (since it’s cheapest), but I heard the Holiday Inn is cheap if you book doubles (and they give you breakfast), so I’ll try to pitch that idea to everyone (since food will probably be expensive in Tokyo anyway, and the extra cost of the hotel may counterbalance that, if not only give us private showers and somewhere safe to store our bags D:). I’ve been told tomorrow is the day to get more info.

At lunch, I went to the Valor panya with Matt. I got a “salad roll” (which had potato salad with peas and egg in it) and two chocolate pastries. They were delicious, of course. I hope all the walking I do everyday will counter my eating habits. On the way back to nanzan (to eat lunch) we came up the 25% grade hill and a car was passing. It seemed like the driver slowed down when they passed us just to look at the gaijin. It was kind of entertaining on our part.

There is a bunch of construction (that doesn’t seem to be doing anything) around Valor’s (and the 25% grade hill). If anything, they’re widening the road by a foot. When I was walking up another steep hill to class in the morning, the construction drill was being brought up the hill by a truck. It was kind of scary, to be honest.

After lunch, I had shoudo and history class. Neither was very eventful, but history class is really teaching me about the Japanese mentality, if nothing else. I guess I’m not cut out to live (or work long-term) in Japan. The Japanese are very concerned with who they are and who does not belong. According to Miura sensei, the Japanese people was set as an ethnic group in 700AD, after which, the idea of gaijin became very distinct. Even those who are native Japanese (for many generations), but of Korean descent (yes, I understand that Japan does not especially like Korea in particular) are considered outsiders. As much as I am intrigued by Japanese innovation, I don’t think it’s worth the hassle (or quiet gnawing) of constantly being considered to not belong. There are many Japanese students who I have met that do not seem to harbor these in/out group feelings (and who I am very happy to befriend), but the country as a whole still seems to emit a different feeling. To be honest, if Japan was something I wanted badly enough to be a part of, I could get over this aspect of the culture, but more than Japan, I value the ability to feel un-isolated in my life.

When I got home, okaasan and otousan were still away helping musuko no kazoku. I waited until 7:15 (15 minutes after we usually sit down to eat, yes Andrew, every day at 7:00) but they didn’t come home, so I called Okaasan. She was very motherly and told me to eat, be warm, and not to get lonely. Sugokushinsetsudesune! I had delicous left overs of boiled potato, carrot, tofu, squid, and fish cake as well as rice, some kind of greens, and miso. She gave me another sweet bean paste cake (which I’m finding I love somehow) for dessert. By the way, the bean cake she gave me last night looked like the face of a happy girl. It was for setsubun and otousan got the one with the oni face. I felt kind of bad for eating mine since it was so cute.

When okaasan came home, she apologized again for leaving me alone at home, but I reassured her that I was fine and dinner was delicious. She made green tea for us and I still don’t know how to repay my host family for their kindness!!!

Rant time:

The other ryuugakusei (that I associate with most) are kind of bumming me out. I want to go exploring, shopping, and photo-taking, but they seem to punk out a lot. Maybe it’s that most of them are a year or two (sometimes a lot more) older than me, but they don’t seem considerably thrilled to be in Japan. A lot of them are are from the same school, so they stick together and/or discuss the people from their school, go drinking, and do other things that, quite frankly, are easily done in the States. They don’t want to be silly (unless you consider getting totally toasted) or spontaneous. I think they take themselves too seriously, and having gone to Japan before may add to their lack of thrill. Darn you private school kids with money, your easy oppertunities have made you boring company. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to buy some new shoes (so my feet don’t hurt) and go exploring by myself (again).