Wednesday, 12 October
A lot has happened, and I've just been too tired to blog it.
Wednesday was the Second Big Test. I think it went alright. There were some kanji I wasn't sure about, because I thought they were "reading only" kanji, but they were in the "writing" section of the test. So that threw me off. I did my best and got close on a couple, but no cigar. I wrote a fabulously long (for my Japanese) composition about the Taj Mahal. Composition-writing scares me when I think about it, but actually on this and the previous test, it actually came pretty easy for me. Maybe my Japanese is improving more than I thought; maybe I *will* be able to write those essays for the Foundation in Japanese! *hopeful* (Actually, when blogging or emailing, I often instinctively want to include Japanese expressions, but then I realize "my readers" probably wouldn't understand...) After the written part of the test, I had a little break before my interview/role-play test, so I went to the Ministop (convenience store) and paid off my gas and electricity bills. (Pretty cool idea to be able to pay at a convenience store. I take them my bill that has 3 different barcodes on it, they scan it, I pay, and we're done.) I then went back to school for the last part of the test (they go in order of ID number, so I'm always second-to-last). It went pretty well, I think! Studying the roleplays in the back of the book the night before definitely helped. I think even Sensei was surprised! And I was *so* happy to be done that I practically ran-danced out of her office. I hope I didn't seem rude. *blush* From there, I walked way way way down "the big street" (streets generally don't have names here, so I don't really know how to explain it except that it's the big divided highway-type street with all the big businesses on it) to "Donki" (short for Don Quixote... don't ask, I don't know). It was my first time at Donki though I'd heard lots about it... and yet, despite all the stories and descriptions, *nothing* prepared me for what it was actually like.
Donki is this smallish warehouse-type space with signs and stacks of all kinds of stuff sitting right out front... which is just a hint of what's inside. It's *overwhelming.* Piles and piles of *junk* in no particular order, brightly coloured signs and displays, several varieties of music playing all at once... Oh my god. Sensory overload. So easy to get lost. I finally found the sign for "jitensha" (bicycle) after asking someone, which led to a little outdoor lot with (you guessed it) bikes. Some of 'em were ~16000JPY, but I definitely didn't want to spend that much. I was kind of worried because Tad had just bought his bike there for about 12000JPY, which is what Phil/Chris/Stu had paid at Itouyokaado, even though I'd been told you could find cheaper bikes at Donki. I didn't want to pay as much as they had. Luckily there was a row of bikes all in the 8000JPY range, and some of them even had "backseats," a flat rack behind the seat where you can tie packages or carry a second passenger (dangerous, I'm sure, but everyone does it). The colour options were silver, baby blue, and (one) pink. Obviously, I took a silver one with a backseat (of the English blokes, only Chris's has a backseat). Not so maneuverable or stylish, heavy, and I'm way-out-of-practice, but Wow! What a difference a bike makes! From Donki I went straight to Seifu and did the grocery shopping I'd been putting off for a couple days. The trip back home was inifinitely improved. I'm glad I finally got one, especially since I'm considering staying in Osawa all two years (everyone commutes, so I figure it's no big deal, even if I transfer to ToDai), and it will really come in handy. It's weird though, the seat is a *little* too high, such that when sitting but stopped at a light, I can't put my feet flat on the ground. But when I'm riding, the seat seems way too low, in that my pedaling feet and knees feel cramped too close to my body. *shrugs* I'll get used to it I suppose. Otherwise the bikes here are awesome: a built-in lock with key, bell, basket, backseat (in some cases), kickstand with lock, kinetically powered headlight... India's over-crowded, polluted streets could take a cue from Japan.
After eating lunch at home (hand-made onigiri from Seifu, 100JPY each, and the best onigiri I've had yet), I headed back to school. Sensei spent half an hour explaining the new book and class format to us (we've just finished the equivalent of J3, and are now starting J4 with a new textbook - twice as many kanji each lesson, twice as many grammar points... oi). We then headed to the Taizan-so as a group. It's this compound of 100-some year-old buildings right in the middle of campus. We'd expected to take an English tour, but there were so many of us that they split us into two groups, and I took the Japanese tour... actually, we were all so exhausted from the test that no one wanted to do the Japanese tour, but oh well. I didn't understand everything our guide said, but it was interesting nonetheless... the buildings built in the traditional style, with sliding doors that open to include the grounds, really really beautiful, really low ceilings. Stepping onto the grounds was itself weird. Didn't feel like campus anymore, even the vegetation seemed more exotic.
After the tour, we sat in the main building chatting and drinking tea and eating rice cakes and biscuits (cookies). Then I headed home with Phil-kun and Stu. We sat on Phil-kun's mattress and watched Naruto together. Though they were on episode 50-something, and I had never seen Naruto before, I wanted to do *something* since the test was over, so I thought I'd give it a try. Well, we ended up watching 21 episodes. Yes, 21. Each one is probably about 20-25 minutes. You do the math, I don't want to think about it.
Naruto is this shonen (made for young boys) anime about a bumbling, loud, idiot of a kid named Naruto (whose body also happens to be the prison for the spirit of the Nine-tail Fox demon) training as a Ninja in order to become the best in his country. Obviously its focus is the fighting and spectacle (and occasional crude humour), so entire episodes are used solely for building up to a fight... and a fight itself (particularly if it involves Naruto) can take three episodes to complete. There's also lots of "Work hard and you can do it!" lessons thrown in, and an obnoxious amount of "girls are useless" rhetoric, backed up by female characters WHO ARE USELESS. It was really *really* frustrating, and certain episodes were clearly more shoddily-made than others, but we just couldn't stop watching because so *little* happens in a single episode that you have to keep going to feel like you've seen anything!
And now I should get ready for class...
Wednesday was the Second Big Test. I think it went alright. There were some kanji I wasn't sure about, because I thought they were "reading only" kanji, but they were in the "writing" section of the test. So that threw me off. I did my best and got close on a couple, but no cigar. I wrote a fabulously long (for my Japanese) composition about the Taj Mahal. Composition-writing scares me when I think about it, but actually on this and the previous test, it actually came pretty easy for me. Maybe my Japanese is improving more than I thought; maybe I *will* be able to write those essays for the Foundation in Japanese! *hopeful* (Actually, when blogging or emailing, I often instinctively want to include Japanese expressions, but then I realize "my readers" probably wouldn't understand...) After the written part of the test, I had a little break before my interview/role-play test, so I went to the Ministop (convenience store) and paid off my gas and electricity bills. (Pretty cool idea to be able to pay at a convenience store. I take them my bill that has 3 different barcodes on it, they scan it, I pay, and we're done.) I then went back to school for the last part of the test (they go in order of ID number, so I'm always second-to-last). It went pretty well, I think! Studying the roleplays in the back of the book the night before definitely helped. I think even Sensei was surprised! And I was *so* happy to be done that I practically ran-danced out of her office. I hope I didn't seem rude. *blush* From there, I walked way way way down "the big street" (streets generally don't have names here, so I don't really know how to explain it except that it's the big divided highway-type street with all the big businesses on it) to "Donki" (short for Don Quixote... don't ask, I don't know). It was my first time at Donki though I'd heard lots about it... and yet, despite all the stories and descriptions, *nothing* prepared me for what it was actually like.
Donki is this smallish warehouse-type space with signs and stacks of all kinds of stuff sitting right out front... which is just a hint of what's inside. It's *overwhelming.* Piles and piles of *junk* in no particular order, brightly coloured signs and displays, several varieties of music playing all at once... Oh my god. Sensory overload. So easy to get lost. I finally found the sign for "jitensha" (bicycle) after asking someone, which led to a little outdoor lot with (you guessed it) bikes. Some of 'em were ~16000JPY, but I definitely didn't want to spend that much. I was kind of worried because Tad had just bought his bike there for about 12000JPY, which is what Phil/Chris/Stu had paid at Itouyokaado, even though I'd been told you could find cheaper bikes at Donki. I didn't want to pay as much as they had. Luckily there was a row of bikes all in the 8000JPY range, and some of them even had "backseats," a flat rack behind the seat where you can tie packages or carry a second passenger (dangerous, I'm sure, but everyone does it). The colour options were silver, baby blue, and (one) pink. Obviously, I took a silver one with a backseat (of the English blokes, only Chris's has a backseat). Not so maneuverable or stylish, heavy, and I'm way-out-of-practice, but Wow! What a difference a bike makes! From Donki I went straight to Seifu and did the grocery shopping I'd been putting off for a couple days. The trip back home was inifinitely improved. I'm glad I finally got one, especially since I'm considering staying in Osawa all two years (everyone commutes, so I figure it's no big deal, even if I transfer to ToDai), and it will really come in handy. It's weird though, the seat is a *little* too high, such that when sitting but stopped at a light, I can't put my feet flat on the ground. But when I'm riding, the seat seems way too low, in that my pedaling feet and knees feel cramped too close to my body. *shrugs* I'll get used to it I suppose. Otherwise the bikes here are awesome: a built-in lock with key, bell, basket, backseat (in some cases), kickstand with lock, kinetically powered headlight... India's over-crowded, polluted streets could take a cue from Japan.
After eating lunch at home (hand-made onigiri from Seifu, 100JPY each, and the best onigiri I've had yet), I headed back to school. Sensei spent half an hour explaining the new book and class format to us (we've just finished the equivalent of J3, and are now starting J4 with a new textbook - twice as many kanji each lesson, twice as many grammar points... oi). We then headed to the Taizan-so as a group. It's this compound of 100-some year-old buildings right in the middle of campus. We'd expected to take an English tour, but there were so many of us that they split us into two groups, and I took the Japanese tour... actually, we were all so exhausted from the test that no one wanted to do the Japanese tour, but oh well. I didn't understand everything our guide said, but it was interesting nonetheless... the buildings built in the traditional style, with sliding doors that open to include the grounds, really really beautiful, really low ceilings. Stepping onto the grounds was itself weird. Didn't feel like campus anymore, even the vegetation seemed more exotic.
After the tour, we sat in the main building chatting and drinking tea and eating rice cakes and biscuits (cookies). Then I headed home with Phil-kun and Stu. We sat on Phil-kun's mattress and watched Naruto together. Though they were on episode 50-something, and I had never seen Naruto before, I wanted to do *something* since the test was over, so I thought I'd give it a try. Well, we ended up watching 21 episodes. Yes, 21. Each one is probably about 20-25 minutes. You do the math, I don't want to think about it.
Naruto is this shonen (made for young boys) anime about a bumbling, loud, idiot of a kid named Naruto (whose body also happens to be the prison for the spirit of the Nine-tail Fox demon) training as a Ninja in order to become the best in his country. Obviously its focus is the fighting and spectacle (and occasional crude humour), so entire episodes are used solely for building up to a fight... and a fight itself (particularly if it involves Naruto) can take three episodes to complete. There's also lots of "Work hard and you can do it!" lessons thrown in, and an obnoxious amount of "girls are useless" rhetoric, backed up by female characters WHO ARE USELESS. It was really *really* frustrating, and certain episodes were clearly more shoddily-made than others, but we just couldn't stop watching because so *little* happens in a single episode that you have to keep going to feel like you've seen anything!
And now I should get ready for class...
posted by Bibhatsu at 19:20
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