I think I dreamed in Japanese last night!
Well, I don't remember too much, only the bits that happened right before I woke up. But the dream was me traveling or something, like after IUC lets out. And I was in some kind of cafe, or maybe a ryokan where I was staying, or something like that--and I was talking to the people who owned it, and speaking Japanese to them, cause of course it being Japan, they were Japanese.
...so it wasn't like a random dream where I just happened to be speaking Japanese for no reason, I was speaking Japanese cause it was me, in Japan, talking to Japanese people.
Does that still count? I dunno. But at any rate, when I woke up, it was a really weird feeling--like "...hey wait a minute... that was japanese!"
so yay me!
b(^>^)d
who, me?
- ☆sarita☆
- From a former North Carolinian and recovering Yalie: Currently living and working in the big city of Tokyo, while furthering an ever-growing obsession with Japanese pop-culture.
soooooo tired!
so, it wasn't even a real week (had monday off) but i'm still pretty tired. it's tough getting back into the swing of classes and things after being on break for so long (i say "so long," but it flew by)
like i said in the last post, it seems like this term is going to be a pretty heavy workload, but i am also really excited about all my classes. i have to get back into the whole college-like "not having the same classes every day" mindset, tho. lol. it's actually kind of hard, after having the same schedule every day, for so long. and since we didn't have a full week, i still haven't quite got a handle on the scheduling, and how i should pace myself. which probably explains part of why i'm so tired. anyway, here's for some particulars on the classes!
IJ
the standard grammar class like we were having every morning before. we're even using a continuation of the textbook from before, so there's not much to report there. though it's nice to be back in Ari-sensei's class again. i keep getting flashbacks to first term, which is kind of nice b/c then it reminds me how far i've come since then.
Bungaku (Literature)
a lot of work! and it's headed up by Otake-sensei (my first time having her) who has the reputation for being one of the strictest sensei at IUC, so that had me a little worried. but she seems nice, at least. we're going to be reading a variety of short stories by different japanese authors, along with some kind of criticism/scholarly article about each story/author we cover. this week was Endo Shusaku's "Kageboshi." i liked the story and Shusaku's writing style a lot, and language-wise, i had a much easier time with it than i was afraid i would. but i'm still a pretty slow reader when it comes to Japanese, and at 30+ pp, this one took a *long* time. i started it over break, then on Wed afternoon went over to tully's to read the second half or so. ......3 hours later i finally finished it. when i was done, i still had taishyu bunka reading to do for the next day, and i tried to start that, but it was just absolutely useless. after 3 hours of nonstop shusaku, my brain had turned into complete mush. i started at the page for a while, trying to decide if those little symbols swimming around were actually words or not, then packed it in and went home, where i proceeded to be utterly useless for the rest of the day. so i think the moral there is that i'm gonna have to pace myself a little better.
Taishyu Bunka (Pop Culture)
FUN!! i'm super excited about this class. right now we're doing a unit on CM (that's japanese for "commercials." i'm serious) and that's really neat. we get to watch videos like "2007 CM, Best 10" and then talk about what they were CM for, what we thought was interesting about the way each product was portrayed, things like that. the next unit is manga, and then there'll be a unit on movies--we get to watch Spirited Away, Shall We Dance, Battle Royale...i'm really excited about that. and the readings should be really interesting too. though, as in bungaku, it definitely seems like this term they're upping the level of the articles and things we're given to read. it's much more the kind of journal articles and things like what i would use for a Yale paper, but in japanese.
Business Nihongo
Ari-sensei again! only have this class once a week, on friday mornings. they split us up into 2 sections--i'm in the "not particularly interested in business/econ" group.^^ which means that the class will mostly focus on keigo (polite japanese) and the kinds of conversations you'd encounter working in a japanese company. like, this morning we went over the 自己紹介, the self-introduction that you have to do on your first day, as well as the 1-minute 自己PR spiel, which is something that gets asked a lot in job interviews in japan--basically "tell us in 1 minute why we should hire you" kind of thing. so that's really great, especially since i plan to start looking for jobs in japan for after IUC (something else i need to do...)
i guess that's it for now. i'm going to go bum around for a bit and then head to bed i think.
new video! (sorry, didn't realize the other one had gone away. like i said, sometimes they get taken off of youtube)
Alice Nine, "Ruri no Ame" (Sapphire Rain)
i'm only halfway into this group, musically-speaking. the lead singer has a really distinct voice, which...i have to decide if i really love or not. but i think this is an absolutely *gorgeous* video, which is why i'm posting it ^_^
so, i know it's only just been the first day of classes, but i'm beginning to suspect that whole spiel they fed us about "2nd term is the hardest, 3rd term will be much easier" was nothing more than a clever ruse to fool us into がんばって-ing and making it through those last few weeks before break.
Lies!
...I better go finish my homework now.
以上！
ただいま～！
OK, so I am officially back in Yokohama. Got in yesterday, at about 3pm. Of course, that's when I landed. By the time I got back to my apartment, it was more like 7. But, what can you do. I was super tired when I got in, and the thought of having to drag my enormous suitcases through Yokohama station--again--was really just too horrible to contemplate (Japanese train stations all have way more stairs than they have any right to--and almost no escalators, forget about elevators--and Yokohama station is so enormous, no matter how many times I go there, I always get lost. it's like a rule). So, given all of that, I decided to suck up the $30 and send my bags by takyubin--which is the most amazing delivery service, and pretty cheap too--considering I was sending 2 huge suitcases, and I got them less than 24 hours later.
Oh! and I randomly ran into Marshall in the airport, so that was fun. he was just getting in, too. we chatted a bit and were on the same Narita express to Yokohama.
Not much else to report, besides jetlag, so this won't be a really interesting entry.
also, changing the video, finally--due to my lack of updates while i was home, the An Cafe video got left up for 2 weeks. oh well. besides, any video with bunny ears and whipped-cream fights is *worth* an extra week. in my opinion.
new video is:
Yui, "My Generation."
in honor of my mom, who asked me if there were any female singers in Japan, "because your music is all guys."
(>_<)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
well, a little late.
sorry if it's been a bit boring on here of late, I've been enjoying my relaxing time at home, and also trying to get over my jet lag (mostly successful on that score, altho I'm still on this whole "bed at 10, up at 8" thing that's very new and weird to me. not sure how i feel about it).
got a new laptop for christmas!!!!! santa loves me! ^_^
anyway, i don't really have much to report, since i'm not in japan at the moment, but as it's friday, i thought i'd go ahead and update the video of the week anyway--also since the T&T vid seems to have suffered an unscheduled disappearance (something about copyright...lol. anyway, it got removed from youtube. so.)
new video:
Antic Cafe, "Ryuusei Rocket"
HILARIOUS!
I go home for Christmas on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, now that's out of my system...
Lol.
But this will probably be my last post before I go home. I'm going in to Shibuya tonight to meet Rebecca's' friend from UNC, who's in Tokyo doing research. So we're going to have dinner somewhere around there, and that should be a lot of fun.
Then, tomorrow, bright and early, I have to haul ass over to the budokan for the 月例会 monthly kyudo tournament. Since it's a morning one, it will probably last all day--I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get home until around 5pm?
Then, I'm most likely meeting Molly, Misa, and perhaps some others for an okonomiyaki dinner, and then potentially another trip to Thrash Zone?
Oh, right! I forgot! So last night (Thursday), in honor of being done with class and all the tests, I went out with Jason, Molly, Katie, Felicia, and Tim to this place Molly found near Yokohama eki called "Thrash Zone."
Molly wanted to go there because, according to the description online, it was a "thrash metal bar" with a "cozy atmosphere," wood paneling, and a plant in the corner.
.... and that appealed to her sense of humor.
It's also a microbrew place, which is fairly rare in Japan, so we were looking forward to getting the chance to try some truly yummy beers, as well. And we were not disappointed, in any respect.
Thrash Zone turned out to be this absolutely tiny place on the 2nd floor of a rundown building. It was certainly cozy though, and apart from lots of Iron Maiden-esque record covers decorating the walls and Ozzy playing (very quietly and politely) in the background, it wasn't terribly "thrashy." The place was also mostly salaryman-types--including this one 社長 who had lived in Boston and was very excited about speaking English with us. Felicia got stuck talking to him (sorry!) but Molly, Jason, and I ended up down at the other end of the bar and had a really interesting conversation with these two thirtysomething guys who seemed to be somewhat regulars. They were really nice, though, and didn't make any attempts to speak English with us, so it was good practice.
So anyway, it's been a busy several days, and will continue to be so, right up until I leave, I feel. But I'll try to post again a couple of times when I get home--though it will be break, so don't expect much.
One last thing:
this week's video!
Takky & Tsubasa, "Samurai"
not exactly "traditional" in that sense, but...
Lol.
feel the love. i know you do.
Karaoke!
Sunday afternoon Jason, Misa, Marshall and I got together again with the kids from HamaDai to go to karaoke and dinner. Molly was sposed to come too, but she got sick. :-(
We got to see Ai and Naoko again, as well as Jacky (the Chinese exchange student who was also one of our guides at the festival)--although Yan couldn't make it this time, which was kind of sad.
But we had a lot of fun! I even attempted a couple of Japanese songs--to varying degrees of success, lol. Although I do think I managed the Monpachi song relatively well. (I've certainly sung along to the CD in my room enough times.)
Here's a picture! (which for some reason didn't turn out all that great...oh, well). 
L-R is : Ai, Misa, Jacky, Naoko, Jacky's cousin (didn't speak English or Japanese, just Chinese), Marshall, and Jason.
After karaoke, we went out to dinner (minus Jacky and his cousin) at a yakiniku (literally "grilled meat") place near the station. YUM! They bring little grill-things over to each table, you order whatever kind of (raw) meat/veggies you want, and then cook it yourself at the table. In addition to being delicious, it's also a lot of fun!
Here's a photo I took of Naoko, Misa (middle), and Ai. Everyone is, of course, doing the obligatory two-fingers thing (I'm not sure if they call it a peace sign here, I don't think it has that association)--can't take a photo in Japan without one. 