Good day

Today, I was actually attentive for all of class. In order to save money after my commuter's pass expired, I decided to at least try to ride my bike to school.

I live at 36 north, 7 east. My school's at 7 south, 26 west. Sapporo is basically set up on a Cartesian coordinate and Sapporo really is flat, so no crazy math needed. The only problem is that I can't take the hypotenuse to get to school. The exercise and especially hot day, 33 C, helped get me get my "juices running" (as my dad sometimes says) and I only felt slightly sleepy during the first session with Denpo Sensei whose quiet nervous laughter usually puts me and the rest of the class to sleep. (but actually she is a good teacher. She answers my questions before I even get to ask, which accounts for the awkward laughter because the class is quiet. A vicious cycle.)

In the second 2 hour session, only me and another person were left in a class of 11 students. The other 8 went to a sumo tournament and one (the Princeton kid) skipped the second class to do laundry and go to the beach. Suffice to say, I was nervous having really one on one teaching. What if the Sensei finds out that I'm not fit to be in the class?

Luckily, I prepared the night before and wrote all the readings and translations for the kanji I didn't know so I had a faint idea of what the passage was about. Also, the second teacher, who was new, was very good and extremely nice. I felt like I learned a lot. She used the Socratic method to teach by asking us to summarize each paragraph orally, in which oral practice is surprisingly rare in upper levels.

After class, a couple of the JET program teachers studying here for the summer session and I went to an Italian restaurant to eat pork curry. The woman was very motherly and very excited to speak English and was shocked when I told her about Las Vegas. I told her to that she should go now when the hotels are cheap because the economy isn't so good. Then she talked about Bush and the upcoming election. She really wanted me to come back to eat Italian food, they were out of the daily special so that's why we opted for the curry.

During the meal, I found out that one teacher taught on the border of Thailand and Burma teaching English for 3 years. Surprisingly, during the meal all of the teachers were focused on me and kept asking about Vegas, Mom and Apa, and my host family. All the attention felt strange, almost performance-like. Also, the teachers were extremely nice. Almost to the point that it didn't genuine, as if they were trying hard to be likeable. But I don't think that was the case; maybe the majority of teachers tend to be that nice and similarly natured.

In any case, we parted ways and I made my trek home. I took my time since I didn't have any major plans, so on a whim I biked around Odori for sports shop to buy DJ some Misanga or Phiten bracelets. I went to about 3 or 4 of them that were on the way home but none of them sold the Misanga and Phiten is about $20. They have a Cubbie's Phiten bracelet. Do you want that DJ? Sorry brother, I'll try to buy it in Tokyo/Kyoto/Nara.

Even though my efforts were fruitless, I felt like I accomplished something. I was able to talk to the cashiers without feeling nervous or embarrassed. Maybe because I knew the thing I was looking for wasn't for me so I couldn't give in and not ask. It was the first time I didn't feel nervous and I understood what the workers said.

The last shop I went into, was mistakenly a small badminton and tennis only shop. I thought it was worth a shot. Once I asked the Apa-aged man stringing a badminton racket, he immediately asked me where I was from. His English was surprisingly good, and mixed Japanese and English together. I got lost on the way home. Took a nap.

and then there was tempura for dinner.

A good, but hot, day.

Oh yeah, I just killed a mosquito in my room. Awesome. Night y'all.

Commisioned?

It's exactly a week before I leave Sapporo and head down south for my week long excursion in Kyoto and Nara. I can't believe how fast time has passed; BUT at the same time it feels like I've been here forever. I've grown used to life here in Japan and even felt the weekday grind. How can you not when everyday you see tired salarymen (sometimes reeking of a morning scotch and soda) and students drag themselves to the subway, catching Z's while hanging onto subway rings or almost resting their head on the stranger's shoulder next to them. Once, I saw three high school guys sleeping on each other, the middle guy with heads on both his shoulders. He even woke them both up when it was near their stop. (Ps. it was the middle of the day, back when I had afternoon classes.) They looked like brothers.

Though I still don't know everything my host family and the McDonald's workers say to me, (I can understand about 80-85%) I feel like I've improved tremendously in every way of learning Japanese. Reading kanji, (though my memory of how to write it sucks) speaking, listening, using new grammar, pronunciation, accent, asking questions in Japanese, my timing of response? Apparently that's what my host mom says that has improved a lot.. listening and how quickly I respond. I attribute my improvement largely to the homestay.

When I first came, I would have to ask her to repeat whatever she said slowly, (one crucial phrase I learned how to say while on the plane coming here) process it, then translate my English response into Japanese. Now, I can pretty much think, for the most part, in Japanese. Though it takes me a while to warm up to it, and I get a lot better if I drink.

This past weekend, I started making reservations for my trip. A little late, I know. I kind of hit a small slump: not wanting to write, take pictures, or have any connection to where I came from. I also got pretty sick. Going to beer gardens didn't help, but it sure was fun. :P

When I finally started searching for where I wanted to go, opting to only go to two places but exploring them as much as possible, (I decided not to get ask Apa to send me a JR pass and found a cheap-ish flight) I realized that I felt like I was running low on funds. When I received a total sum of $2,000 from family and relatives for the trip + (I think) some of my own money , I thought for sure I wouldn't spend half of it; I even thought it wouldn't be possible for me to, even if I tried. But I guess I made a couple big, but important purchases. An electronic dictionary, a monthly commuter pass (my host mom screwed up when I first got in because she said there was only a 3 week pass which was the same price as a month long one with the 3 week one being more flexible with where you could go), the occasional nomi/tabe hodai and karaoke splurge. It all added up.

When I asked her for help in finding cheaper places to stay and things to do, (capsule hotels, internet cafes, business hotels, even love hotels. I thought about sleeping the Nara park for one night...) In no way am I in dire need of money, but I was getting nervous since I had already reached the halfway mark and the itinerary I made up may be a little rough at times. I told my host mom that I felt pretty guilty about spending the money and a little worried. Then she asked me an interesting question:

So you got all this money from your parents, aunts, uncles, relatives, brother... etc. Shouldn't you try to spend as little as possible? Why do you want to go to a ryokan, onsen, expensive-ish hotels in Kyoto and Nara? Andrew and Maria are in a different situation. They've saved up their own money for 2 or 3 years so they could use it for their trip. What is the reason that they(my parents) gave you all this money?

I was びっくりした, surprised, when she said this. Not because I thought it was rude, but because I had never given it a real thought. At first, I didn't know how to respond. And then I thought of a couple conjectures. Why would they give me money for this trip or (for any other reason)? Because DJ and I go to Penn and we worked hard during our compulsory education years? No, doesn't sound right. Because they love me and DJ? Because they know how badly I wanted to come to Japan? Because we're good kids? Well yes, those things are true, but we're nearly not the best sons nor flawless. [My host mom also doesn't know that Mom used the money in her savings account to pay for my tuition and homestay. I plan on paying her back]

I couldn't come up with a good reason.

But I think I've thought of a different way to look at my trip other than to only improve my Japanese and sight-see: The money that they(not just my parents) have given me, is my pay to commission a project. To document my time here in Japan, and show how it is changing me: my thoughts, emotions, mood, lifestyle. I will then present it through this blog, my photos and various emails. I will then pass at least level 2 of the JPLT.

Well and also, Mom wants some fresh delicious mochi from the Narita airport. :D [mind you, that's not the only gift I'm bringing back home.]

Thank you Mom, Apa, DJ, Auntie, Uncle, and everyone! Please know I love you and that your money is not going to waste. I'll finish my half written posts during the next couple of days. And I think I'll actually finally write about the first week I spent here. It was pretty interesting. I'll do my best! 頑張ります！

Random sidenote: It's weird. Sometimes I find myself desperately wanting to speak English. It's a strange feeling. Whenever this happens, I say simple sentences unnecessarily loud to my host family as a joke. And when I'm with friends at school, I indulge in the fact that outside of class they speak their own native tongue. Strange to think that school is a rest from speaking Japanese.

Contentment - マンゾク

I have little more than a week and half before I leave Sapporo and hang out in Honshuu for a while before returning home, but I can finally say that I've extremely content right now. If that makes sense.

I've improved speaking a tremendous amount, seeing as I would hesitate a good minute or so before replying in Japanese.

Right now I'm in level 1 of 5 classes, the highest class. But in no way do I deserve to be placed in this class. It's been good though; it's actually noticeable how much I am learning. I'm actually pressured to prepare for the next lesson, otherwise I won't be able to answer any of the questions or know what's going on in the class.

The sensei(s), for the most part, are very good and lively. Even the most annoying one, with her perpetual nervous, awkward laughter, is actually very good at teaching. So good that I rarely ask questions because she answers it during her own monologue-like discussion. Then she begins to feel nervous because no one is asking questions.

I'm able to keep pace and on the same level as the other students. That is to say, we are all struggling the same amount. I've actually learned a lot from 一組. More reading and recognizing kanji than anything but I'm okay with that.

Made a couple of a friends, even a guy from Princeton. (>.>) He was a very strange guy and a smoker to boot. We weren't really good friends during the time we had class together, but we did sort of bond at the school party over some beer. I was even sometimes his translator for the things I learned about at home, which was pretty cool for me.

The reason why I didn't make very good friends with the other students at first is because I would usually go right to the subway station. If I did loiter around front, they would make dinner plans that I wouldn't be able to make. Many of them lived close to the school and would go back before going out late. Besides, the subways stop at midnight, so I can't do much late-night partying. I could go to a late night momihodai bar and roam the streets of Susukino in the morning before catching first train in the morning, (which I did once; I was woken up by a station attendant because I passed out on a bench.) but it's not something that should become a routine.

During that late night, I made sure I got my money's worth of the nomihodai by staying until it closed at 6am. In my drunkenness I actually attempted to pick a Japanese girl hanging out by herself at the bar. It almost worked, but she disappeared after I went to the bathroom. Okay, so maybe it didn't work. For some reason, I can have confidence of approaching cute girls here in Japan but not in the States.

But it worked out all right, I have a date on Monday at the beer garden with this amazing girl, Keiko.

The first three weeks of living in Sapporo were amazing. I told my host mom during a late night deep talk that I actually feel happy here. Back in the States, I would be bored or sad, but for some unexplainable reason, I'm pretty happy here. And I've felt like I made good use of my time here.

Thusly, I am content.