Tuesday
Today was quite long. The E-class was in the morning bright and early. It started at 9:30 but thanks to me missing the express train I got to class I think right on time or a bit late. Something that is odd, is that university is never on time. I don't think any of my classes have been on time yet. But the rest of Japan is on a very strict time schedule. The trains run to the minute, stores close right on time, and meetings begin right as the clock hits the minute. So luckily this day was no exception. The class started out with the teachers from both sides of the classroom introducing each other. It was funny at first, but it got boring after they all were telling their life story to another. The class in UC Davis only had one student and at first there were three other teachers but eventually there was only one teacher. The actual teacher for this course is at Hosei which is nice, because I don't think I would want to watch someone on TV for two hours give a lecture. The teacher is pretty interesting I think. But when he asks discussion questions, he makes no sense. So the most of us look like we know nothing about history because his questions are so oddly put together. Rumour is that he is 75 so oh well. Even though the class is about christinanity in modern japan, he kept on talking about Jean D'arc, the opium wars and the holy roman empire. Staying on subject was not his forte, but it was interesting anyway.
After that class we had about a 2 hour break. I talked to some of the japanese students that were in the class with me earlier for a bit. Kind of exciting that my japanese is getting a little better each day so I can hold a decent conversation now. Then I looked upstairs in the Audio/Visual library to see what was about. They had a whole bunch of western movies and cd's. And also a lot of resources to learn languages on. It was pretty neat. I'll probably have to go up there later definately.
The next class was Familes and Sexualities in Japan. It was discussion/presentation day and the topic was "conventional families in japan". Basically we talked about the dropping fertality rate, single life in japan and gender roles in a typical marriage. Since we have people from all over the world in that class, it's usually very interesting what everyone has to say about their country. In japan it's pretty accetable to live with your parents long after you graduate high school whereas in America living at home after high school is practically the most embarassing thing you can do.
After that class was japanese culture. We talked about earthquakes and the geography of Japan. Pretty elementary but it was all in japanese. So that kind of makes it a bit more difficult.
At about 4 o clock it started getting really foggy. My last class was on the 10th floor so you could really see the extent of the fog in Tokyo. It was very pretty to me. Although most people thought it was dull like all rainy days. But since living in Waco, land of no rain. Rainy days are pretty much the best.
I got my national health insurance card in the mail today. I was pretty excited, as excited as you can get over socialised health care. I suppose it's a liberal thing.
Some funny things.. The soap in Japan, is pretty much crap. The hand soap is practically water with food colouring. And I bought some body soap the other day and it smells like a 50 year old perfume you bought at a garage sale in Queens. And I picked the best smelling one out. But at least the body soap has the jelly soap feel. I haven't seen a handsoap yet that isn't water-ised blue liquid. I also bought some mouth wash the other day, something I hadn't seen yet in Japan. (Japan isn't too keen on dental hygeine, they give the british a run for their money) But the mouth wash or "Mausu Wosshu" doesn't have any alcohol in it. So you don't get that tingly feeling. I really wouldn't be surprised if mouth wash here is just coloured sugar water. And I did find some febreeze at QQ. (QQ is the 99 yen store, QQ-kyu kyu- standing from 99. kyu means nine in japanese.) Everytime I go to the QQ there is something new/vaguely familiar to figure out.
After that class we had about a 2 hour break. I talked to some of the japanese students that were in the class with me earlier for a bit. Kind of exciting that my japanese is getting a little better each day so I can hold a decent conversation now. Then I looked upstairs in the Audio/Visual library to see what was about. They had a whole bunch of western movies and cd's. And also a lot of resources to learn languages on. It was pretty neat. I'll probably have to go up there later definately.
The next class was Familes and Sexualities in Japan. It was discussion/presentation day and the topic was "conventional families in japan". Basically we talked about the dropping fertality rate, single life in japan and gender roles in a typical marriage. Since we have people from all over the world in that class, it's usually very interesting what everyone has to say about their country. In japan it's pretty accetable to live with your parents long after you graduate high school whereas in America living at home after high school is practically the most embarassing thing you can do.
After that class was japanese culture. We talked about earthquakes and the geography of Japan. Pretty elementary but it was all in japanese. So that kind of makes it a bit more difficult.
At about 4 o clock it started getting really foggy. My last class was on the 10th floor so you could really see the extent of the fog in Tokyo. It was very pretty to me. Although most people thought it was dull like all rainy days. But since living in Waco, land of no rain. Rainy days are pretty much the best.
I got my national health insurance card in the mail today. I was pretty excited, as excited as you can get over socialised health care. I suppose it's a liberal thing.
Some funny things.. The soap in Japan, is pretty much crap. The hand soap is practically water with food colouring. And I bought some body soap the other day and it smells like a 50 year old perfume you bought at a garage sale in Queens. And I picked the best smelling one out. But at least the body soap has the jelly soap feel. I haven't seen a handsoap yet that isn't water-ised blue liquid. I also bought some mouth wash the other day, something I hadn't seen yet in Japan. (Japan isn't too keen on dental hygeine, they give the british a run for their money) But the mouth wash or "Mausu Wosshu" doesn't have any alcohol in it. So you don't get that tingly feeling. I really wouldn't be surprised if mouth wash here is just coloured sugar water. And I did find some febreeze at QQ. (QQ is the 99 yen store, QQ-kyu kyu- standing from 99. kyu means nine in japanese.) Everytime I go to the QQ there is something new/vaguely familiar to figure out.
posted by Scot @ 22:33
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