Total cost of Japan trip

So, I'm home and life is getting back to normal -- whatever that is. I'll probably do one more photo post once I round up the lingering pictures that I've come across (things other people took, some stuff that was still on my camera, etc.).

In the meantime, I just tallied the total cost of this adventure. I put off doing it because I wasn't sure I really wanted to know, but here goes...

Tuition paid to Yamasa: 1562.07 (110600 yen + 25000 yen deposit)

Airline ticket: 1425.00

Yamasa residence fees: 1180.07

Mt. Fuji trip: 181.54

Train ticket from Tokyo to Okazaki (shinkansen): 140.19

Train ticket from Okazaki to Tokyo (non-shinkansen): 106.79

Yamasa textbook purchase: 29.34 (an optional kanji book)

Other misc. credit card purchases (clothing, CDs, gifts): 124.97

Total ATM withdrawals: 926.28 (used for all groceries, dining out, entertainment, household necessities, some gifts, clothing, and all other expenses during the trip)

Grand total: $5676.25

Yikes! Of course it was a bit easier since I didn't have to pay it all at once -- I paid tuition in June, bought plane tickets back in May, etc.

The way I figure, around $4400 of this was non-optional (the cost of tuition, flight, and transportation to and from Okazaki). So I spent a little less than $1300 on non-necessities, or something like $38/day. However, that does include food. If I allow myself $20/day for food (which seems about right, given some eating in and some dining out), I get discretionary spending of $640.

$182 of that was for the Mt. Fuji tour. I didn't save receipts, but I'm guessing I spent a couple hundred dollars on clothing (including the warm clothing I needed for Mt. Fuji) and easily another hundred on entertainment (movies, karaoke). The remainder is probably household necessities (dishes, laundry detergent, hand towel, etc.) and gifts.

It was worth every penny, of course. But now I have to be good and not spend too much for a while, 'cause my savings account is sad.

Japanese TV

Japanese television is exactly as weird as you probably think it is.







Cutest. Weather. Evar.



The person in the middle here? Totally a guy.



Yes, that one.



Yes, I'm sure.



Still no lack of cute Japanese boys with their adorable shaggy haircuts.

True Stories from the Land of the Rising Sun

The weather was so weird this weekend. Ridiculously hot and humid, and overcast, so overcast that it felt like the sky was sitting about ten feet above the ground. Had that oppressive pre-thunderstorm feeling but never actually stormed. Accuweather said it was 86 degrees and "feels like 111", which is just insane. I went out onto the balcony yesterday for long enough to hang up laundry and came back in covered in sweat. It was so humid that, when I went outside from an air-conditioned store, my glasses fogged up... which was new. And to think, I used to say New York was humid in the summer. o_O;; Thankfully it was nicer today (still hot and humid, but the cloud cover lifted a bit). A few days of that was really bringing me down.

Anyhow. Just some fragments that don't necessarily fit into a larger narrative.

While the Japanese accept odd-colored hair and facial piercings without blinking, tattoos attract a lot of attention here. Apparently the only people who have tattoos are Yakuza, and many onsen (public bathhouses) have rules that forbid people with tattoos from using the facilities. I think I've answered more questions about my ink in the past few weeks here than in the past few years back home.

The old man who lives across from me is rumored to be Yakuza. He has tattoos, and no teeth. One of my fellow students attempted to strike up a friendly conversation with him, but with no success. The old woman he lives with (presumably his wife) is the one who walks her cat, on a leash, every day. I've exchanged a few friendly words with her now and then (on the order of "Your cat is so cute! I have a tabby cat too!"). She is also missing most of her teeth.

The Japanese stereotype of really healthy, energetic old people is definitely true. It's pretty common to see tiny, wrinkled grandparent-types riding bikes up steep hills. Or, you know, climbing Mt. Fuji.

The police cars, fire trucks and ambulances have loudspeakers as well as sirens. They proceed down the street with someone making an unending string of announcements over the siren. I haven't been able to make sense of it yet, but I can only imagine it's something along the lines of "Thank you very much for your kind attention! We apologize profusely for the inconvenience! Please do us the favor of driving safely!"

At the mall, the cops directing traffic in and out of the parking lot shout "irasshaimase" ("welcome to our store!") and "arigatougozaimasu!" to every single car. They must get tired of doing that all day.

Did I tell you that Momo-chan and I went to the Cold Stone in Aeon mall, and tipped them, and they sang a song like Cold Stone does, but it was crazy adorable because it was Japanese? I can't remember what I blogged already anymore. :/

Oh, we did karaoke last week with a really good group of people (a good chunk of whom, unfortunately, were on their last night at Yamasa). Lyrics to the English songs were in English with katakana above, so sometimes we amused ourselves by singing the katakana version. Chance-san put in "Dragostei din tei" and I ended up trying to sing it with him, which was super fun. Also did some Bowie, some TMBG, some ridiculous 80s music, Hey Ya!, you know, my usual karaoke fare. And there was definitely some drunken "Baby Got Back". Think we're planning to go again this week as a goodbye party for myself and Momo-chan.

One of the girls who came out with us was this German girl, who, despite what you might conclude from the following story, is actually completely awesome. We were talking about Bart Simpson for some reason at dinner and she busted out with "Oh, he's really funny! What was his thing? Eat my pants?"

She also told me my accent (in English) was hard to understand (as compared to Lee-kun's), because I talk very quickly. It's happened before, but it always brings me up short when someone accuses me of having an accent. Somehow I still feel like I'm the one without the accent, of course.

OMG I have so much to do this week. I bought gifts for the last few people on my list today, and a cheap duffel bag to haul stuff home in. Still have to figure out how I'm getting to Tokyo on Thursday. And I have to decide what I'm going to say for my goodbye speech. Eek.

This was my almond packaging today. I actually LOLed when I pulled it out of the cover.



The other side was cute too.



Also, I bought this at the thrift store today. It's maybe not the most disturbing thing I've ever seen, but it's up there, my friends. And it was in the bin with, you know, the rest of the kid's toys, like cute little Pokemon figures and cell phone charms of bunnies with oversized ears. I don't even know, man. Read on at your own risk.

hanabi

It was recently brought to my attention that I haven't updated this blog in over a week. Oops. Sumimasen ne! I've been pretty busy between keeping up with the more-advanced class and hanging out with folks.

I'm trying to enjoy my last week here to the fullest. It's a bittersweet feeling, having to prepare to leave just as I was starting to feel settled. And it's amazing how quickly you can start to feel attached to people when you see them for ~6 hours every day.

Last weekend was a big hanabi (fireworks) festival here. Okazaki is famous for its fireworks; people apparently come from all over Japan to see them.

One of Yamasa's pages says that "over 70 percent of Japanese fireworks are developed and produced here. The fireworks are usually new designs, and often are those used the following year throughout the rest of Japan - the show also has the flavour of a trade fair as buyers come to see the newest developments."

Due to some overly-vague directions, I failed to meet up with the group from Yamasa, so I just started walking toward Okazaki Castle. Soon enough I started to see people on the street who were dressed up for the festival (in yukata, which is to say, summer kimonos). They were super cute! Especially the boys. Yum.

Um, what was I saying? Oh, so I started to follow people who looked like they knew where they were going, and we ended up on the roof of one of the big department stores near the river (this is apparently where one watches fireworks from in Japan). We had a good view of both the fireworks going up from near the castle and the ones going up from farther off. (Apparently they have to set the bigger ones off across the river so they don't break windows. No joke.)



Now, I'm not the world's biggest fan of fireworks shows (they're pleasant enough, but I find they all have a sort of sameness to them), but I gotta say: Okazaki's fireworks put every show I've ever seen in the past to absolute shame. That includes Niagara Falls, Epcot Center, and, yes, the big Macy's Fourth of July show in New York.

Okazaki's fireworks were prettier, more impressive, and classier -- no contest on any front. My favorite were the ones that went up like cherry trees covered in golden blossoms, and then the blossoms seemed to float down off the tree. So cool!! Also, man, crazy amount of munitions. For most of the show, there was so much happening at once that it felt like the grand finale of the shows back home! And this went on for an unbelievable 3+ hours.

Pictures don't do this kind of thing justice, but naturally I'm going to post some anyway.

So much going on at once.



This is one of the cherry-tree ones. "Feel", by the way, is the name of the department store. I don't know why.



One amusing thing: Along with people shouting "sugoi!" ("amazing!") and "kirei!" (pretty!) I kept hearing shouts of "bravo!" Really? Is that what they think we say?





The kids are all dressed up. Super cute.





Little kids get to wear yukata too!



Sorry for the weird angles. I was trying to be a little circumspect about photographing people, which is a neat trick with a DSLR. >_>

A decent shot of how many people were on the roof.



Since it was pretty dark, I was experimenting with the super high speed film settings on my camera. Ended up with some strange moody shots.







After about an hour and a half, I got bored and decided to walk home. The fireworks continued the whole time, so I took some cool pictures of them reflecting in various, uh, reflect-y things. Because I'm artsy like that.

Starting to make my way home.



God I love this picture. Yes, I'm awfully fond of the mirrors that keep you from getting hit by a car. Also I am an arsty snob.



Reflections in a department store window.



Finally, on an unrelated note: This cookie wrapper has a special message for you, the readers.

Question time

How do you define fluency? How do you know when you've reached it?

pictures from around Okazaki

Tanuki shrine near the school:







...with some random kitsch mixed in.





Lots of houses have these cool traditional-style roofs:









I glanced at this sign as I walked past it, noticing that the final word is comprised of two kanji I know, yasumi (rest) and nichi (day). "Oh," I thought to myself, "No parking on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays."

A few steps later, I realized what I'd just done and literally stopped in my tracks. Of course, I didn't know the reading ("kyuujitsu"; I just looked it up), but hey, I got the meaning. Crazy awesome.





I've been hearing this song everywhere lately, and I just today figured out what it is. It is well and truly stuck in my head; maybe now it will be stuck in yours too. You're welcome. ^__^

On a language high

I love it here.

I'll be honest, the Japanese classes at Columbia were never exactly what I'd describe as "fun". We moved fast, we didn't get much time to practice the new things we'd learned, it was so challenging and often frustrating. I usually left class feeling mentally exhausted, like I could hear my neurons sizzling from the exertion. And I always felt a little dumb, as I struggled to memorize everything.

I expected this to be so hard. I thought by the end of two weeks here, I'd miss everything from home: my friends, my cats, the food, a working cell phone, all the Stuff I didn't bring with me. When I planned to spend a month here, a part of me wondered whether it would be too long.

But today I realized that I only have two more weeks here, and it made me want to cry. The last thing I want to do is come home. I'm already trying to figure out if I'll be able to do this again next year, maybe for longer.

I thought I would have Moments here. Times when I wouldn't be able to hack it. I thought I would have social anxiety, I thought I'd be stressed out and frustrated, I thought there would be times I'd be lonesome and homesick and feel like I'd gotten myself in over my head. I thought there would be parts of this trip that would be better in retrospect than at the time. But you know, it hasn't happened yet, and everything is only getting easier.

Yesterday I found the soy milk at the grocery store, and also discovered they sell American peanut butter. Felt ridiculously accomplished. And I was thinking, everything feels so normal now. Two weeks ago, I could barely figure out how to feed myself. And now I'm buying groceries, doing laundry, going to the post office, all the normal things you do. Walking to school in the morning, eating lunch with my classmates, planning what to do over the weekend. And it all feels so totally ordinary. It's amazing. Just two weeks and things barely seem strange at all.

I just went to the convenience store for something, and asked the clerk if they had it, and she said "no, we don't but we have this other thing", and I said "oh, that's good, I'll take this as well", and then when I paid she asked if I had 3 yen and I, without even taking a second to think about it or translate it in my head or even look at the total on the register, said "hai" and handed her three of the correct coin.

And then I got out the door and partway home and realized what had just happened, and I was so delighted I actually laughed out loud. And then I noticed something that's somehow escaped my attention up until now: I'm having FUN! I'm having more fun than I've had in ages.

I love living on my own and not being all that close to anyone here. It means my time is my own and I get plenty of space, plenty of opportunity to do whatever makes me happiest without worrying about anyone else's needs. And if I'm ever lonesome there's Skype and IM to people back home, and plenty of opportunities to make plans with people here. It's the perfect balance.

Yesterday I went to the post office to get money, buy some stamps and mail postcards. Same kind of experience as the convenience store. I asked how much it was to send mail from here to the States. The clerk asked if I was sending postcards, and I said yes. She told me it's 70 yen. "Can I use these stamps?" I asked. "No, but I can sell you these here, how many do you need?" And so on.

Rocket science? God no. But here I am, talking to normal people at normal conversational speed, understanding what they're telling me and able to make myself understood in return. It sounds inane to put it in writing, but I've broken through some kind of wall. I've noticed that I'm reading and writing much faster, without having to think so much about each character, and my conversation skills have of course improved about a million percent.

Not only that, but I generally don't translate things to English in my head anymore. Which is super weird. I'm thinking in Japanese a lot and, when talking to someone back home, having a hard time remembering only to speak English. I keep saying something in Japanese and then catching myself and translating it, because that's the habit I'm in from school, attempting Japanese first and only resorting to English if I can't figure out how to say it.

Hanging out with my fellow students at lunch, we have real conversations now. Not all native English speakers. There are people from China, Taiwan, Singapore. We're not exactly debating the finer points of philosophy, and yet...

"Do you want to have lunch with us?"
"Sure, where should we go?"
"Let's just go to Domy, I have a test this afternoon so I want to eat quickly and study."
"Sounds good."

"Are you going to see the fireworks on Saturday?"
"Is it Saturday? I thought it was Sunday."
"No, it's Saturday."
"I don't know yet. I want to go but I haven't been to Okazaki Castle yet. I don't know how to get there."
"A group from Yamasa is going to meet at the school and go over."
"Oh really, what time?"

And so on!

Actual communication!

It looks kind of retarded writing this down, but seriously, this is the best thing ever. I get a rush every time I walk away from a conversation and realize just how much was said.

When I withdrew from my Columbia Japanese class last October, I felt like I'd never get anywhere close to being fluent, even if I studied the language for 5 years. (I studied French for 5 years. Do I speak French? Heck no.) But now I feel like I'm already halfway there.

I don't have my boyfriend. I don't have my cats. I don't have all my clothing, or my books, or my video games, or all the other assorted crap that lives in my house. I don't have a real kitchen or many dishes or food preparation implements. I don't have anything to do except learn Japanese, progressing as quickly (or slowly) as I like and practicing as much as I choose.

And I am totally, utterly, completely happy.

I was just sitting on my balcony, watching the last colors from the sunset slowly fade from the clouds and the stars start to come out. I want to remember this forever: the sound of the cicadas in the trees, the powerlines overhead, the funny tiny cars and scooters going by on the road below.

I'm remembering stuff about me. Stuff I'd kind of forgotten, or knew only in an intellectual sense without really believing. Things like that I'm smart, or that I enjoy being alone. I am capable of more than I'd come to think... and that is awesome.

I just hope I can succeed in bringing some of this feeling home with me.

Oh, by the way, I did well on my placement test and on our weekly test today, so it sounds like I'm moving to a harder class starting on Friday. I'm bummed to be leaving Momo-chan and the other familiar faces; it'll be hard to have to get to know a whole new group of people again. But it'll be good to be a little more challenged, too.

Hmm, sorry for the kind of woo-woo post. :P I'll take some pictures tomorrow to balance it out.

Oh, today Momo-chan, Julie-san and I went to see the new Naruto movie. The cute Japanese guy who worked at the movie theater kind of laughed when we said what we were seeing. :P Anyway, I enjoyed it, even though I don't know the backstory and couldn't follow all the nuances of what was going on. Another odd thing: the movie theaters here are assigned seating, so when you buy your ticket they show you a seating chart and ask what row and seats you want. I was glad we had Julie-san with us 'cause I would have been so confused by that!

We also went to the big CD/book/DVD/etc store in the mall and I talked myself out of buying some Gackt CDs -- CDs are way expensive here, I'm not sure why. 3000 yen seems about average.

I got a little overwhelmed by the book section; something about being illiterate in a bookstore definitely triggers some interesting panicky emotions for me. I guess it's because books are so important to me, and having them all turn to (apparent) gibberish is like some kind of weird nightmare. But I plan to go back soon and spend some more time trying to figure it out. I'd love to pick up a Murakami novel, just to give myself something to aspire to. And in a less literary vein, some manga too, of course.

The stores in the mall had some great Engrish, but I didn't bring my camera today. I saw, among other things, a shirt that said something like "You are making incorrect choices about the life". Good times.

I'll try to do a photo post tomorrow, since it looks like I have plans Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Eep.

Quick update

Just a quick one. I'm taking another placement test tomorrow to see if I can move up to the next class, so I need to spend some time studying tonight.

I spent most of the weekend either sleeping (so many naps), cleaning house or watching Japanese TV. I felt a little guilty for not getting out of the house and doing something more interesting, but I think I really needed the downtime. I can't even remember the last time I had a weekend completely off. Sad but true.

I was able to follow some of the TV programs shockingly well. Also, strangely enough, there's no shortage of super-cute eye candy.

Japanese boys with their cute shaggy haircuts. Drool.

I did kind of regret not making any plans with my classmates for the weekend. Not having cellphones or even most people's emails is very strange... I need to remember to make plans well before the fact, because I can't just be sitting at my house, decide I want to go out, and text someone to ask what's up. So freaking barbaric.

Momo-chan and Julie-san invited me along to see Naruto on Wednesday, so that's a start. ^_^ And I think we're going out for beers or something on Friday (we being Momo-chan and whoever else I talk into it between now and then; Julie-san is leaving this week, which is super sad 'cause she seems awesome). I want to make a karaoke night happen at some point too. Probably I should just pick an evening and tell everyone to come.

Today we went to lunch with Bryan-san at this little noodle shop right next to the school. I got a HUGE bowl of soba for ¥350! So awesome. Even cheaper than eating at Domy. Christine (Christina?) and this kid Jamie were sitting with us, and Jamie was relating very stereotypical freshman-dorm type stories. I found myself feeling glad to not be involved, but also kind of wishing I was. ^_^;; Going clubbing in Tokyo, ending up crashing out in a love hotel because they missed the last train, that sort of thing. Sounds like a good adventure, but also I'm not convinced I really want to go barhopping with a huge group of 19-year-olds.

Random packaging comic:

Today, after class, Momo-chan and I were asked to stop by Information Services. I knew why they wanted me -- it was to pick up the kanji book I ordered last week -- but for Momo-chan it was a mystery. Turns out, they wanted to do a quick interview with her about her homestay. The homestay coordinator, Okamoto-san, doesn't speak very much English, so we had a long and occasionally confusing/awkward conversation in Japanese. I was able to follow a surprising amount of what she said. In the end, Momo-chan and I muddled through it, albeit with quite a bit of confusion, rephrasing, grammatical mistakes and one (not very helpful) reference to an electronic dictionary. But when we left, I felt elated -- it's amazing how much our Japanese has improved in just a couple of weeks.

Afterwards, I had to drop by Student Services to trade in my key for a different copy (my lock is very finicky and sometimes is pretty hard to unlock, so I was hoping that a different key might solve the problem). I conducted that entire conversation in Japanese as well and left feeling generally very accomplished.

Walking home, I thought about how amazing it is that I can actually communicate in this language now. Sure, it's awkward and halting and full of grammatical errors, miming, roundabout explanations and so forth -- but still! Actual communication! To people who don't speak any English!

Okay, it looks silly writing it out. But seriously. It's freaking awesome.

Sunset and powerlines:

Let's see, I was going to note some random stuff I've noticed about Japan.

* QR codes everywhere. Lots of stores have them on their receipts -- even the Ministop (24-hour convenience store) and the Daiso.

* When the Japanese want to indicate themselves, they point at their noses, whereas in America we point at our chests.

* The gesture for "come here" or "follow me" is also different, though I'm not sure I can explain it in words. We point our index finger and curl it towards ourselves, but the Japanese gesture is to extend an arm with the palm facing downward and make a waving motion with the hand. Again, it just goes to show we take odd things for granted.

* Apparently the Japanese police are entitled to stop anyone and ask for ID, and as a foreigner I am required to always have my passport on me. Huh.

* It's an oddly smoker-friendly culture. There are smoking cars on trains, designated smoking areas in the airport, smoking sections in restaurants, etc. Coming from the US where it's practically a social taboo, this is super weird.

Sunset from my balcony:

This last one isn't mine, it was taken by my coworker Ashlinn, who is also in Japan right now (she and some other CCNMTL folks are out here as part of a project we're doing, but sadly nowhere near me). I thought it was so funny, I couldn't resist stealing it to include here.



Why yes, trash can, yes I would.

Rainy Thursday

I woke up this morning to the sound of pouring rain.

I remembered thinking to myself I should pack an umbrella, but didn't remember actually doing so. I dug around for a bit and found it at the bottom of my bag. Thanks, Kat-from-the-past!

There are these huge crows that always hang around outside my window in the morning. I think they're good luck.



Despite the fact that I got slightly wet on my way to school, I actually found the cooler weather today very pleasant. It's a big improvement over the awful heat and humidity we've had since I arrived.

Also, the birthday card from my mom finally showed up (turns out mailing time from the States to here is around 9 days), and Lee-san brought me a tiny stuffed echidna as a belated birthday present. It's super cute. ^_^



Class today was really challenging. In the morning, we had to call 104 (the Japanese equivalent of 411) to request a phone number -- and then call that number to ask their hours and what days they were closed. Mine was the Nagoya Aquarium. It was terrifying. I got through the 401 part OK, but then when I called the aquarium and asked how late they were open, the person on the other end of the phone told me two times and confused the heck out of me. (It turns out he was saying they're open until 5pm, but the last admission is at 4:30pm.) Then I asked what days they're closed and they said they're open every day because it's summer... but I really didn't understand it, and then kind of panicked and hung up and figured it out afterward. Gah, phones. (I hate phones even in English.)

Then in the afternoon, we had to make a video. I was a reporter for "Yamasa TV" and interviewed some of my classmates about the school. I hope this thing doesn't wind up on Youtube or something. >_> It was pretty awkward. Some of my classmates adlibbed though and were quite funny!

After class, I asked Miyuki-sensei for some extra materials to study kanji. I think I will try to set aside time to practice it for a bit every day, as long as I have the time after doing homework and learning new vocab for class.

What else? Oh, I've been meaning to tell you that I figured out my Japanese washing machine, with some help from the internet. (Oh, Google, I don't know what I'd do without you.)

You'd think it would be pretty straightforward, I mean, it's a washing machine, right? You put your clothes in the thing, put some detergent in, and press start? Oh no.

Here's what it looks like:

There's a big compartment, a smaller compartment, and a hose attached.

The controls are not particularly illuminating:

Nor are the dire warnings about how I'm about to lose a hand:

Turns out, you have to flip the switch on the top to channel water into the larger (left-hand) compartment, and turn on the spigot to fill it with water. Put clothing and detergent into the basin. Close the top, set the middle switch to, uh, the setting that isn't "delicates" and isn't "drain" (seriously, if anyone has a clue what that little picture is supposed to be, I'd love to hear it), and set the far left timer to whatever length you want the clothes to be washed for. It will then agitate the basin until the time is up.

When the time is up, you use the middle switch to drain that basin and move all of your (wet, soapy) clothes into the smaller, right-hand basin. There's a strange little plastic cover that goes over the top which allows you to run water into the right-hand side (after, of course, turning that switch to channel the water into the right-hand side as well). So you do that for, uh, a while. Until it seems your clothes aren't still full of soap.

Once you deem the rinse cycle complete, you can turn off the water and use the far right timer to set the length of the spin cycle. And then hang the clothes to dry, of course (similar to Europe, no one here has a dryer). It's baffling to me that this process is so different from Western machines... I had somehow thought there was only one "obvious, intuitive" way to build a clothes-washing machine, but of course that's silly.

I've had this experience with more than just the washing machine. One of the things I love about this trip is that it's showing me exactly how much I take for granted. I have all these assumptions about how things work (or "should work") that are proving to be untrue. It's kind of cool.

Anyway, I've now spent so much time on this post that it's dark out. And the wind is rattling the windows. I think I'll turn on some Japanese TV for a bit. That's like studying, right? ^_^

Jaa mata!