Friday, June 20, 2003
The past two Fridays, I have been hanging out with the staff (and some of the students) from Chit Chat Club. We had been getting together at Y-san`s room but yesterday, he was sick, so YT, ST, RN (who is from Brazil), and I went to Kura Zushi for dinner last night. I really had a good time. We ended up staying at Kura Zushi talking for almost three hours. Afterwards, YT and ST walked me back to my dorm. On the way back, we stopped by Y-san`s house to see if he was still awake and sure enough, we happened to see him getting out of the (outdoor-ick!) shower, so we talked to him for a few minutes and he agreed that next Friday we are defenitely getting together at his place again. By the way, Y-san is one of my latest crushes (out of 4 hehe). (in an infatuated school-girl`s voice)He`s so dreamy...lol. But seriously though, I am attracted to him. Speaking of which, last Friday, I kinda divulged my love life to the people at the party (don`t worry, I didn`t get into details) and I hinted that I liked two guys at Chit Chat, so last night at Kura Zushi, they wanted me to tell them who those two guys were, so I told them the name of the guy that I liked, but don`t anymore after he told us on Friday night about the girl he is in love with. But anyways, I digress. On the rest of the way home, YT, ST, and I had a really good talk. We talked about things that Japanese are usually reluctant to talk about so I really learned a lot of about the Japanese dating mentality. As they would say, benkyou ni natta...
Another Chit Chat Club anectode...
Yesterday at Chit Chat Club, one of the male students that I talked to went up to me and said, "My English teacher taught me some beautiful words. Are you ready to hear them?" I said, "Um, ok..." and this is what he said, "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life." I was caught off-guard. I was like, "Huh??" When I regained my composure, I asked him, "Who do you plan on saying these words to?" and he said, "Only you." I didn`t know how to respond to this, so I just said, "I`m blushing." I think he was joking, but 1) I`m not really good at going along with jokes, and 2) it was still wierd and unexpected that he would say this to me. As I look back, it was funny. For God`s sake, he`s only 18. :-P
Yesterday at Chit Chat Club, one of the male students that I talked to went up to me and said, "My English teacher taught me some beautiful words. Are you ready to hear them?" I said, "Um, ok..." and this is what he said, "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life." I was caught off-guard. I was like, "Huh??" When I regained my composure, I asked him, "Who do you plan on saying these words to?" and he said, "Only you." I didn`t know how to respond to this, so I just said, "I`m blushing." I think he was joking, but 1) I`m not really good at going along with jokes, and 2) it was still wierd and unexpected that he would say this to me. As I look back, it was funny. For God`s sake, he`s only 18. :-P
My Visit to Soka Junior High School
Something I`ve forgotten to write about and should write about before my impressions of that day fade away with time. On Saturday, June 14th, the foreign exchange students took a class trip to Soka Junior High School, which is about 45 minutes away in the town of Kodaira. Soka Jr. High School is actually part of the Soka Gakkuen, which is made up of Soka Elementary, Jr. High, and Sr. High schools.
Having only gotten about 3 hours of sleep (but man, was it worth it!), I barely made it on time to the JR train station where we were all supposed to meet. Once we got to Kodaira, we had to walk for several minutes in the hot, humid weather, down some streets and through a park before we got to Soka Gakkuen proper. When we got to the Jr. high school, what should we see but a driveway leading up to the school, entirely lined up with students who clapped and cheered as soon as they saw us. I felt like such a celebrity (and just a bit embarrassed) as we shook hands (some had really limp handshakes but a few had nice firm ones) and waved to the students. We were led to a library, where we grouped into twos and were assigned a classroom. T-san (from Nepal) and I were assigned to a class of first-year (seventh grade) students. I was assigned three seventh grade girls to be my "escorts" and T-san was assigned two boys.
The escorts took us to the classroom, where the rest of the class was waiting for us. T-san and I introduced ourselves, and since T-san is so much better at Japanese than me, and has a friendly and outgoing personality, the kids loved him right away. The kids asked us a few questions, such as, "What is your best memory of Japan so far?". I asked the kids if they had ever been to America and some kids actually had. And one boy, who was one of T-san`s escorts, had actually gone to New York City and Philadelphia two years ago!
We played two games, one which I`m sure most of us played as kids, is a game where one person stands in the middle of a circle and calls out a group of people, such as "People who ate toast for breakfast", and those people get up and scramble to find a seat. Of course, there is one less chair than there are people so one person will be left standing. The other game was basically Charades. After the games, T-san and I were each presented with a big card signed by all the kids in the class, and a bunch of smaller cards that were filled out with personal information and greetings written by an individual student in both English and Japanese. I was so touched! As we were leaving the classroom, I said, "Please come visit America sometime!" and the whole class said in unison, "We will!", which I thought was sooo sweet!
After visiting classrooms, we all sat in the library for a few minutes and chatted with our escorts. Then, we headed to the gym for a school assembly given in our honor. The koto club gave a stunning performance of a song that at first sounded out of tune to my Western ears, but soon came to appreciate the different tonality. Then, the choir sand the world-famous Japanese song, "Sakura". They were just middle-school kids but they sounded like opera singers! Then, there was a kendo demonstration. For the finale, we, the foreign exchange students sang the J-Pop song of the moment, "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana" or "A Flower That In the World, Is One of a Kind". Unfortunately, many of us hadn`t even looked at the lyrics (I not o nly read the lyrics but forked over cash for the CD single), so we sounded pretty bad. Afterwards we had lunch with the students in the cafeteria, which was divided into the girls side and the boys side (sigh). I, of course, sat with the girls. After that, the escorts and we headed back to the library, where we chatted some more and were treated with ice-cream and other freebies, including these chocolate crunch snacks that were hella good. Then, we finally left, again being cheered on by the students, but before heading back home, we took a group picture with our escorts.
It was a truly memorable trip and I was sad to leave the students. What impressed me was how these students seemed a lot more innocent than their American counterparts (or so it seems). One thing though, is that this particular middle school`s environment is a lot more structured than most American middle schools, so maybe Soka is not a typical Japanese middle school. However, when I asked the students at Chit Chat Club whether they liked middle school or high school the best, most said, without hesitation, that they liked high school better. Most said it is because they had more friends and better memories in high school. Some said that they had more freedom in high school. Looking back on my personal experience, I tend to agree with them, so maybe in some ways, American and Japanese schools aren`t so different after all.
Something I`ve forgotten to write about and should write about before my impressions of that day fade away with time. On Saturday, June 14th, the foreign exchange students took a class trip to Soka Junior High School, which is about 45 minutes away in the town of Kodaira. Soka Jr. High School is actually part of the Soka Gakkuen, which is made up of Soka Elementary, Jr. High, and Sr. High schools.
Having only gotten about 3 hours of sleep (but man, was it worth it!), I barely made it on time to the JR train station where we were all supposed to meet. Once we got to Kodaira, we had to walk for several minutes in the hot, humid weather, down some streets and through a park before we got to Soka Gakkuen proper. When we got to the Jr. high school, what should we see but a driveway leading up to the school, entirely lined up with students who clapped and cheered as soon as they saw us. I felt like such a celebrity (and just a bit embarrassed) as we shook hands (some had really limp handshakes but a few had nice firm ones) and waved to the students. We were led to a library, where we grouped into twos and were assigned a classroom. T-san (from Nepal) and I were assigned to a class of first-year (seventh grade) students. I was assigned three seventh grade girls to be my "escorts" and T-san was assigned two boys.
The escorts took us to the classroom, where the rest of the class was waiting for us. T-san and I introduced ourselves, and since T-san is so much better at Japanese than me, and has a friendly and outgoing personality, the kids loved him right away. The kids asked us a few questions, such as, "What is your best memory of Japan so far?". I asked the kids if they had ever been to America and some kids actually had. And one boy, who was one of T-san`s escorts, had actually gone to New York City and Philadelphia two years ago!
We played two games, one which I`m sure most of us played as kids, is a game where one person stands in the middle of a circle and calls out a group of people, such as "People who ate toast for breakfast", and those people get up and scramble to find a seat. Of course, there is one less chair than there are people so one person will be left standing. The other game was basically Charades. After the games, T-san and I were each presented with a big card signed by all the kids in the class, and a bunch of smaller cards that were filled out with personal information and greetings written by an individual student in both English and Japanese. I was so touched! As we were leaving the classroom, I said, "Please come visit America sometime!" and the whole class said in unison, "We will!", which I thought was sooo sweet!
After visiting classrooms, we all sat in the library for a few minutes and chatted with our escorts. Then, we headed to the gym for a school assembly given in our honor. The koto club gave a stunning performance of a song that at first sounded out of tune to my Western ears, but soon came to appreciate the different tonality. Then, the choir sand the world-famous Japanese song, "Sakura". They were just middle-school kids but they sounded like opera singers! Then, there was a kendo demonstration. For the finale, we, the foreign exchange students sang the J-Pop song of the moment, "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana" or "A Flower That In the World, Is One of a Kind". Unfortunately, many of us hadn`t even looked at the lyrics (I not o nly read the lyrics but forked over cash for the CD single), so we sounded pretty bad. Afterwards we had lunch with the students in the cafeteria, which was divided into the girls side and the boys side (sigh). I, of course, sat with the girls. After that, the escorts and we headed back to the library, where we chatted some more and were treated with ice-cream and other freebies, including these chocolate crunch snacks that were hella good. Then, we finally left, again being cheered on by the students, but before heading back home, we took a group picture with our escorts.
It was a truly memorable trip and I was sad to leave the students. What impressed me was how these students seemed a lot more innocent than their American counterparts (or so it seems). One thing though, is that this particular middle school`s environment is a lot more structured than most American middle schools, so maybe Soka is not a typical Japanese middle school. However, when I asked the students at Chit Chat Club whether they liked middle school or high school the best, most said, without hesitation, that they liked high school better. Most said it is because they had more friends and better memories in high school. Some said that they had more freedom in high school. Looking back on my personal experience, I tend to agree with them, so maybe in some ways, American and Japanese schools aren`t so different after all.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Sometime last week, I was leaving bekka (the building where I take classes), when I saw this guy wearing a UD cap. It caught my attention but I figured that perhaps he had either visited UD before or he had received it as a gift from someone. I don`t remember if I thought he looked just slightly familiar. Anywayz, later that day, I had work at Chit Chat Club and soon after I entered, the guy came up to me and stood in front of me and said, "Do you remember me?". At that moment, I recognized him. He is "TK", one of the Soka students who was a foreign exchange student at UD. Basically, one of my counterparts. I had met all three of them just before leaving for Japan, when we got together to answer questions about each other`s schools. Anywayz, right away, I said, "You`re TK". It`s funny how I saw them only once and I could recognize TK, but I remembered him as being the tall and thin one. The other exchange student, "TS" had come back a month ago and came to see me at Chit Chat, but I didn`t recognize him at first, even though after he told me who he was, he looked maybe just a slightly bit familiar. Anyways, TK had just returned from the US three days before. We were able to talk a little bit and while I was chatting with the students, he was talking to "CY", who is going to UD in July, and giving her advice and stuff. Later on, she said, "He told me the reality" so I`m wondering if he gave her an unfavorable view of UD. I would like to talk to him more and find out what he really thought of UD...I mean, whatever he thought I am interested in knowing. I have seen him two times since then. Unfortunately, I haven`t seen TS since seeing him at Chit Chat. He seemed like a nice guy.
What it ended up being...
It ends up that there`s this Korean student who was studying in Taiwan but had to come back because of the SARS epidemic. She needs a place to stay while she looks for an apartment so the staff members asked us if it was ok that she lives with us in Sunflower Hall. Apparently, they asked the people at Kosumosu Dorm (the other dorm where foreign students live) if it was ok and they decided that they didn`t want her to live there. Talk about harsh. No one at Sunflower has any problem with her living with us. I mean, she`s been back in Japan since May and if she had SARS, she would have already come down with it. However, this one girl wondered why we were told at the last minute, but the truth was that the staff members also received the news at the last minute so there was nothing they could do about that....
It ends up that there`s this Korean student who was studying in Taiwan but had to come back because of the SARS epidemic. She needs a place to stay while she looks for an apartment so the staff members asked us if it was ok that she lives with us in Sunflower Hall. Apparently, they asked the people at Kosumosu Dorm (the other dorm where foreign students live) if it was ok and they decided that they didn`t want her to live there. Talk about harsh. No one at Sunflower has any problem with her living with us. I mean, she`s been back in Japan since May and if she had SARS, she would have already come down with it. However, this one girl wondered why we were told at the last minute, but the truth was that the staff members also received the news at the last minute so there was nothing they could do about that....
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
My dorm`s staff members have requested that all of us at Sunflower Hall meet in the lounge at 10pm tonight for some setsumei (explaination). All I know is that there`s going to be someone new moving into our dorm. But why would they need to talk to all of us about it? My only guesses are that this new person is either a) a celebrity or b) handicapped. :-P
Feeling really restless for some reason...
Sorry that I haven`t been udating my blog. However, I DID update my webpage so go check it out...and please, please, please sign my guestbook if you haven`t already ;-)
I swear, "J" is a lady-killer...I was thinking about how fed up I was with him and then, when I saw a picture of him on my stored pictures folder, my heart just melted. I thought back to how one girl at Chit Chat said that her friend "once loved him". She`s probably talking about herself, heh-heh. As for me, there`s someone else that I`m developing feelings for....but I am so afraid that I`m gonna mess up my chances with him...
Plum rain: In the time of tsuyu (the rainy season), SADS abounds...
Sorry that I haven`t been udating my blog. However, I DID update my webpage so go check it out...and please, please, please sign my guestbook if you haven`t already ;-)
I swear, "J" is a lady-killer...I was thinking about how fed up I was with him and then, when I saw a picture of him on my stored pictures folder, my heart just melted. I thought back to how one girl at Chit Chat said that her friend "once loved him". She`s probably talking about herself, heh-heh. As for me, there`s someone else that I`m developing feelings for....but I am so afraid that I`m gonna mess up my chances with him...
Plum rain: In the time of tsuyu (the rainy season), SADS abounds...
