*sorry to double-post. if you haven't yet, go check out the post right before this one, in which i get a little angry at a particular movie. and of course this is from my pink notebook*
Date Written: August 20th
I went into this summer with a lot of worries, expectations, uncertainties. One thing I wanted to challenge was Tokyo's famed comparison to New York City, especially in terms of me being able to live there. No previous city, no matter how big or small, could stand up to NY on my list of liveable cities. NY stood alone.
Near the end of my program, facebook would tell me about all my Yale friends who were back in their hometowns saying things like, "18 days til Yale!!!!" and "_____ is SOOO pumped to go back to Yale" and I realized I wasn't ready to leave yet. I love Yale almost more than anything, as you all know, but I didn't feel like my time in Tokyo was quite over yet.
And then I told Ming, "I could just stay here."
*cue Ming victory music*
Took me almost 2 and a half months to realize it, but Tokyo became such a big part of my life and heart that I found somewhere other than NY that I could actually call home for longer than a summer.
And hopefully one day I will.
Tokyo-win♥
Y-A-L-E love all the way in Japan =]
![Y-A-L-E love all the way in Japan =]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjNf7UE2Ebw2WbcWPIC7JDxDXefq142VBuIRDGbDAQP1_7PvCwr6JTLftGpPOJCATOpvx4xSDYwukkBiW3Pl6jB7IiQLZW5c7GMlpK_P-VKcmkvtX5hs-CNhqh2z7egFdSX2VtZ7FKS4w/s1600-r/Y-A-L-EResized.jpg)
sábado, 22 de agosto de 2009
Lost in Translation Because You Threw Out The Map
*transcribed from my pink notebook*
Date Written: August 18th
"OMG you're in Tokyo and you've never seen 'Lost in Translation'???"
Yeah, guys. You didn't think it was possible, huh. The bar (New York Bar?) from that movie has reached considerable heights of fame, seeing as I didn't even know what it looked like and yet still explained to two American (really, they were, I checked lol) girls how to get there after the Starbucks girl had no idea that was even a movie.
So, with 13 hours to kill and a movie selection of 186, I decided to watch Lost in Translation on my flight home, after Grease and Lilo and Stitch.
I'll preempt this by saying that I did not finish the movie; at a certain point I started talking to the young Japanese guy next to me and proceeded to chat (in JAPANESE!! =]) for like an hour, after which I fell asleep for the remainder of the trip (but Japanese-win!!).
I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane--they showed clips of Shinjuku, Shibuya Station, Pachinko, Karaoke, crazy Japanese parties, etc. And I wasn't lost when it came to understanding the spoken Japanese.
I didn't like the portrayal of Japan in the movie. Japan is very close to my heart and to see it shown as a weird, lonely, emo, no-soundtrack kind of place was kind of sad. Neither Bill Murray nor Scarlett Johansson's charcters knew a bit of Japanese, which can very understandably make being in Japan overwhelming and difficult, but they weren't really trying at all; they were just being obnoxious. When being spoken to in Japanese, Bill Murray would do that "yeah. uh huh. of course. yeah. totally" thing teenagers use on their parents when they're reprimanding them and they wanna be smartasses about it. Meaning I derive from that obnoxious behavior? "I don't really care what you're saying, blah blah blah..."
It's not cute and it's not understanding.
I also disagree with certain uses of English. For example, before Bill takes Scarlett to the hospital and they're eating somewhere, he jokes with the Japanese chef/waiter dude in rapid, sarcastic English to make S laugh. CLEARLY, the Japanese man does not understand him, but kind of nods and smiles along with it anyway. Nobody can possibly feel good in that situation. The Japanese is made to look like an idiot and not even given a chance with slower, clearer English, just so B can flirt with S. Granted, I also dislike it when Japanese people do that to foreigners--nothing positive is gained by proving that yes, you know your native tongue better than some foreigner who has never studied it.
I guess what bothers me is the lack of effort. The movie portrayed two foreigners who were quick to dismiss adapting to Japan for just one week, opting instead for plans to escape the country and remarks of "I need to get out of here."
Yes, Japanese culture and life is ぜんぜん違う (completely different) from anything I've experienced in my 70% Colombian 30% American upbringing. But that doesn't mean I should close my mind to it and write it off as a weird culture with chikan and anime porn. Like, though I've taught her the word "chopsticks" 22 times by now, my mother insists on calling them "esos palitos" ("those little sticks"). That kind of mentality is the opposite of what we should all be striving for--open-mindedness and peace because of it. And an appreciation for things and people that are not like us.
Because that's what makes them beautiful.
Date Written: August 18th
"OMG you're in Tokyo and you've never seen 'Lost in Translation'???"
Yeah, guys. You didn't think it was possible, huh. The bar (New York Bar?) from that movie has reached considerable heights of fame, seeing as I didn't even know what it looked like and yet still explained to two American (really, they were, I checked lol) girls how to get there after the Starbucks girl had no idea that was even a movie.
So, with 13 hours to kill and a movie selection of 186, I decided to watch Lost in Translation on my flight home, after Grease and Lilo and Stitch.
I'll preempt this by saying that I did not finish the movie; at a certain point I started talking to the young Japanese guy next to me and proceeded to chat (in JAPANESE!! =]) for like an hour, after which I fell asleep for the remainder of the trip (but Japanese-win!!).
I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane--they showed clips of Shinjuku, Shibuya Station, Pachinko, Karaoke, crazy Japanese parties, etc. And I wasn't lost when it came to understanding the spoken Japanese.
I didn't like the portrayal of Japan in the movie. Japan is very close to my heart and to see it shown as a weird, lonely, emo, no-soundtrack kind of place was kind of sad. Neither Bill Murray nor Scarlett Johansson's charcters knew a bit of Japanese, which can very understandably make being in Japan overwhelming and difficult, but they weren't really trying at all; they were just being obnoxious. When being spoken to in Japanese, Bill Murray would do that "yeah. uh huh. of course. yeah. totally" thing teenagers use on their parents when they're reprimanding them and they wanna be smartasses about it. Meaning I derive from that obnoxious behavior? "I don't really care what you're saying, blah blah blah..."
It's not cute and it's not understanding.
I also disagree with certain uses of English. For example, before Bill takes Scarlett to the hospital and they're eating somewhere, he jokes with the Japanese chef/waiter dude in rapid, sarcastic English to make S laugh. CLEARLY, the Japanese man does not understand him, but kind of nods and smiles along with it anyway. Nobody can possibly feel good in that situation. The Japanese is made to look like an idiot and not even given a chance with slower, clearer English, just so B can flirt with S. Granted, I also dislike it when Japanese people do that to foreigners--nothing positive is gained by proving that yes, you know your native tongue better than some foreigner who has never studied it.
I guess what bothers me is the lack of effort. The movie portrayed two foreigners who were quick to dismiss adapting to Japan for just one week, opting instead for plans to escape the country and remarks of "I need to get out of here."
Yes, Japanese culture and life is ぜんぜん違う (completely different) from anything I've experienced in my 70% Colombian 30% American upbringing. But that doesn't mean I should close my mind to it and write it off as a weird culture with chikan and anime porn. Like, though I've taught her the word "chopsticks" 22 times by now, my mother insists on calling them "esos palitos" ("those little sticks"). That kind of mentality is the opposite of what we should all be striving for--open-mindedness and peace because of it. And an appreciation for things and people that are not like us.
Because that's what makes them beautiful.
quinta-feira, 20 de agosto de 2009
"American" and "Gai-jin" Are NOT Always The Same...It Turns Out
*faithfully transcribed from my pink notebook:
Date Written: August 17th
Despite our efforts to the contrary, Ming and I have fallen victim to that good ole American egotism. Throughout our week's travel around Japan, we saw a good bunch of gaijin (foreigners). And we would see them from far off and I would think, "Hah. Poor Americans. They go everywhere and expect others to speak THEIR language instead of trying to learn the language and ways of their host country. Shame. Americans think they rule the world as individuals and that's why no one really likes America (on top of politics)."
[Edit: I'm really grateful to America and represented them proudly for karate. As with everything though, there are also negative aspects that you cannot ignore. My thoughts and conclusions in this post might not be universal, but something very real I've seen throughout my experiences over and over again. And it's true, a lot of countries don't like us, as I've seen first-hand while traveling with the US Team. Reality.]
And then we got close enough to realize they were Italians.
Assumption fail.
Note to self: you cannot just assume every White person is American. There are indeed other countries they could be from.
Speaking of, that entire week was one big Spanish-win. There were SO many Spaniards everywhere and I would creepily eavesdrop on every stranger's conversation to see if I could butt in and make friends. What really depressed me though, is that I realized I can't form sentences in Italian or Portuguese anymore because I think in Japanese instead!
Date Written: August 17th
Despite our efforts to the contrary, Ming and I have fallen victim to that good ole American egotism. Throughout our week's travel around Japan, we saw a good bunch of gaijin (foreigners). And we would see them from far off and I would think, "Hah. Poor Americans. They go everywhere and expect others to speak THEIR language instead of trying to learn the language and ways of their host country. Shame. Americans think they rule the world as individuals and that's why no one really likes America (on top of politics)."
[Edit: I'm really grateful to America and represented them proudly for karate. As with everything though, there are also negative aspects that you cannot ignore. My thoughts and conclusions in this post might not be universal, but something very real I've seen throughout my experiences over and over again. And it's true, a lot of countries don't like us, as I've seen first-hand while traveling with the US Team. Reality.]
And then we got close enough to realize they were Italians.
Assumption fail.
Note to self: you cannot just assume every White person is American. There are indeed other countries they could be from.
Speaking of, that entire week was one big Spanish-win. There were SO many Spaniards everywhere and I would creepily eavesdrop on every stranger's conversation to see if I could butt in and make friends. What really depressed me though, is that I realized I can't form sentences in Italian or Portuguese anymore because I think in Japanese instead!
quarta-feira, 19 de agosto de 2009
The Wonder That is Kyoto
1. Light Fellowship: I am a terribleeeee blogger, but I will make up for it! I have 4 blog entries lined up right now!
2. Friends: I am alive. Fear not.
3. After Sun ended, Ming and I traveled for a week around Japan. Our itinerary was:
8/10: still in Tokyo, but kicked out of apaato, so in the Sakura Hostel in Asakusa (DEF recommend it, by the way)
8/11-12: Kyoto♥ with some SANC classmates
8/13-15: Fukuoka (on the island Kyushu), with day trips to Beppu (hot springs) and Nagasaki
8/16: back to Kyoto for the Daimonji (http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/festivals/gozan.html)
8/17: final rush meet-up with some SANC-ers and Kajikawa sensei in Tokyo before running to Narita to board plane back to the States!
**the following was transcribed from the pink notebook that accompanied me on my travels**
Date written: August 12, 2009
Early morning wake-up to meet up with Mattie, Kisho, and Evan was no problem--we were meeting at the Nijojo-mae station, the station we used as home base when I was in Kyoto last year with Genji's World! Ureshii! Recognizing the station's little details, while at the same time realizing it resembles our Nishi-Shinjuku 5-choume station, brought me endless joy =] It was like acknowledging the intersection of two beloved cities--Kyoto and Tokyo--into one uniting concept--> Japan.
It was hot as hell at Nijo Castle, but it was a perfect segue into Kyoto shrine-and-temple mode. Kiyomizudera was a definite stop on my itinerary, and it just so happened that K wanted to drag M back anyway to buy more things, haha. I can't say I had forgotten how strenuous the walk up the street to the famous temple was, because last time I had smartly opted for a cab with CJ and Julian, but I DID forget it's no longer mild May but hellishly humid and hot August. Because we didn't fit on K and Ming's bus originally, Mattie was running the risk of missing his shinkansen (again), so me and E said our goodbyes and continued trekking up the gravestone-ridden path to Kiyomizudera. Finally at the entrance, we said goodbye to K as well and went through the vermillion temple-lined path to fountains of love, happiness, and good fortune (literally). After eschewing fear of contamination via (ultra violet radiated and sterilized) silver ladles at the Kiyomizudera waterfall (thank you, Japan), we settled for some shaved ice (don't get matcha) and then feasted on Kyoto udon.
That was also our first case of translating today, explaining to a European(?) tour group 17-strong that there was only room for 10. Common language: English. Status: win.
Our tummies full of udon (even III say that with a smile, despite it not being soba) and the fact that it dropped from 140 degrees F to only 120 meant that we were ambitious. Our plan? Bus to Kyoto Station, then head 40 minutes over to Kinkaku-ji (Golden Palace/Pavillion) for some pre-dinner bad-ass sightseeing and picture-taking. Too bad it was closing in 40 minutes by that time.
[Sometime between here we went to the Sanjyuusangen-do, where I got the best god luck you could possibly get. 1001 Kannon statues, one of them rivaling DaiButsu size. Thanks to Eddy K, I will never forget Kannon, Goddess of Mercy.]
Our new and improved plan, courtesy of the helper lady at the Kyoto Eki, was to JR-line-it (for free, thank you, JR Pass) to Inari and check out a lot of pretty vermillion torii (Shinto shrine gates) there. What we thought would be a casual strolling around a small Shinto shrine admiring 2 or 3 big gates torii turned into a 2-hour journey through the woods, up an almost deserted mountain, guided by an eerie path of lined-up torii (see facebook pics) and oscillating between being scared of the horror movie setting and soundtrack (cicadas) and being scared of the resemblance of our situation to Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away). Please see our 3-episode horror movie video once I put it up on youtube for more info.
Our reward for being true Yalies and actually making it to the top of the mountain was not the view from the summit (which was obscured by trees, womp womp) but the sushi dinner E bought for us afterwrad =] It was glorious. And probably only the 3rd or 4th time I've had sushi in Japan this summer.
Fatasses that at least me and Ming are, we transferred 3 restaurants down from SushiDen to Lipton, where the quintessential soup was replaced by 2 peach parfaits (E and M) and THEEE most delicious 3-mango tart. Mmmm, seriously. Me and M have eaten SO well, trying to cram in as much Japanese food and Japanese sweets as we can before we get back so we don't miss the food as much. That's our reasoning, anyway =]
Plans were made to sightsee with E the next day before parting ways (he's a great travel buddy--completely a follower in that sense lol), and an epic me-M-E-Diana-and her friend Karen lunch materialized after I threatened D with bodily harm if we didn't see her before she left to study abroad in Nagoya for a YEAR.
On the way back to our own little apartment (aka Tani House), M and I walked through the station's underground restaurant-and-shop place thingy, which was closed and deserted because it was already 10:30ish. We came across a group of 12 guys, BREAKDANCING. We just stood there are watched them, flabbergasted. They were doing craaaaaaaaaazy things on their heads! After interrogating one of them (in Japanese! =]), we found out they were a new team called Zest and they are going to be in Tokyo (Yoyogi Park!) on the 22nd for an annual breaking BATTLE. SUGOIIIIII!!!!
2. Friends: I am alive. Fear not.
3. After Sun ended, Ming and I traveled for a week around Japan. Our itinerary was:
8/10: still in Tokyo, but kicked out of apaato, so in the Sakura Hostel in Asakusa (DEF recommend it, by the way)
8/11-12: Kyoto♥ with some SANC classmates
8/13-15: Fukuoka (on the island Kyushu), with day trips to Beppu (hot springs) and Nagasaki
8/16: back to Kyoto for the Daimonji (http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/festivals/gozan.html)
8/17: final rush meet-up with some SANC-ers and Kajikawa sensei in Tokyo before running to Narita to board plane back to the States!
**the following was transcribed from the pink notebook that accompanied me on my travels**
Date written: August 12, 2009
Early morning wake-up to meet up with Mattie, Kisho, and Evan was no problem--we were meeting at the Nijojo-mae station, the station we used as home base when I was in Kyoto last year with Genji's World! Ureshii! Recognizing the station's little details, while at the same time realizing it resembles our Nishi-Shinjuku 5-choume station, brought me endless joy =] It was like acknowledging the intersection of two beloved cities--Kyoto and Tokyo--into one uniting concept--> Japan.
It was hot as hell at Nijo Castle, but it was a perfect segue into Kyoto shrine-and-temple mode. Kiyomizudera was a definite stop on my itinerary, and it just so happened that K wanted to drag M back anyway to buy more things, haha. I can't say I had forgotten how strenuous the walk up the street to the famous temple was, because last time I had smartly opted for a cab with CJ and Julian, but I DID forget it's no longer mild May but hellishly humid and hot August. Because we didn't fit on K and Ming's bus originally, Mattie was running the risk of missing his shinkansen (again), so me and E said our goodbyes and continued trekking up the gravestone-ridden path to Kiyomizudera. Finally at the entrance, we said goodbye to K as well and went through the vermillion temple-lined path to fountains of love, happiness, and good fortune (literally). After eschewing fear of contamination via (ultra violet radiated and sterilized) silver ladles at the Kiyomizudera waterfall (thank you, Japan), we settled for some shaved ice (don't get matcha) and then feasted on Kyoto udon.
That was also our first case of translating today, explaining to a European(?) tour group 17-strong that there was only room for 10. Common language: English. Status: win.
Our tummies full of udon (even III say that with a smile, despite it not being soba) and the fact that it dropped from 140 degrees F to only 120 meant that we were ambitious. Our plan? Bus to Kyoto Station, then head 40 minutes over to Kinkaku-ji (Golden Palace/Pavillion) for some pre-dinner bad-ass sightseeing and picture-taking. Too bad it was closing in 40 minutes by that time.
[Sometime between here we went to the Sanjyuusangen-do, where I got the best god luck you could possibly get. 1001 Kannon statues, one of them rivaling DaiButsu size. Thanks to Eddy K, I will never forget Kannon, Goddess of Mercy.]
Our new and improved plan, courtesy of the helper lady at the Kyoto Eki, was to JR-line-it (for free, thank you, JR Pass) to Inari and check out a lot of pretty vermillion torii (Shinto shrine gates) there. What we thought would be a casual strolling around a small Shinto shrine admiring 2 or 3 big gates torii turned into a 2-hour journey through the woods, up an almost deserted mountain, guided by an eerie path of lined-up torii (see facebook pics) and oscillating between being scared of the horror movie setting and soundtrack (cicadas) and being scared of the resemblance of our situation to Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away). Please see our 3-episode horror movie video once I put it up on youtube for more info.
Our reward for being true Yalies and actually making it to the top of the mountain was not the view from the summit (which was obscured by trees, womp womp) but the sushi dinner E bought for us afterwrad =] It was glorious. And probably only the 3rd or 4th time I've had sushi in Japan this summer.
Fatasses that at least me and Ming are, we transferred 3 restaurants down from SushiDen to Lipton, where the quintessential soup was replaced by 2 peach parfaits (E and M) and THEEE most delicious 3-mango tart. Mmmm, seriously. Me and M have eaten SO well, trying to cram in as much Japanese food and Japanese sweets as we can before we get back so we don't miss the food as much. That's our reasoning, anyway =]
Plans were made to sightsee with E the next day before parting ways (he's a great travel buddy--completely a follower in that sense lol), and an epic me-M-E-Diana-and her friend Karen lunch materialized after I threatened D with bodily harm if we didn't see her before she left to study abroad in Nagoya for a YEAR.
On the way back to our own little apartment (aka Tani House), M and I walked through the station's underground restaurant-and-shop place thingy, which was closed and deserted because it was already 10:30ish. We came across a group of 12 guys, BREAKDANCING. We just stood there are watched them, flabbergasted. They were doing craaaaaaaaaazy things on their heads! After interrogating one of them (in Japanese! =]), we found out they were a new team called Zest and they are going to be in Tokyo (Yoyogi Park!) on the 22nd for an annual breaking BATTLE. SUGOIIIIII!!!!
terça-feira, 14 de julho de 2009
Lessons in...Life!
In no particular order:
1. High School Musical music makes a lot of things better.
2. Great friends + your own will to act/fix things (that part's important, you need to pick yourself up, too) = amazing
3. I will never look like anything but a Gaijin (foreigner) here.
4. Number 3 loses its cuteness factor really quickly.
5. I can speak a little, but can't be spoken to--1st graders have a much more advanced vocabulary than I do and in general I can't understand what people say to me (which is why the Ming-Allie team is great).
6. Japanese children are THEE MOST ADORABLE THINGS EVER. I spent all day squealing "KAWAIIIII" because my heart just melted everytime I saw one. I want one now.
7. Being able to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before most of the world is AWESOME. Midnight screening starts in 3 and a half hours!
8. I was crazy to start this trek known as Learning Japanese. I was not mentally prepared for it. Japanese is not like any other language I've dealt with--you learn so much material, grammar and vocabulary and kanji and readings, and yet there's still SO MUCH you don't know. Two years' worth of study in another language is enough to allow you to traverse its country and its lingual subtleties with ease. In Japanese, when you hear from all sides that even at the fourth year level they haven't reached the other side of the mountain of fluency (or even proficiency), you know things are different. It makes me think that I can never stop learning Japanese. At any point I might want to stop, or decide I want to do something else, but I will not know enough, and more importantly, I will not have finished. None of us can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we're just struggling through this blindly, reaching out and hoping for the best, celebrating the mini triumphs and coping with the various frustrations inherent in Japanese. But guess what, guys. There are plenty of people who didn't even make it this far.
9. Instant Karma ("just add water!") comes in both Bad AND Good flavors.
10. Spending 8 hours at Starbucks studying for the midterm is a great way to completely flabbergast your senseis to the point where they actually ask you what you did to do so well on the kanji and vocab sections (for once).
11. Spending all your time with other people can be taxing, but being on your own makes your thoughts too loud.
12. Laundry machines in the monthly mansions spend 3249057 hours to wash one load. Plan accordingly.
13. Shopping (preferably at Shibuya 109) is a great de-stresser. Best part is trying on clothes; it's like a box of chocolates--it either doesn't fit you at all because Japan doesn't normally even carry your size, in which case depression will ensue, OR it'll fit and you'll look and feel great because that's positive body image confirmation and everything looks better when you wear the fashionable high heels they provide for you in the fitting rooms.
14. Japan is wonderful in so many ways.
1. High School Musical music makes a lot of things better.
2. Great friends + your own will to act/fix things (that part's important, you need to pick yourself up, too) = amazing
3. I will never look like anything but a Gaijin (foreigner) here.
4. Number 3 loses its cuteness factor really quickly.
5. I can speak a little, but can't be spoken to--1st graders have a much more advanced vocabulary than I do and in general I can't understand what people say to me (which is why the Ming-Allie team is great).
6. Japanese children are THEE MOST ADORABLE THINGS EVER. I spent all day squealing "KAWAIIIII" because my heart just melted everytime I saw one. I want one now.
7. Being able to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before most of the world is AWESOME. Midnight screening starts in 3 and a half hours!
8. I was crazy to start this trek known as Learning Japanese. I was not mentally prepared for it. Japanese is not like any other language I've dealt with--you learn so much material, grammar and vocabulary and kanji and readings, and yet there's still SO MUCH you don't know. Two years' worth of study in another language is enough to allow you to traverse its country and its lingual subtleties with ease. In Japanese, when you hear from all sides that even at the fourth year level they haven't reached the other side of the mountain of fluency (or even proficiency), you know things are different. It makes me think that I can never stop learning Japanese. At any point I might want to stop, or decide I want to do something else, but I will not know enough, and more importantly, I will not have finished. None of us can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we're just struggling through this blindly, reaching out and hoping for the best, celebrating the mini triumphs and coping with the various frustrations inherent in Japanese. But guess what, guys. There are plenty of people who didn't even make it this far.
9. Instant Karma ("just add water!") comes in both Bad AND Good flavors.
10. Spending 8 hours at Starbucks studying for the midterm is a great way to completely flabbergast your senseis to the point where they actually ask you what you did to do so well on the kanji and vocab sections (for once).
11. Spending all your time with other people can be taxing, but being on your own makes your thoughts too loud.
12. Laundry machines in the monthly mansions spend 3249057 hours to wash one load. Plan accordingly.
13. Shopping (preferably at Shibuya 109) is a great de-stresser. Best part is trying on clothes; it's like a box of chocolates--it either doesn't fit you at all because Japan doesn't normally even carry your size, in which case depression will ensue, OR it'll fit and you'll look and feel great because that's positive body image confirmation and everything looks better when you wear the fashionable high heels they provide for you in the fitting rooms.
14. Japan is wonderful in so many ways.
quarta-feira, 8 de julho de 2009
Here, the Sun Sets on the Unworthy Ones
I've been existing for the past week in a mild state of stress, worry, and inadequacy, mostly occulted by flashy festivals, good friends, and occasional Good Karma.
But all those things need to RELAX for a second, and let me be something less than happy right now. Anything less than happy. Japan is not the problem. This is not that "down curve" we keep on making jokes about.
When I got to Yale, a part of me, that Overachiever Allie with a straight 100 average her entire life and the kickass college application and all the awards, stopped being. I was no longer the best, and so I had to come to terms with that. At Yale, EVERYONE is amazing, and I gain nothing from killing myself to beat everyone in everything. Hence the birth of Mediocre Allie. I struggled through almost every single one of my classes, struggled to get, maintain, and/or eventually lose leadership of things that were important to me, and struggled through simple person-to-person relationships.
And then sophomore year I decided to be slightly ambitious again, for afterall, now I had a plan. Transforming now into Poor Life Decisions Allie, I made the motherload of bad decisions and took Organic Chemistry and Intro Japanese together, along with the 23957 activities and shows I did. So, because of no time, things had to be sacrificed, and though Japanese was more important than Orgo (says the ex-Chem Major), the glory I had amounted in the first week of Nihongo class (in which we learned Hiragana and Katakana, which I had taught myself during the summer) came crashing down. Introducing: Dumbest Kid In Class Allie.
But I told myself things would be different this summer. After SOMEHOW getting the Light Fellowship (??), I would be in Japan, learning Japanese through sheer osmosis because I'd be surrounded by Nihonjin and of course their knowledge would just seep into my head.
I've never felt so stupid. And lost. And incapable. I'm so self-sufficient normally that this not being able to do ANYTHING by myself in this city because I can't speak Japanese and I can't understand when I'm spoken to is killing me. I hate bothering people, I don't like relying on others for everything, and I just don't know what to do here. I can't fend for myself. What have I spent almost an entire year doing if I can't even understand when the lady at the bus company's Lost and Found tells me to write down my name and address? This is just really overwhelming. But at the same time it's not like I have someone else to blame. We're being taught things, given the tools to unlock the Japanese language. But what can I do when I just don't know them? There have been no days where I've been able to successfully finish all my written homework AND prepare for the next day's readings and quizzes and A-san--B-san. It's because I'm back to being Dumbest Kid in Class Allie, and I could easily spend more than 6 hours a day doing all this work because I'm so slow at it. And STILL not know everything I should know at this point. I'm so blanketed by the SANC student community, but if I were on my own, I would have perished by now.
Japan abides by Survival of the Fittest, and I'll be the first one off the Island.
But all those things need to RELAX for a second, and let me be something less than happy right now. Anything less than happy. Japan is not the problem. This is not that "down curve" we keep on making jokes about.
When I got to Yale, a part of me, that Overachiever Allie with a straight 100 average her entire life and the kickass college application and all the awards, stopped being. I was no longer the best, and so I had to come to terms with that. At Yale, EVERYONE is amazing, and I gain nothing from killing myself to beat everyone in everything. Hence the birth of Mediocre Allie. I struggled through almost every single one of my classes, struggled to get, maintain, and/or eventually lose leadership of things that were important to me, and struggled through simple person-to-person relationships.
And then sophomore year I decided to be slightly ambitious again, for afterall, now I had a plan. Transforming now into Poor Life Decisions Allie, I made the motherload of bad decisions and took Organic Chemistry and Intro Japanese together, along with the 23957 activities and shows I did. So, because of no time, things had to be sacrificed, and though Japanese was more important than Orgo (says the ex-Chem Major), the glory I had amounted in the first week of Nihongo class (in which we learned Hiragana and Katakana, which I had taught myself during the summer) came crashing down. Introducing: Dumbest Kid In Class Allie.
But I told myself things would be different this summer. After SOMEHOW getting the Light Fellowship (??), I would be in Japan, learning Japanese through sheer osmosis because I'd be surrounded by Nihonjin and of course their knowledge would just seep into my head.
I've never felt so stupid. And lost. And incapable. I'm so self-sufficient normally that this not being able to do ANYTHING by myself in this city because I can't speak Japanese and I can't understand when I'm spoken to is killing me. I hate bothering people, I don't like relying on others for everything, and I just don't know what to do here. I can't fend for myself. What have I spent almost an entire year doing if I can't even understand when the lady at the bus company's Lost and Found tells me to write down my name and address? This is just really overwhelming. But at the same time it's not like I have someone else to blame. We're being taught things, given the tools to unlock the Japanese language. But what can I do when I just don't know them? There have been no days where I've been able to successfully finish all my written homework AND prepare for the next day's readings and quizzes and A-san--B-san. It's because I'm back to being Dumbest Kid in Class Allie, and I could easily spend more than 6 hours a day doing all this work because I'm so slow at it. And STILL not know everything I should know at this point. I'm so blanketed by the SANC student community, but if I were on my own, I would have perished by now.
Japan abides by Survival of the Fittest, and I'll be the first one off the Island.
terça-feira, 7 de julho de 2009
SEE, Japan IS Diverse
I'm a terrible blogger lol. Let me try to make it up to you guys...though I'm aiming for less detail because my cell phone is currently traveling around Shibuya on the #64 bus...without me...like the worried mommy I am, I need to be alert for news of my baby, I mean, phone.
Reasons Why I Think Japan is a Tiny Bit Diverse, or At Least Has Been in Strange Ways in the Past Week or So:
1. July 4th.
Everybody celebrates July 4th, right? I mean, it's July 4th. Fireworks and barbecues. It also happens to be Independence Day. Who wouldn't celebrate independence?
Oh. You mean it's not a worldwide independence? It's just a celebration of independence for the United States? Oh. Well. Huh. Good point. Then I guess I can see why Japan wasn't throwing a party that night...
Japan might not have been throwing us a party, but for us SANC kids and all the ex-pats out there, they gave us the tools to start our own party (riiiiight).
Long story short, we had great company, great (American) food, great second-language conversations/mess-ups, great (American) karaoke songs, and a terrible night out after that haha. BUT 2 am gyooza (dumplings) makes everything better, I swear.
2. I SPOKE SPANISH.
So Sunday we went to Harajuku, the fashion-forward area of Tokyo made famous by Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls (those 4 Japanese chicks she takes everywhere). Diana/Usagi, Ming, John, Tommy, Kisho, and I ventured out to the land of gigantic 100 yen shops, heavenly crepes, all the clothes I've ever wanted, purikura, and cosplay.
Purikura is where you enter a photo booth with a green screen behind you and take pictures with your friends that you can later add things like kanji, words, stars, background colors, cupcakes, and even pigs and little poop things to (Nick...). The end result is an AMAZING quality picture that makes you smile everytime you look at it =]
And cosplay is the main attraction in Harajuku, basically people dressed up in elaborate anime/character costumes. You pass by, gawk at them, giggle a little at the pink hair-ed ones, and then surreptitiously take a picture. If you're REALLY lucky, you get a picture with them, not just of them. And if you're suffering from a backlog of Bad Karma like we apparently were (I can pinpoint the reason for every BK incident...same reason every time haha), you'll miss the cosplay-ers(?) completely.
Post Harajuku, we went to the Meiji Shrine (again for Minty, Kisho, and me), where I experienced pure happiness. I passed a man who was with a little old lady, and as I glanced at them, I thought, "They look Hispanic..." (Just saying, I'm ALLOWED to say that because I'm Hispanic haha). Since I had been bitchin' for 3 weeks about wanting to run into random Spanish-speaking people in Tokyo (usually a rant that started when all the Chinese-language kids had some sort of epiphany together and I was like *sigh* another language I don't know), I didn't think twice and just asked, "Ustedes hablan español?"
"Sí!"
=D
I talked to them for probably 5 minutes, because I didn't want to keep my friends waiting, but as was pointed out at the time, I had the BIGGEST smile on my face. They were from Mexico, were spending a total of 2 weeks in Tokyo(quince días, como decímos nosotros), and were really nice and just as happy as I was to have someone to talk to in their native tongue =] We were each other's first Hispanic-person encounters--Good Karma!
3. Chinese Valentine's Day
Is today! And though I don't yet fully understand the whole concept (the story goes something like two lovers separated by the Milky Way, are able to unite once a year, on the 7th of the 7th month when the stars align and allow them a bridge to get across to each other), I'm so excited because we're going to a matsuri (festival) in Asakusa tonight! WHY Japan regularly celebrates China's version of Valentine's Day, I have no idea, but my guess is because the heavens want to give me and Nick a chance to take couple-pictures at this festival.
Or maybe I was RIGHT about my entry title =]
Reasons Why I Think Japan is a Tiny Bit Diverse, or At Least Has Been in Strange Ways in the Past Week or So:
1. July 4th.
Everybody celebrates July 4th, right? I mean, it's July 4th. Fireworks and barbecues. It also happens to be Independence Day. Who wouldn't celebrate independence?
Oh. You mean it's not a worldwide independence? It's just a celebration of independence for the United States? Oh. Well. Huh. Good point. Then I guess I can see why Japan wasn't throwing a party that night...
Japan might not have been throwing us a party, but for us SANC kids and all the ex-pats out there, they gave us the tools to start our own party (riiiiight).
Long story short, we had great company, great (American) food, great second-language conversations/mess-ups, great (American) karaoke songs, and a terrible night out after that haha. BUT 2 am gyooza (dumplings) makes everything better, I swear.
2. I SPOKE SPANISH.
So Sunday we went to Harajuku, the fashion-forward area of Tokyo made famous by Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls (those 4 Japanese chicks she takes everywhere). Diana/Usagi, Ming, John, Tommy, Kisho, and I ventured out to the land of gigantic 100 yen shops, heavenly crepes, all the clothes I've ever wanted, purikura, and cosplay.
Purikura is where you enter a photo booth with a green screen behind you and take pictures with your friends that you can later add things like kanji, words, stars, background colors, cupcakes, and even pigs and little poop things to (Nick...). The end result is an AMAZING quality picture that makes you smile everytime you look at it =]
And cosplay is the main attraction in Harajuku, basically people dressed up in elaborate anime/character costumes. You pass by, gawk at them, giggle a little at the pink hair-ed ones, and then surreptitiously take a picture. If you're REALLY lucky, you get a picture with them, not just of them. And if you're suffering from a backlog of Bad Karma like we apparently were (I can pinpoint the reason for every BK incident...same reason every time haha), you'll miss the cosplay-ers(?) completely.
Post Harajuku, we went to the Meiji Shrine (again for Minty, Kisho, and me), where I experienced pure happiness. I passed a man who was with a little old lady, and as I glanced at them, I thought, "They look Hispanic..." (Just saying, I'm ALLOWED to say that because I'm Hispanic haha). Since I had been bitchin' for 3 weeks about wanting to run into random Spanish-speaking people in Tokyo (usually a rant that started when all the Chinese-language kids had some sort of epiphany together and I was like *sigh* another language I don't know), I didn't think twice and just asked, "Ustedes hablan español?"
"Sí!"
=D
I talked to them for probably 5 minutes, because I didn't want to keep my friends waiting, but as was pointed out at the time, I had the BIGGEST smile on my face. They were from Mexico, were spending a total of 2 weeks in Tokyo(quince días, como decímos nosotros), and were really nice and just as happy as I was to have someone to talk to in their native tongue =] We were each other's first Hispanic-person encounters--Good Karma!
3. Chinese Valentine's Day
Is today! And though I don't yet fully understand the whole concept (the story goes something like two lovers separated by the Milky Way, are able to unite once a year, on the 7th of the 7th month when the stars align and allow them a bridge to get across to each other), I'm so excited because we're going to a matsuri (festival) in Asakusa tonight! WHY Japan regularly celebrates China's version of Valentine's Day, I have no idea, but my guess is because the heavens want to give me and Nick a chance to take couple-pictures at this festival.
Or maybe I was RIGHT about my entry title =]
domingo, 28 de junho de 2009
Homestay Diaries--> with updates =D
*Faithfully transcribed from the notebook in which I wrote during my homestay this past weekend.
*I have also since actually finished this post and included help for the Japanese (scroll over).
___________________________________________________________________________________
I need to write about my homestay weekend. I do NOT want to forget anything.
Day 1 --> 金曜日
I was the very last person to be picked up from SANC's Asakasa [Nogizaka] office. I got there at 3 pm and paced, tried nervously speaking 日本語 with the 先生, fanned myself and others in the 329741 degree room, and in general flipped out from excitement and worry 'til Kobanawa-san came for me at 6 pm.
I would have easily waited more for that man.
My ♥ kind of sank when I saw it was an otoko の 人 b/c they're generally not as bubbly and they mumble a lot. I also felt he would be stern and judge me for knowing practically no Japanese though I've been studying for like 10 months.
ちがう！
He's practically the nicest, warmest, happiest man I've ever met. He knows English well so [he] is able to help me search for unknown words or explain something new in a way (i.e. a language) I can actually understand. He works for Deutsche(?) Bank and is very wordly, having studied at UCSD [University of California at San Diego] and traveled a bunch (Quito!). He also thinks I'm really cool ^__^. Yay ego boost.
His wife is super nice, too, and his two musumee, ゆか (五） and かなえ （九） are so KAWAII!
My 1st grave/embarrassing/hilarious mishap was right after arriving at their gorgeous house. Both お母さん AND お父さん were helping make dinner and ゆか brought me a plastic cup with an aluminum foil lid that she got out of the fridge and made "どうぞ” motions. She took what looked like orange Jello our of it and handed it to me. As she's telling me it's "スライム (slime), I stick it in my mouth.
Instant panic from お母さん AND かなえ。 ”食べない！”
Translation? "That's not FOOD, you moron!"
...
Needless to say, I found a bathroom ASAP and disposed of the NOT-Jello.
In spite of starting my homestay weekend looking like I'm retarded [and poorly fed] (or maybe because of it...), and reenacting what I'm sure is every single faux pas a Gaijin could possibly commit, they have been SO nice. I'm completely in love with こばなわ and company.
たとえば、 I mentioned to お父さん that we were gonna climb ふじ山 at some point, and he instantly pulled out a corresponding map (map を pull out ことにしている) and gave me advice on how to get there (bus from Shinjuku), when to go (mid-July is kind of あぶない), which of 4 routes to take to reach the summit (一ばんかんたん、 もちろん), and why it's awesome (::insert recounting of two times he climbed ふじ山 here::).
_________________________________________________________________________________
To be continued when I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard ^__^
______________________________________________________
Continuation:
We talked A LOT (as best as I could--and I SWEAR I stuck to 日本語だけ。 English would have been too easy) and covered lots of different topics. I would tell him about my 友達 and once after I mentioned Nick-chan, he said,
"そう、 アリちゃん の ボイフレーンド だ ねえ。”
HAHAHAHAHA. 何 です か？！
When he picked me up from the SANC オヒス, we just chilled and chatted with one of the 先生 for a bit (名前 を わすれちゃった。。。 じつは, I don't think I ever knew it). I mentioned how I went to Kyoto last year and explained the Genji class and that Nick-chan also went. That, plus the fact that me and him are together and hug-y a lot, made 先生 think we're really together. Turns out, while お父さん and 先生 were talking and I was tuned out because I ceased to understand, that misinformation was relayed. お父さん thought the whole thing was hilarious and decided he rather likes Nick-chan, too, I think ^__^
I also have to say I am in the SWEETEST guest room EVER. It's a real life 和しつ, a たたみ room! I think they worried I might not be used to it and would be uncomfortable, but I was ecstatic and declared it perfect. I wish my apartment had a 和しつ!
Day 2 --> 土曜日
Slept great, though it WAS a little あつい in the morning (ahem). Granted, it was ~34 degrees Celcius outside (37 degrees C is body temperature, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, to put that into perspective), so whatevs. We went to a humongous スーパー to get ingredients for lunch and dinner, and on the way saw my first ever 日本 の gas station. At the スーパー, they were giving out food samples (COSTCO-like!) and one lady managed to get ゆか to accept a "jelly." Then she turned to お父さん and me while we were walking away and said,
”お母さん と お父さん も？”
”へええええええ！”
SOMEHOW, I was mistaken for ゆか's mom, my お父さん's WIFE.
Does that mean I looked like a 日本人？？？？？？
*I have also since actually finished this post and included help for the Japanese (scroll over).
___________________________________________________________________________________
I need to write about my homestay weekend. I do NOT want to forget anything.
Day 1 --> 金曜日
I was the very last person to be picked up from SANC's Asakasa [Nogizaka] office. I got there at 3 pm and paced, tried nervously speaking 日本語 with the 先生, fanned myself and others in the 329741 degree room, and in general flipped out from excitement and worry 'til Kobanawa-san came for me at 6 pm.
I would have easily waited more for that man.
My ♥ kind of sank when I saw it was an otoko の 人 b/c they're generally not as bubbly and they mumble a lot. I also felt he would be stern and judge me for knowing practically no Japanese though I've been studying for like 10 months.
ちがう！
He's practically the nicest, warmest, happiest man I've ever met. He knows English well so [he] is able to help me search for unknown words or explain something new in a way (i.e. a language) I can actually understand. He works for Deutsche(?) Bank and is very wordly, having studied at UCSD [University of California at San Diego] and traveled a bunch (Quito!). He also thinks I'm really cool ^__^. Yay ego boost.
His wife is super nice, too, and his two musumee, ゆか (五） and かなえ （九） are so KAWAII!
My 1st grave/embarrassing/hilarious mishap was right after arriving at their gorgeous house. Both お母さん AND お父さん were helping make dinner and ゆか brought me a plastic cup with an aluminum foil lid that she got out of the fridge and made "どうぞ” motions. She took what looked like orange Jello our of it and handed it to me. As she's telling me it's "スライム (slime), I stick it in my mouth.
Instant panic from お母さん AND かなえ。 ”食べない！”
Translation? "That's not FOOD, you moron!"
...
Needless to say, I found a bathroom ASAP and disposed of the NOT-Jello.
In spite of starting my homestay weekend looking like I'm retarded [and poorly fed] (or maybe because of it...), and reenacting what I'm sure is every single faux pas a Gaijin could possibly commit, they have been SO nice. I'm completely in love with こばなわ and company.
たとえば、 I mentioned to お父さん that we were gonna climb ふじ山 at some point, and he instantly pulled out a corresponding map (map を pull out ことにしている) and gave me advice on how to get there (bus from Shinjuku), when to go (mid-July is kind of あぶない), which of 4 routes to take to reach the summit (一ばんかんたん、 もちろん), and why it's awesome (::insert recounting of two times he climbed ふじ山 here::).
_________________________________________________________________________________
To be continued when I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard ^__^
______________________________________________________
Continuation:
We talked A LOT (as best as I could--and I SWEAR I stuck to 日本語だけ。 English would have been too easy) and covered lots of different topics. I would tell him about my 友達 and once after I mentioned Nick-chan, he said,
"そう、 アリちゃん の ボイフレーンド だ ねえ。”
HAHAHAHAHA. 何 です か？！
When he picked me up from the SANC オヒス, we just chilled and chatted with one of the 先生 for a bit (名前 を わすれちゃった。。。 じつは, I don't think I ever knew it). I mentioned how I went to Kyoto last year and explained the Genji class and that Nick-chan also went. That, plus the fact that me and him are together and hug-y a lot, made 先生 think we're really together. Turns out, while お父さん and 先生 were talking and I was tuned out because I ceased to understand, that misinformation was relayed. お父さん thought the whole thing was hilarious and decided he rather likes Nick-chan, too, I think ^__^
I also have to say I am in the SWEETEST guest room EVER. It's a real life 和しつ, a たたみ room! I think they worried I might not be used to it and would be uncomfortable, but I was ecstatic and declared it perfect. I wish my apartment had a 和しつ!
Day 2 --> 土曜日
Slept great, though it WAS a little あつい in the morning (ahem). Granted, it was ~34 degrees Celcius outside (37 degrees C is body temperature, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, to put that into perspective), so whatevs. We went to a humongous スーパー to get ingredients for lunch and dinner, and on the way saw my first ever 日本 の gas station. At the スーパー, they were giving out food samples (COSTCO-like!) and one lady managed to get ゆか to accept a "jelly." Then she turned to お父さん and me while we were walking away and said,
”お母さん と お父さん も？”
”へええええええ！”
SOMEHOW, I was mistaken for ゆか's mom, my お父さん's WIFE.
Does that mean I looked like a 日本人？？？？？？
quarta-feira, 24 de junho de 2009
Culture Time: Kabuki and Calligraphy!
So until now, I've clearly been living in Japan, but just recently it REALLY started to feel like Japan.
Yesterday, the SANC senseis took us to a kabuki show. I'm sure you all have an image of what kabuki is like--white-painted faces, ridiculously elaborate costumes, ornate sets, only-male actors, and a language you don't understand. Well, that pretty much sums it up!
This particular kabuki show that we went to see was at the National Theatre of Japan, a really gorgeous space a short train ride from SANC. The stage was ginormous and had a runway-like platform connecting it and backstage (but a backstage behind the audience; the "runway" ran from the stage, through an aisle in the audience, and then through a curtain behind us).
For the first 30 or so minutes of the performance, two men (who I'm pretty sure played two of the protagonists) were dressed in what I can only describe as what Rei from Sailor Moon would wear (oh, the ignorance. I'm sorry, Japan) and explained a lot of things to us.
Well, they explained things to those who could understand (i.e. Nick) and then the rest of us would get the summarized English version via whisper. From what I got (because Nick not only translated for me, but also for Adam, and therefore missed some stuff himself), the two men were teaching the audience about the different aspects of kabuki theatre. All the sound effects and music are done by people that are either on stage in a corner, or behind blinds. And there are ninja-helpers (that's what we called them, anyway) that are dressed completely in black (like ninjas) and scurry around the stage to bring props to the chatacters, or take props away. We were told to pretend we didn't see them, haha.
After the explanation (which we guessed was for the benefit of all the school children present), we were given a 20ish minute intermission before the start of the actual performance. So we SANCers kinda milled around in the gift shop area, and when the announcer lady person started talking, I decided to head back to my seat. I walked past a pack of school girls 20-strong, and they ALL STARED AT ME and squealed, "kawaii!!"
...
Now, I will happily take that. Apparently those Japanese school girls found something cute about me. Probably my non-Japanese AND non-White look, haha. But I just found it so odd, you would think that a cute American BOY walking past would get that treatment...I'm not gonna look into that too much, haha.
The kabuki show was cool, especially when the Monkey God took out his red and gold BO (SUGOIII!) and started doing cool stuff with it. I would hit Nick excitedly and be like, "I CAN DO THAT TOO!". It was pretty awesome. Made me wish we had brooms in our apaatos.
After the actual show, we were given special treatment (thank you SANC/Light!) and were taken backstage to see how things work with the sets and the trapdoors the characters sometimes used. It was cool and I picked up some tidbits of knowledge from asking Nick, like how only characters that were divine could use the trapdoor to rise out of the floor, and how the basement area under the stage was referred to as the Japanese word for "hell," and was alleged to have ghosts down there. We even got to stand in the middle of the gigantic stage as someone pulled some kind of lever and the floor started rotating! It was very very cool, an enormous circle of floor in the middle of the stage could rotate a full 360 degrees. I love sugoiiiii things. =]
***
Today was our first Calligraphy class, and it's all thanks to Adam-chan. Adam is kind of a beast when it comes to Calligraphy (he started 3 years ago and is AMAZING at it), and he talked to the senseis about offering a class. We cycle through because there are too many of us that are interested, and I got to be in the first batch because my hand went up the fastest (typical).
After class and lunch, we took the train with the senseis to the SANC office (not located where we have class) where the NICEST little sensei was waiting for us. She taught us the names for all the different types of brushes (which I have since forgotten because I couldn't write anything down), taught us how to pour the ink and hold the brush, etc.
It was an hour and a half of pure bliss.
I'm really big on fonts and handwriting (only semi-artistic thing I can do, haha), and this was like Christmas coming early. I could literally just draw strokes for hours. It was so relaxing, and so much fun, and every time my brush made contact with the paper, it was a new creation. We started with simple horizontal, then vertical, strokes (harder than it sounds), and worked our way up to simple kanji. I must have used 46 trees' worth of paper (I feel bad about it, actually). Our first kanji was 川 (kawa, which means river), and from there we worked our way up to 明日 (ashita, tomorrow).
It was so simple an act, and yet so beautiful. I've resolved to find SOME way to continue this back in the US--I wish I could do this every day, but sadly I can't even settle for every week. Since we're rotating, 4 different people get their turn next week. But never fear oh devout blog-readers: Rene and I realized that if we take out everyone else in the program, we can do Calligraphy every week ^__^
Stay tuned for progress on that one.
Yesterday, the SANC senseis took us to a kabuki show. I'm sure you all have an image of what kabuki is like--white-painted faces, ridiculously elaborate costumes, ornate sets, only-male actors, and a language you don't understand. Well, that pretty much sums it up!
This particular kabuki show that we went to see was at the National Theatre of Japan, a really gorgeous space a short train ride from SANC. The stage was ginormous and had a runway-like platform connecting it and backstage (but a backstage behind the audience; the "runway" ran from the stage, through an aisle in the audience, and then through a curtain behind us).
For the first 30 or so minutes of the performance, two men (who I'm pretty sure played two of the protagonists) were dressed in what I can only describe as what Rei from Sailor Moon would wear (oh, the ignorance. I'm sorry, Japan) and explained a lot of things to us.
Well, they explained things to those who could understand (i.e. Nick) and then the rest of us would get the summarized English version via whisper. From what I got (because Nick not only translated for me, but also for Adam, and therefore missed some stuff himself), the two men were teaching the audience about the different aspects of kabuki theatre. All the sound effects and music are done by people that are either on stage in a corner, or behind blinds. And there are ninja-helpers (that's what we called them, anyway) that are dressed completely in black (like ninjas) and scurry around the stage to bring props to the chatacters, or take props away. We were told to pretend we didn't see them, haha.
After the explanation (which we guessed was for the benefit of all the school children present), we were given a 20ish minute intermission before the start of the actual performance. So we SANCers kinda milled around in the gift shop area, and when the announcer lady person started talking, I decided to head back to my seat. I walked past a pack of school girls 20-strong, and they ALL STARED AT ME and squealed, "kawaii!!"
...
Now, I will happily take that. Apparently those Japanese school girls found something cute about me. Probably my non-Japanese AND non-White look, haha. But I just found it so odd, you would think that a cute American BOY walking past would get that treatment...I'm not gonna look into that too much, haha.
The kabuki show was cool, especially when the Monkey God took out his red and gold BO (SUGOIII!) and started doing cool stuff with it. I would hit Nick excitedly and be like, "I CAN DO THAT TOO!". It was pretty awesome. Made me wish we had brooms in our apaatos.
After the actual show, we were given special treatment (thank you SANC/Light!) and were taken backstage to see how things work with the sets and the trapdoors the characters sometimes used. It was cool and I picked up some tidbits of knowledge from asking Nick, like how only characters that were divine could use the trapdoor to rise out of the floor, and how the basement area under the stage was referred to as the Japanese word for "hell," and was alleged to have ghosts down there. We even got to stand in the middle of the gigantic stage as someone pulled some kind of lever and the floor started rotating! It was very very cool, an enormous circle of floor in the middle of the stage could rotate a full 360 degrees. I love sugoiiiii things. =]
***
Today was our first Calligraphy class, and it's all thanks to Adam-chan. Adam is kind of a beast when it comes to Calligraphy (he started 3 years ago and is AMAZING at it), and he talked to the senseis about offering a class. We cycle through because there are too many of us that are interested, and I got to be in the first batch because my hand went up the fastest (typical).
After class and lunch, we took the train with the senseis to the SANC office (not located where we have class) where the NICEST little sensei was waiting for us. She taught us the names for all the different types of brushes (which I have since forgotten because I couldn't write anything down), taught us how to pour the ink and hold the brush, etc.
It was an hour and a half of pure bliss.
I'm really big on fonts and handwriting (only semi-artistic thing I can do, haha), and this was like Christmas coming early. I could literally just draw strokes for hours. It was so relaxing, and so much fun, and every time my brush made contact with the paper, it was a new creation. We started with simple horizontal, then vertical, strokes (harder than it sounds), and worked our way up to simple kanji. I must have used 46 trees' worth of paper (I feel bad about it, actually). Our first kanji was 川 (kawa, which means river), and from there we worked our way up to 明日 (ashita, tomorrow).
It was so simple an act, and yet so beautiful. I've resolved to find SOME way to continue this back in the US--I wish I could do this every day, but sadly I can't even settle for every week. Since we're rotating, 4 different people get their turn next week. But never fear oh devout blog-readers: Rene and I realized that if we take out everyone else in the program, we can do Calligraphy every week ^__^
Stay tuned for progress on that one.
domingo, 21 de junho de 2009
SANC: Study Hard, Party Hard...Just Like Yale!
Tomorrow, we second years have our first weekly big test (apart from the kanji and grammar quiz that we have every morning), covering all the grammar (like 4 or 5 new structures) and all the kanji (120 of them...roughly what we took most of first YEAR to learn), and all the vocab (I'd say about...200+ words) we've done so far.
o.O
Who said SANC is not demanding?? The second years are easily doing more work than the 3rd and 4th years COMBINED, womp womp. And all this studying (PLUS the like 2357 worksheets they gave us as homework at the end of the day on Friday) has fallen to Sunday, like a good Yalie and college student in general. I mean, between going to the Imperial Palace (not that we even SAW it, the palace grounds are ginormous and the Palace itself is only open for two days a year--New Year's and the Emperor's birthday), walking around Ginza and adamantly not buying anything (basically 5th Avenue with a really awesome Yoshinoya) (haha I love how EVERYTHING is a comparison to New York), following Rene as he struts into Dior like he owns the place and comforting him as he complains they didn't have the bag he wanted to show us (the same Rene who then plays the Stereotyping Card when me and Ming suggest going to him to see if we're dressed well enough to go out that night), and checking out the "cool stuff" (omoshiroi mono or sugoi koto, takeyour pick) at the Sony Building we read so much about in Japanese class (a building whose facade was upstaged by the Hermés building), we clearly didn't have enough time for homework during the day.
And then at night....let me just say we made full use of my cards (which I need to get back...), did speed karaoke in 30 minutes, and enjoyed Roppongi, and got home at 6 because the Tokyo subway closes between midnight and 5 (WTF, right??), which means we HAD to stay out that late =]
And in general annoyed every single person in Tokyo in one night (a fact which we realized, as me and Hee-Sun would randomly proclaim, "Ohhh noooo, we're WARUI GAIJIN! We're BAD FOREIGNERS! Everyone hates us..." LMAO).
And now, totally unrelated, I'll put up pictures of my apartment, just because I finally took some the other day:
PS SANC's official song is "Love Story," Taylor Swift.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRkoGKQ8qQ
o.O
Who said SANC is not demanding?? The second years are easily doing more work than the 3rd and 4th years COMBINED, womp womp. And all this studying (PLUS the like 2357 worksheets they gave us as homework at the end of the day on Friday) has fallen to Sunday, like a good Yalie and college student in general. I mean, between going to the Imperial Palace (not that we even SAW it, the palace grounds are ginormous and the Palace itself is only open for two days a year--New Year's and the Emperor's birthday), walking around Ginza and adamantly not buying anything (basically 5th Avenue with a really awesome Yoshinoya) (haha I love how EVERYTHING is a comparison to New York), following Rene as he struts into Dior like he owns the place and comforting him as he complains they didn't have the bag he wanted to show us (the same Rene who then plays the Stereotyping Card when me and Ming suggest going to him to see if we're dressed well enough to go out that night), and checking out the "cool stuff" (omoshiroi mono or sugoi koto, takeyour pick) at the Sony Building we read so much about in Japanese class (a building whose facade was upstaged by the Hermés building), we clearly didn't have enough time for homework during the day.
And then at night....let me just say we made full use of my cards (which I need to get back...), did speed karaoke in 30 minutes, and enjoyed Roppongi, and got home at 6 because the Tokyo subway closes between midnight and 5 (WTF, right??), which means we HAD to stay out that late =]
And in general annoyed every single person in Tokyo in one night (a fact which we realized, as me and Hee-Sun would randomly proclaim, "Ohhh noooo, we're WARUI GAIJIN! We're BAD FOREIGNERS! Everyone hates us..." LMAO).
And now, totally unrelated, I'll put up pictures of my apartment, just because I finally took some the other day:
PS SANC's official song is "Love Story," Taylor Swift.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRkoGKQ8qQ
terça-feira, 16 de junho de 2009
I'm Totally a 日本人...JK DAKE!
*JK dake is copyrighted by Rene Bystron.
*oh, and try mousing over anything that you don't understand, I've supplied explanations for most japanese words/phrases, either romaji or Japanese.
My previous post was very choppy and awkwardly put-together, as I noticed when I read through it again. If you must know, that post was a conglomeration (SAT word) of multiple days' worth of writing, in short, 10-minute bursts. Today (Tuesday) was the first day I had any time to myself, to relax, to listen to Grace Kelly, and to actually do homework, haha. What the hell have I been doing with my time? Well, it's broken up pretty well like this:
A) Class. We have class from 9:30 am to 12:50 pm, with 2 10-ish-minute breaks in between the sections of class. SANC is located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, a really short walk from this ginormous transportation hub, Shibuya Eki (Station). Shibuya Eki itself is a 20-minute bus ride from our apartment buildings (both buildings are about 3 minutes apart), which are affectionately and appropriately named the "Monthly Mansions."
B) Exploring. This is Day 2 and we've already explored a good chunk of the surrounding Shibuya area, where there are TONS of shops, department stores, boutiques, restaurants, ramen shops, Starbucks (essential, but sadly it costs 400 yen--4 bucks--for a smaller than "tall" drink...WOMP WOMP), and best of all, PEOPLE. There are always always people walking around, it's like one of Tokyo's answers to Times Square (yes, I did just make that comparison. I CAN, I'm a New Yorker).
C) Searching for something and failing. I must have looked at every denshi jisho in greater Tokyo, specifically in Akihabara (the famous Tokyo "electric town" where they sell every electronic item you could have ever imagined), looking for one that would suit me and not make even Mr. Light gasp upon looking at the price tag. On Monday (my second day of looking for one, mind you), we spent a good 5ish hours after class, in a group of about 6, looking for those damn things. We perfected the art of saying, ”すみません。 電子辞書 が ありますか, except of course, when it was Rene's turn to ask someone something and instead of struggling in Japanese like the rest of us, stepped aside and presented them to Kisho (as if they won a prize), and stated, "これは 日本人!” ("Here is a Japanese person!").
(If you're curious, we did end up getting them, all four of us got the same one, Canon Wordtank G90, and are still thanking Mr. Light profusely.)
D) Eating. You knew this one was coming. Though I feel like my appetite has adjusted to Japanese standards--I get full faster than I do back in the states. So since I only need a little bit of delicious Japanese food to satisfy me, I save MAD MONEY. Lunch for me is usually a bowl of rice with awesome meat on top, or maybe a bowl of soba. Today I paid 380 yen, which is less than 4 dollars. HELL EFFIN YEAH. And tonight, me, Ki-chan and Mattie didn't feel like cooking so we went in search of ramen and found this kickass, tiny little place by the Shibuya mansion (or where we think it is, none of us have actually been there yet) with awesome food, including fried rice. Totally going back there. And I've decided I'm going to try to friend the guy who works there (by himself), God knows he could use some amusement in his life, I'm sure.
Along with eating goes cooking, and I'll just say I'm glad I'm not a complicated eater. I cook my simple dishes of chicken or beef with tomatoes and asparagus and things like that, and then bring it over to Mattie and Ki-chan's room and laugh as they gape at my dinner plate, which they call a snack. Though I must say I'm very impressed with their cooking abilities. Men are now forever safe from my scorn when it comes to actually being able to make edible food.
E) Karaoke. No lie. I've been in Japan for less than a week, and I have gone karaoke-ing twice already. It's so much fun, especially because SANC people are hilarious and crazy, and you can do it basically whenever. Both times it's been on a complete whim, though Monday's was clearly necessary because we had been wandering Akihabara for hours and were getting frustrated and tired and needed to lift our spirits so we wouldn't be Debbie Downers (also copyrighted by Rene Bystron). It's also SUCH a Japanese thing to do, and I mean, when in Rome... =]
I'm hoping to have pictures up soon, but for now I have to go memorize these 20 kanji and like 40 new vocab words. And read things. At a faster pace than we read them today, haha.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my コーヒー の デート, so I'm really excited to sit down and people watch. Especially since Nihonjin are my favorite people right now =]
*oh, and try mousing over anything that you don't understand, I've supplied explanations for most japanese words/phrases, either romaji or Japanese.
My previous post was very choppy and awkwardly put-together, as I noticed when I read through it again. If you must know, that post was a conglomeration (SAT word) of multiple days' worth of writing, in short, 10-minute bursts. Today (Tuesday) was the first day I had any time to myself, to relax, to listen to Grace Kelly, and to actually do homework, haha. What the hell have I been doing with my time? Well, it's broken up pretty well like this:
A) Class. We have class from 9:30 am to 12:50 pm, with 2 10-ish-minute breaks in between the sections of class. SANC is located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, a really short walk from this ginormous transportation hub, Shibuya Eki (Station). Shibuya Eki itself is a 20-minute bus ride from our apartment buildings (both buildings are about 3 minutes apart), which are affectionately and appropriately named the "Monthly Mansions."
B) Exploring. This is Day 2 and we've already explored a good chunk of the surrounding Shibuya area, where there are TONS of shops, department stores, boutiques, restaurants, ramen shops, Starbucks (essential, but sadly it costs 400 yen--4 bucks--for a smaller than "tall" drink...WOMP WOMP), and best of all, PEOPLE. There are always always people walking around, it's like one of Tokyo's answers to Times Square (yes, I did just make that comparison. I CAN, I'm a New Yorker).
C) Searching for something and failing. I must have looked at every denshi jisho in greater Tokyo, specifically in Akihabara (the famous Tokyo "electric town" where they sell every electronic item you could have ever imagined), looking for one that would suit me and not make even Mr. Light gasp upon looking at the price tag. On Monday (my second day of looking for one, mind you), we spent a good 5ish hours after class, in a group of about 6, looking for those damn things. We perfected the art of saying, ”すみません。 電子辞書 が ありますか, except of course, when it was Rene's turn to ask someone something and instead of struggling in Japanese like the rest of us, stepped aside and presented them to Kisho (as if they won a prize), and stated, "これは 日本人!” ("Here is a Japanese person!").
(If you're curious, we did end up getting them, all four of us got the same one, Canon Wordtank G90, and are still thanking Mr. Light profusely.)
D) Eating. You knew this one was coming. Though I feel like my appetite has adjusted to Japanese standards--I get full faster than I do back in the states. So since I only need a little bit of delicious Japanese food to satisfy me, I save MAD MONEY. Lunch for me is usually a bowl of rice with awesome meat on top, or maybe a bowl of soba. Today I paid 380 yen, which is less than 4 dollars. HELL EFFIN YEAH. And tonight, me, Ki-chan and Mattie didn't feel like cooking so we went in search of ramen and found this kickass, tiny little place by the Shibuya mansion (or where we think it is, none of us have actually been there yet) with awesome food, including fried rice. Totally going back there. And I've decided I'm going to try to friend the guy who works there (by himself), God knows he could use some amusement in his life, I'm sure.
Along with eating goes cooking, and I'll just say I'm glad I'm not a complicated eater. I cook my simple dishes of chicken or beef with tomatoes and asparagus and things like that, and then bring it over to Mattie and Ki-chan's room and laugh as they gape at my dinner plate, which they call a snack. Though I must say I'm very impressed with their cooking abilities. Men are now forever safe from my scorn when it comes to actually being able to make edible food.
E) Karaoke. No lie. I've been in Japan for less than a week, and I have gone karaoke-ing twice already. It's so much fun, especially because SANC people are hilarious and crazy, and you can do it basically whenever. Both times it's been on a complete whim, though Monday's was clearly necessary because we had been wandering Akihabara for hours and were getting frustrated and tired and needed to lift our spirits so we wouldn't be Debbie Downers (also copyrighted by Rene Bystron). It's also SUCH a Japanese thing to do, and I mean, when in Rome... =]
I'm hoping to have pictures up soon, but for now I have to go memorize these 20 kanji and like 40 new vocab words. And read things. At a faster pace than we read them today, haha.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my コーヒー の デート, so I'm really excited to sit down and people watch. Especially since Nihonjin are my favorite people right now =]
sábado, 13 de junho de 2009
Exploring Tokyo...Has Led Me To Neglect You, Oh Blog-y One
I apologize! Though I do feel like this will be a trend. My decision this summer--on one hand, TOKYOOOOOOOOOO, with all its soba shops and yummy curry places and drunk old men who think Rene is... and really expensive boutiques and really expensive Starbucks (but it's STARBUCKS!) and wonderful people on the street and in stores who don't speak English so I can practice my Japanese, and.... and on the other hand is recounting all these stories and happenings while sitting in my beyooooooootiful apartment. Hmmm.
SO. I got to Tokyo on Thursday, late afternoon. Flew over from Newark, direct to Narita in Tokyo, with Ming. Thank god we planned that out, making that entire trek by myself would have definitely been scary. It took us two hours to get from the airport to our hotel for two nights, the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. In which we heard the greatest announcement ever:
"Foreigners, please be aware that portable telephones may not be used on the bus, as they annoy your neighbors."
Thank you, Japan.
Ming-chan (it sounds so cute, I use it as often as possible now, lol) and I wandered around the Shinjuku area around our hotel that night and saw a lot of lights and people and expensive boutiques. OH. You guys would be so proud of me. I'm a New Yorker and therefore an avid jay-walker, but in Japan, they don't jay-walk!. I'm doing my very best to curb this habit (haha, get it?), in my efforts to assimilate as much as possible. I also refuse to speak English to the Japanese on the street, trying to cultivate my what-are-you-talking-about-i'm-not-american-i'm-colombian persona. So far, asking question hasn't been TOO much of a problem, but the thing is...I can't understand the responses!! Haha, FAIL.
Ki-chan (Kisho, competing with Ming-chan for cutest Japanese nickname EVER) kept me and Ming-chan awake that night so that we wouldn't be jetlagged (partial SUCCESS). The next day, we went on the LONGEST TREK OF OUR LIVES. Our hotel was in the Tokyo district of Shinjuku, and we wanted to get cell phones, which we thought could only be found in the Softbank in Harajuku (another district, famous for the crazy teen fashion Tokyo is known for). It was a nice day, we didn't have that much to do, and we were very very ambitious. And poor navigators. We walked, roundtrip, a total of like 5 or 6 hours.
Turns out, there was a Softbank TWO BLOCKS away from hotel.
...
As much as we complain about our feet being tired, and that the temperature rose to a little under 3235972867 degrees Fahrenheit, it was a lot of fun and it was good company. It basically started a trend for this summer--walk a lot, accomplish very little, and have a lot of fun doing it. =]
Oh, and you need to be 20 in Japan to get a cell phone...which is problematic, seeing as I will remain 19 until October. Womp womp, Nihon. Luckily, Ming-chan signed off as like my guardian haha. Let's hope I don't run into this problem at clubs too (though I already have a strategy for that)!
Fellow SANCers (Sun Academy Nihongo Center) arrived the next day, and on Saturday morning we met our sensei (plural) as we had a quick orientation in the hotel lobby, were given packets of information (in JAPANESE, dear lord they're serious haha), and were taxi'ed to our new apartments. I'd just like to interject that doing anything involving one humongous suitcase and one medium-sized wannabe humongous suitcase in 293057867 degree weather is NOT fun. We had a little bit of time to appreciate the amazingness that is our apartments and then continued on to SANC where we had a (gasp) placement exam. Me and my fellow 二年生 laughed on cue at the laughably difficult exam that did not place us any differently (we are, after all, 2nd year students in the 2nd year class) but just showed us that we know nothing, haha.
Getting around Tokyo transportation has been fun and confusing and intense, haha. And if you want to take that as a metaphor for my life in Tokyo so far, go for it =]
PS
There's SO MUCH MORE I want to tell you guys/future me about. But this is already long...I think I'll double post. Or write it but post it tomorrow; I don't want to overwhelm you guys. Especially since it's 7 in the morning back home, haha.
SO. I got to Tokyo on Thursday, late afternoon. Flew over from Newark, direct to Narita in Tokyo, with Ming. Thank god we planned that out, making that entire trek by myself would have definitely been scary. It took us two hours to get from the airport to our hotel for two nights, the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. In which we heard the greatest announcement ever:
"Foreigners, please be aware that portable telephones may not be used on the bus, as they annoy your neighbors."
Thank you, Japan.
Ming-chan (it sounds so cute, I use it as often as possible now, lol) and I wandered around the Shinjuku area around our hotel that night and saw a lot of lights and people and expensive boutiques. OH. You guys would be so proud of me. I'm a New Yorker and therefore an avid jay-walker, but in Japan, they don't jay-walk!. I'm doing my very best to curb this habit (haha, get it?), in my efforts to assimilate as much as possible. I also refuse to speak English to the Japanese on the street, trying to cultivate my what-are-you-talking-about-i'm-not-american-i'm-colombian persona. So far, asking question hasn't been TOO much of a problem, but the thing is...I can't understand the responses!! Haha, FAIL.
Ki-chan (Kisho, competing with Ming-chan for cutest Japanese nickname EVER) kept me and Ming-chan awake that night so that we wouldn't be jetlagged (partial SUCCESS). The next day, we went on the LONGEST TREK OF OUR LIVES. Our hotel was in the Tokyo district of Shinjuku, and we wanted to get cell phones, which we thought could only be found in the Softbank in Harajuku (another district, famous for the crazy teen fashion Tokyo is known for). It was a nice day, we didn't have that much to do, and we were very very ambitious. And poor navigators. We walked, roundtrip, a total of like 5 or 6 hours.
Turns out, there was a Softbank TWO BLOCKS away from hotel.
...
As much as we complain about our feet being tired, and that the temperature rose to a little under 3235972867 degrees Fahrenheit, it was a lot of fun and it was good company. It basically started a trend for this summer--walk a lot, accomplish very little, and have a lot of fun doing it. =]
Oh, and you need to be 20 in Japan to get a cell phone...which is problematic, seeing as I will remain 19 until October. Womp womp, Nihon. Luckily, Ming-chan signed off as like my guardian haha. Let's hope I don't run into this problem at clubs too (though I already have a strategy for that)!
Fellow SANCers (Sun Academy Nihongo Center) arrived the next day, and on Saturday morning we met our sensei (plural) as we had a quick orientation in the hotel lobby, were given packets of information (in JAPANESE, dear lord they're serious haha), and were taxi'ed to our new apartments. I'd just like to interject that doing anything involving one humongous suitcase and one medium-sized wannabe humongous suitcase in 293057867 degree weather is NOT fun. We had a little bit of time to appreciate the amazingness that is our apartments and then continued on to SANC where we had a (gasp) placement exam. Me and my fellow 二年生 laughed on cue at the laughably difficult exam that did not place us any differently (we are, after all, 2nd year students in the 2nd year class) but just showed us that we know nothing, haha.
Getting around Tokyo transportation has been fun and confusing and intense, haha. And if you want to take that as a metaphor for my life in Tokyo so far, go for it =]
PS
There's SO MUCH MORE I want to tell you guys/future me about. But this is already long...I think I'll double post. Or write it but post it tomorrow; I don't want to overwhelm you guys. Especially since it's 7 in the morning back home, haha.
terça-feira, 9 de junho de 2009
CAKLFMNQUYFQERTMVA!!!!!
The title of this post, in the as-of-yet undiscovered language Sheernervousexcitement, roughly translates to:
OH MY GOD TOMORROW I LEAVE FOR JAPAN AND I'M SO EXCITED AND YET SO NERVOUS BECAUSE I'LL BE THERE FOR TWO MONTHS BUT OH MY GOD I'LL BE THERE FOR TWO MONTHS AND IT'S GONNA BE AMAZING BECAUSE IT'S JAPAN AND I LOVE JAPAN AND I CAN'T WAIT AND OH MY GOD I LEAVE TOMORROW.
I think the title says it all, right? =D
OH MY GOD TOMORROW I LEAVE FOR JAPAN AND I'M SO EXCITED AND YET SO NERVOUS BECAUSE I'LL BE THERE FOR TWO MONTHS BUT OH MY GOD I'LL BE THERE FOR TWO MONTHS AND IT'S GONNA BE AMAZING BECAUSE IT'S JAPAN AND I LOVE JAPAN AND I CAN'T WAIT AND OH MY GOD I LEAVE TOMORROW.
I think the title says it all, right? =D
quarta-feira, 3 de junho de 2009
Motivation...or Just Simply a Refusal To Be So Damn Mediocre
Had lunch and spent some time yesterday with my friend J, my next-door-neighbor and best friend from when we were little. We always go out to this Japanese place in Sunnyside, Queens, because he loves Japan and everything Japanese maybe more than I do (maybe). He's actually Peruvian, but REALLY wishes he were Japanese, haha.
So the usual, "what are you doing this summer" came up, which makes me cringe when I hear it because I feel like it emphasizes even more the difference between me and not-Yale. Within the Yale community, the Light Fellowship is kickass and going to Japan for 2 months is really cool. BUT you KNOW the person reassuring you of your coolness went to volunteer at an orphanage in Cairo last summer, spent last Spring Break in China teaching elementary school kids English, and is working for Morgan Stanley in the city this summer. Paid. So it's all relative--everyone's doing crazy amazing shit. Because we can. And because there's no one or nothing (really) to tell us we can't.
And what I hate more than saying, "I'm going to Tokyo for two months to do Japanese language study, all paid for," is realizing that I don't want to ask THEM what they're doing. Because the conversation is fated to continue in this manner:
"Well nothing as cool as what YOU'RE doing, Miss Yale going off to Japan..."
=(
There are so many expectations, all the time. Even for something as simple and generally un-complicated as a summer doing language study, albeit in a different country. And people don't mean any harm, I doubt they even realize how uncomfortable they make me feel. Because, YEAH, I DO have it good, I'm traveling the world and doing all these things I want to do, but I cannot figure out a way of telling people about it without shining light on their lack of jet-setting adventures. And that's not what I want to do at all, I try really hard to NOT be "that jerk."
Which brings me back to lunch with J.
He took some Japanese in high school; I remember because he would teach me random words in the dojo (karate school). But apparently he never took it seriously and though he's gonna be a senior in college, he just finished his first real year of Japanese (like me!). Aaaaaand I happened to have my Easy Kanji Book with me (I carry unnecessary things in my bags because I hate light bags because they slip off my shoulder, lol) and he was going through it, and well...within a span of 3 minutes, I was basically called a fatass (he didn't want his California roll!) and a dumbass. He literally danced around happily because he was smarter than me at something for a change (his words, not mine).
T__T
I pretended I wasn't hurt and steered the next 3 hours' worth of conversation AWAY from Nihongo and my clear lack of skill at it. Upon arriving home, I whipped out the--wait for it--HOMEMADE KANJI INDEX CARDS (::dramatic music::).
I told you I was serious about Japanese! In between Orgo lecture, Orgo lab, other classes, RB rehearsals, RB Board meetings, PorColombia Junta meetings, PorColombia planning in general and even teleconference calls with PorColombia Nacional, Alianza E-Board meetings, Alianza general meetings, work (allll the way at the Admissions Office), and varying things such as VIHDA, Sabrosura, Harvard-Yale with RB, both semester RB shows, Xplosion!, Branford Independence Day, running Bulldog Days, and 4 consecutive weeks of Tech, I somehow found time to make Kanji cards and try to learn the 200+ Japanese characters that make up the third, and hardest, writing system. Try is the key word there.
So the Kanji cards have been found, dusted off, and put to work. I'm methodically going through them, making sure I go over and over the ones I've already worked on. I feel like I'm gonna have 4587584363 Kanji thrown at me this summer and I do NOT want to have to revisit any Kanji 1 - 219. Yeah I suck at this language in general (I'm right there with you Rene), but at least there's something I can do! I just have to prove to myself (and a little to J) that I've been given all these privileges for a reason. Damn right I deserve all this!
I'll take some motivation with that, please. Thanks.
So the usual, "what are you doing this summer" came up, which makes me cringe when I hear it because I feel like it emphasizes even more the difference between me and not-Yale. Within the Yale community, the Light Fellowship is kickass and going to Japan for 2 months is really cool. BUT you KNOW the person reassuring you of your coolness went to volunteer at an orphanage in Cairo last summer, spent last Spring Break in China teaching elementary school kids English, and is working for Morgan Stanley in the city this summer. Paid. So it's all relative--everyone's doing crazy amazing shit. Because we can. And because there's no one or nothing (really) to tell us we can't.
And what I hate more than saying, "I'm going to Tokyo for two months to do Japanese language study, all paid for," is realizing that I don't want to ask THEM what they're doing. Because the conversation is fated to continue in this manner:
"Well nothing as cool as what YOU'RE doing, Miss Yale going off to Japan..."
=(
There are so many expectations, all the time. Even for something as simple and generally un-complicated as a summer doing language study, albeit in a different country. And people don't mean any harm, I doubt they even realize how uncomfortable they make me feel. Because, YEAH, I DO have it good, I'm traveling the world and doing all these things I want to do, but I cannot figure out a way of telling people about it without shining light on their lack of jet-setting adventures. And that's not what I want to do at all, I try really hard to NOT be "that jerk."
Which brings me back to lunch with J.
He took some Japanese in high school; I remember because he would teach me random words in the dojo (karate school). But apparently he never took it seriously and though he's gonna be a senior in college, he just finished his first real year of Japanese (like me!). Aaaaaand I happened to have my Easy Kanji Book with me (I carry unnecessary things in my bags because I hate light bags because they slip off my shoulder, lol) and he was going through it, and well...within a span of 3 minutes, I was basically called a fatass (he didn't want his California roll!) and a dumbass. He literally danced around happily because he was smarter than me at something for a change (his words, not mine).
T__T
I pretended I wasn't hurt and steered the next 3 hours' worth of conversation AWAY from Nihongo and my clear lack of skill at it. Upon arriving home, I whipped out the--wait for it--HOMEMADE KANJI INDEX CARDS (::dramatic music::).
I told you I was serious about Japanese! In between Orgo lecture, Orgo lab, other classes, RB rehearsals, RB Board meetings, PorColombia Junta meetings, PorColombia planning in general and even teleconference calls with PorColombia Nacional, Alianza E-Board meetings, Alianza general meetings, work (allll the way at the Admissions Office), and varying things such as VIHDA, Sabrosura, Harvard-Yale with RB, both semester RB shows, Xplosion!, Branford Independence Day, running Bulldog Days, and 4 consecutive weeks of Tech, I somehow found time to make Kanji cards and try to learn the 200+ Japanese characters that make up the third, and hardest, writing system. Try is the key word there.
So the Kanji cards have been found, dusted off, and put to work. I'm methodically going through them, making sure I go over and over the ones I've already worked on. I feel like I'm gonna have 4587584363 Kanji thrown at me this summer and I do NOT want to have to revisit any Kanji 1 - 219. Yeah I suck at this language in general (I'm right there with you Rene), but at least there's something I can do! I just have to prove to myself (and a little to J) that I've been given all these privileges for a reason. Damn right I deserve all this!
I'll take some motivation with that, please. Thanks.
domingo, 31 de maio de 2009
Embracing One Facet of 日本語だけ
I think I've now come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to get any more reading done before I leave on the 10th (sorry, Genji. ...Again).
My bookworm demise started last night. I had to drive (eek) my aunt to my cousins' house in Jamaica (Queens lol) because she just came from Colombia. (Side note: She has a 5-year visa so she routinely comes and goes.) I got back around 11:30, and then started looking up things for my JR Pass online (JR Pass is basically a rail pass bought outside of Japan that offers unlimited rides on regional trains for an allotted amount of time), because I thought I would be going into the city today. There are about 2853629586 locations in the city, which means I just picked the 4 closest to 34th, where I thought my mom and I would be buying something else.
And this is where I have to say that clearly, I thought wrong.
...There's no real continuation to that part of the story, I just thought that phrase sounded appropriately dramatic, lol.
But anyways. My mom had me call several of the places, because even though by now it was past midnight and no one in their right mind would still be crammed in a cubicle on Avenue of the Americas, their answering machine recording might tell me their hours of availability. All the credit of that genius plan goes to my mom, haha. The fourth 212 number that I called actually went to a recording, and I could feel my jaw drop and my eyes get big.
They were speaking in--wait for it--...JAPANESE! I know, right! What are the odds that a travel office that sells JR Pass vouchers has their recording in Japanese?! My mom kept asking me what was going on, but I just shh-ed her as I was trying to get my head to revert back to "Listening to Japanese" mode. The script was repeated in English afterward, at which point I remembered why I had originally called and quickly jotted down 9am to 6pm.
And then I called back two more times, just to listen to the Japanese half of the recording.
I've gotta say, I did not understand everything, though based on the English counterpart, I probably should have (story of my life!). And that's basically the theme of my experience with Japanese--I kind of suck at it, but I like it so much that I put in a lot of effort. Sadly, there's no "A for Effort" at Yale (WOMP WOMP!) but things are beyond letter grades right now (High School Me would never have believed that College Me could say that, lol). Thanks to my cousin Daniel, I've discovered the best way to "waste" (nothing is ever a waste!!) my time until June 10th--animecrazy.net.
I've spent the past several hours working on my listening skills while experiencing an aspect of Japanese culture I've always liked (though I'm nowhere near hardcore about it). I'm currently on Cardcaptor Sakura, Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend--I started watching from the beginning so I could fill in the gaps of what we saw in class), and just now, Hana Yori Dango ("Boys Over Flowers"...ahem). As Kisho would say, I realize I just lost some serious street cred, but whatevs. I'm so set apart from Japanese culture in my everyday life (you know, being all NOT Japanese and stuff) that any chance to have a bit of it in my day makes me really happy =] And I'm hoping, as surely our Sensee did as well, that the more I listen to spoken, natural Japanese (with the English subtitles for help), the more accustomed I'll become to the way people actually speak in Tokyo. Kind of.
Might be a little bit of a stretch, and I can't deny that part of it is the simple joy in being able to watch Cardcaptors again (though without the US censoring things like Tomoyo/Madison being in love with her best friend Sakura), but I like to believe that this will also have a positive affect on my study of the Japanese language. I mean, I know that "kareshi" will come in handy.....haha.
PS Totally unrelated, but my fortune cookie's fortune just read, "If you are still hungry, have another fortune cookie." NO LIE.
PPS I forgot to mention in the last posts, but Nick showed me how to make it so that when you mouse over a Japanese character or phrase, it will show you an explanation or translation. I haven't done it (or added pictures) for this post yet because my desktop computer doesn't recognize characters as anything but little boxes...workin' on it =]
My bookworm demise started last night. I had to drive (eek) my aunt to my cousins' house in Jamaica (Queens lol) because she just came from Colombia. (Side note: She has a 5-year visa so she routinely comes and goes.) I got back around 11:30, and then started looking up things for my JR Pass online (JR Pass is basically a rail pass bought outside of Japan that offers unlimited rides on regional trains for an allotted amount of time), because I thought I would be going into the city today. There are about 2853629586 locations in the city, which means I just picked the 4 closest to 34th, where I thought my mom and I would be buying something else.
And this is where I have to say that clearly, I thought wrong.
...There's no real continuation to that part of the story, I just thought that phrase sounded appropriately dramatic, lol.
But anyways. My mom had me call several of the places, because even though by now it was past midnight and no one in their right mind would still be crammed in a cubicle on Avenue of the Americas, their answering machine recording might tell me their hours of availability. All the credit of that genius plan goes to my mom, haha. The fourth 212 number that I called actually went to a recording, and I could feel my jaw drop and my eyes get big.
They were speaking in--wait for it--...JAPANESE! I know, right! What are the odds that a travel office that sells JR Pass vouchers has their recording in Japanese?! My mom kept asking me what was going on, but I just shh-ed her as I was trying to get my head to revert back to "Listening to Japanese" mode. The script was repeated in English afterward, at which point I remembered why I had originally called and quickly jotted down 9am to 6pm.
And then I called back two more times, just to listen to the Japanese half of the recording.
I've gotta say, I did not understand everything, though based on the English counterpart, I probably should have (story of my life!). And that's basically the theme of my experience with Japanese--I kind of suck at it, but I like it so much that I put in a lot of effort. Sadly, there's no "A for Effort" at Yale (WOMP WOMP!) but things are beyond letter grades right now (High School Me would never have believed that College Me could say that, lol). Thanks to my cousin Daniel, I've discovered the best way to "waste" (nothing is ever a waste!!) my time until June 10th--animecrazy.net.
I've spent the past several hours working on my listening skills while experiencing an aspect of Japanese culture I've always liked (though I'm nowhere near hardcore about it). I'm currently on Cardcaptor Sakura, Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend--I started watching from the beginning so I could fill in the gaps of what we saw in class), and just now, Hana Yori Dango ("Boys Over Flowers"...ahem). As Kisho would say, I realize I just lost some serious street cred, but whatevs. I'm so set apart from Japanese culture in my everyday life (you know, being all NOT Japanese and stuff) that any chance to have a bit of it in my day makes me really happy =] And I'm hoping, as surely our Sensee did as well, that the more I listen to spoken, natural Japanese (with the English subtitles for help), the more accustomed I'll become to the way people actually speak in Tokyo. Kind of.
Might be a little bit of a stretch, and I can't deny that part of it is the simple joy in being able to watch Cardcaptors again (though without the US censoring things like Tomoyo/Madison being in love with her best friend Sakura), but I like to believe that this will also have a positive affect on my study of the Japanese language. I mean, I know that "kareshi" will come in handy.....haha.
PS Totally unrelated, but my fortune cookie's fortune just read, "If you are still hungry, have another fortune cookie." NO LIE.
PPS I forgot to mention in the last posts, but Nick showed me how to make it so that when you mouse over a Japanese character or phrase, it will show you an explanation or translation. I haven't done it (or added pictures) for this post yet because my desktop computer doesn't recognize characters as anything but little boxes...workin' on it =]
quinta-feira, 21 de maio de 2009
Adventuring
Thursday at 2:26 pm at Starbucks by Calle Colombia Way
今日 は, I went on an adventure.
I don’t normally do things on my own. I blame my mom, since she never let me go anywhere by myself. YEAH, overprotectiveness. But then even when I could go places by myself, I never had to. I’d cycle through people I could call to go with me—I figured I could kill two birds with one stone, have someone accompany me on my errands AND spend time with the person. Score!
Today I had to go to Austin Street (71st and Continental, one express train stop away, or roughly 10-15 minutes) to pick up Sura Sura, my Japanese textbook for the summer(!). I also realized yesterday that there’s a Starbucks (!!!!) right by me, and that it was like 2 blocks away from 82nd Street and 37th Avenue, which has been officially renamed Calle Colombia Way, something which brings me endless joy =D Soooo of course I decided that I would go take a picture of the sign on 82nd, which hopefully will go here:
So with all those errands in mind, I set out. It’s so funny, I had to keep telling myself to walk slowly, that I had nowhere to be quickly, because I would subconsciously fall into the frantic NY pace of oh-shit-I’m-gonna-miss-the-train-slash-bus. It’s pretty warm, no need for gloves today (ahem). I strolled (when I remembered to slow down), I smiled at people, I wandered into random stores, I looked around an earring store to my heart’s content (everything for $2.99???? Heaven….), and I did not say a single word for about an hour. SHOCKING, I know! It’s always such a strange feeling to only be talking in my head, because I’m so used to talking ALL the time, out loud, with everyone. The awesome thing about it is that it lets me people-watch. I love people-watching, I’m such a sketchball haha. Latina Más Sketch, anyone? =P
No, but seriously. Like just in this Starbucks alone, there are people just chilling with iced fraps and talking, an old man in a humongous red armchair reading the paper, a little old lady on the antique sofa reading what I’m sure is a thriller novel, two women next to me discussing work and/or people they do or don’t know, and students studying for SOMETHING (finals?? God forbid…). I love making stories up about people. The girl to my left goes to Columbia (no, she does, I looked over at her papers lol), has to give a presentation on effective methods of teaching hygiene to elementary schoolers, is stressed because there’s a lot of material and she needs internet but Starbucks doesn’t give it away (grr), but she knows that because she’s a regular here, she’s all comfy and her possessions are thrown everywhere, and is meeting a study buddy in an hour so needs to learn this shit quickly. And her name is Angela.
THIS is what happens when I don’t talk for an extended period of time. My brain just goes into hyperdrive.
Now to the point of me writing (besides the fact that I can’t do anything else, really, because Starbucks doesn’t have FREE wi-fi!). It’s ok, Starbucks, I still love you. You and your $2.11 Iced Grande Coffees with Milk and a free shot of Hazelnut syrup.
Being on my own is kinda nice. I don’t really experience it that much, but it’s refreshing, probably BECAUSE I don’t have to deal with it that often. Which has gotten me thinking about Tokyo a lot recently, even more so now that I actually have my textbook. I’m not really spending any time on my own in Tokyo. The prospect of being alone is SCARY AS HELL, but at the same time I wonder if I’ll miss out on something by not experiencing that. Even my flight: I’m going and coming back with Ming (don’t get me wrong, I’m excited!! Haha I’m looking forward to 14 hours of annoying the person between me and Ming lol). Maybe I’m not explaining it well. In Tokyo itself, I’m surrounded by friends and others who are potential friends. We’re even planning on getting a gym membership together, haha.
I guess I think of how spoiled I am and how one day it’s gonna come back and bite me in the butt. I need to get comfortable with being by myself, with my thoughts, and without using another person as a lens to see myself through. I feel like I exist a little less vibrantly when I’m not surrounded by people. More like Carmen than I thought.
I know Tokyo will be big in my life. But I know I need some time to see Tokyo through my eyes, not through mine through Rene’s, or Kisho’s, or Nick’s. I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet, but I know that I won’t become a hermit. I might just wander off sometimes randomly, put some sunglasses on in hopes of blending in, and get lost in Tokyo on my own. That’s sounds incredibly…wonderful =]
And that also means someone will get their wish =P
今日 は, I went on an adventure.
I don’t normally do things on my own. I blame my mom, since she never let me go anywhere by myself. YEAH, overprotectiveness. But then even when I could go places by myself, I never had to. I’d cycle through people I could call to go with me—I figured I could kill two birds with one stone, have someone accompany me on my errands AND spend time with the person. Score!
Today I had to go to Austin Street (71st and Continental, one express train stop away, or roughly 10-15 minutes) to pick up Sura Sura, my Japanese textbook for the summer(!). I also realized yesterday that there’s a Starbucks (!!!!) right by me, and that it was like 2 blocks away from 82nd Street and 37th Avenue, which has been officially renamed Calle Colombia Way, something which brings me endless joy =D Soooo of course I decided that I would go take a picture of the sign on 82nd, which hopefully will go here:
So with all those errands in mind, I set out. It’s so funny, I had to keep telling myself to walk slowly, that I had nowhere to be quickly, because I would subconsciously fall into the frantic NY pace of oh-shit-I’m-gonna-miss-the-train-slash-bus. It’s pretty warm, no need for gloves today (ahem). I strolled (when I remembered to slow down), I smiled at people, I wandered into random stores, I looked around an earring store to my heart’s content (everything for $2.99???? Heaven….), and I did not say a single word for about an hour. SHOCKING, I know! It’s always such a strange feeling to only be talking in my head, because I’m so used to talking ALL the time, out loud, with everyone. The awesome thing about it is that it lets me people-watch. I love people-watching, I’m such a sketchball haha. Latina Más Sketch, anyone? =P
No, but seriously. Like just in this Starbucks alone, there are people just chilling with iced fraps and talking, an old man in a humongous red armchair reading the paper, a little old lady on the antique sofa reading what I’m sure is a thriller novel, two women next to me discussing work and/or people they do or don’t know, and students studying for SOMETHING (finals?? God forbid…). I love making stories up about people. The girl to my left goes to Columbia (no, she does, I looked over at her papers lol), has to give a presentation on effective methods of teaching hygiene to elementary schoolers, is stressed because there’s a lot of material and she needs internet but Starbucks doesn’t give it away (grr), but she knows that because she’s a regular here, she’s all comfy and her possessions are thrown everywhere, and is meeting a study buddy in an hour so needs to learn this shit quickly. And her name is Angela.
THIS is what happens when I don’t talk for an extended period of time. My brain just goes into hyperdrive.
Now to the point of me writing (besides the fact that I can’t do anything else, really, because Starbucks doesn’t have FREE wi-fi!). It’s ok, Starbucks, I still love you. You and your $2.11 Iced Grande Coffees with Milk and a free shot of Hazelnut syrup.
Being on my own is kinda nice. I don’t really experience it that much, but it’s refreshing, probably BECAUSE I don’t have to deal with it that often. Which has gotten me thinking about Tokyo a lot recently, even more so now that I actually have my textbook. I’m not really spending any time on my own in Tokyo. The prospect of being alone is SCARY AS HELL, but at the same time I wonder if I’ll miss out on something by not experiencing that. Even my flight: I’m going and coming back with Ming (don’t get me wrong, I’m excited!! Haha I’m looking forward to 14 hours of annoying the person between me and Ming lol). Maybe I’m not explaining it well. In Tokyo itself, I’m surrounded by friends and others who are potential friends. We’re even planning on getting a gym membership together, haha.
I guess I think of how spoiled I am and how one day it’s gonna come back and bite me in the butt. I need to get comfortable with being by myself, with my thoughts, and without using another person as a lens to see myself through. I feel like I exist a little less vibrantly when I’m not surrounded by people. More like Carmen than I thought.
I know Tokyo will be big in my life. But I know I need some time to see Tokyo through my eyes, not through mine through Rene’s, or Kisho’s, or Nick’s. I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet, but I know that I won’t become a hermit. I might just wander off sometimes randomly, put some sunglasses on in hopes of blending in, and get lost in Tokyo on my own. That’s sounds incredibly…wonderful =]
And that also means someone will get their wish =P
sábado, 16 de maio de 2009
Only in New York...?
Sophomore year is OVAHHHHH!!
And now I'm back in Queens until I fly out to Tokyo on June 10th. I don't normally come back home during the school year (a laughable thought, considering how much I do), but after getting back to the good ole NYC on Monday afternoon, I basically devoted my entire week to seeing as much of NY as possible.
My friend Matt, who is also BR '11 and lives in Dallas, stayed with me for a week again this year. My parents (both of them) picked us up in a cargo van thingy, but my dad hadn't thought of where Matt and I would go...we ended up sleeping on the floor of the cargo hold lol. That only added to my exhaustion; I had barely slept the night before (womp womp).
But exhaustion could not hold us back! We had planned our trip somewhat in the past week and did almost everything we set out to do: the Met (I had never gone before!), the Museum of Natural History (love that place), Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park (with the emo kid), thought about TKTS (that line was RIDICULOUS), and basically ate ridiculously well and walked like it was the only way to get around.
Some of my favorite things about the city, though, are the random shtuff that goes on. I LOVE those "Only in New York" moments, when you see something so ridiculous, and yet almost just pass on by because outrageous things happen all the time here. I remember that I was in the city with my friend Andi, also from Queens, and we were waiting at a corner to cross like 3rd avenue or something, when a troupe of clowns on bikes passed us by. Yeah. Clowns on bikes. We looked at each other and realized we would NOT have that in New Haven. I mean, seriously, New Yorkers have such originality and personality and disregard for what others think of them--how else could this amazing city be filled with all these eccentric, fascinating people??
Walking in Times Sq, we saw what were apparently auditions for some sort of competition between the NY street performers (really???). We only managed to see one (long and tedious) act, but it was one of those, "I have to tell someone about this, it's too crazy" (ahem). It was a guy playing the ELECTRIC VIOLIN.
And then there were just ridiculous things, like this ad--nothing supports underachieving quite like calling yourself the 4th largest network. Except maybe being even more explicit in saying there are 3 networks that are bigger and better than you are.
And now that I'm in the photo mood, I'll include another only-in-NY moment. La Plaza Cultural at 9th St and Avenue C (Lower East Side of Manhattan) is a community garden that was started by some ex-gang members that decided that they wanted to channel their energy into creating a community, not destroying it. Today was the Yale Day of Service and I dragged my mom along to help out for a few hours. I've never done so much manual labor in one sitting, and came home and slept for 2 hours (and would have kept on sleeping had I not been awoken =P). The concept of the garden is awesome and there were so many of us digging, transporting wheelbarrows of dirt, carrying stones, spreading out sand, hacking at roots, patting down and leveling out soil, taking out garbage, digging out a pathway, and laying it down with stones (all level with each other--definitely the hardest part). I love it when people come together to do something amazing =]
I've traveled a lot in my life, mainly with the US team for karate (another post, perhaps??), but I've never, ever, found a place other than NY that I would rather call home. I cannot imagine living, like actually living, in any place but New York City. A lot of the reasons are intangible, and possibly arbitrary because there are plenty of cities in the world that are gorgeous and wonderful, but still. Nothing can beat New York.
Funnily enough, the city that has actually come the closest is Kyoto.
So this will be an interesting trip in that sense as well. So many expectations surround Tokyo in my mind right now. I hear so many things about it, have seen so many movies, see so many pictures. Even Lonely Planet has me convinced that Tokyo can rival New York.
Tokyo has big shoes to fill.
And now I'm back in Queens until I fly out to Tokyo on June 10th. I don't normally come back home during the school year (a laughable thought, considering how much I do), but after getting back to the good ole NYC on Monday afternoon, I basically devoted my entire week to seeing as much of NY as possible.
My friend Matt, who is also BR '11 and lives in Dallas, stayed with me for a week again this year. My parents (both of them) picked us up in a cargo van thingy, but my dad hadn't thought of where Matt and I would go...we ended up sleeping on the floor of the cargo hold lol. That only added to my exhaustion; I had barely slept the night before (womp womp).
But exhaustion could not hold us back! We had planned our trip somewhat in the past week and did almost everything we set out to do: the Met (I had never gone before!), the Museum of Natural History (love that place), Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park (with the emo kid), thought about TKTS (that line was RIDICULOUS), and basically ate ridiculously well and walked like it was the only way to get around.
Some of my favorite things about the city, though, are the random shtuff that goes on. I LOVE those "Only in New York" moments, when you see something so ridiculous, and yet almost just pass on by because outrageous things happen all the time here. I remember that I was in the city with my friend Andi, also from Queens, and we were waiting at a corner to cross like 3rd avenue or something, when a troupe of clowns on bikes passed us by. Yeah. Clowns on bikes. We looked at each other and realized we would NOT have that in New Haven. I mean, seriously, New Yorkers have such originality and personality and disregard for what others think of them--how else could this amazing city be filled with all these eccentric, fascinating people??
Walking in Times Sq, we saw what were apparently auditions for some sort of competition between the NY street performers (really???). We only managed to see one (long and tedious) act, but it was one of those, "I have to tell someone about this, it's too crazy" (ahem). It was a guy playing the ELECTRIC VIOLIN.
And then there were just ridiculous things, like this ad--nothing supports underachieving quite like calling yourself the 4th largest network. Except maybe being even more explicit in saying there are 3 networks that are bigger and better than you are.
And now that I'm in the photo mood, I'll include another only-in-NY moment. La Plaza Cultural at 9th St and Avenue C (Lower East Side of Manhattan) is a community garden that was started by some ex-gang members that decided that they wanted to channel their energy into creating a community, not destroying it. Today was the Yale Day of Service and I dragged my mom along to help out for a few hours. I've never done so much manual labor in one sitting, and came home and slept for 2 hours (and would have kept on sleeping had I not been awoken =P). The concept of the garden is awesome and there were so many of us digging, transporting wheelbarrows of dirt, carrying stones, spreading out sand, hacking at roots, patting down and leveling out soil, taking out garbage, digging out a pathway, and laying it down with stones (all level with each other--definitely the hardest part). I love it when people come together to do something amazing =]
I've traveled a lot in my life, mainly with the US team for karate (another post, perhaps??), but I've never, ever, found a place other than NY that I would rather call home. I cannot imagine living, like actually living, in any place but New York City. A lot of the reasons are intangible, and possibly arbitrary because there are plenty of cities in the world that are gorgeous and wonderful, but still. Nothing can beat New York.
Funnily enough, the city that has actually come the closest is Kyoto.
So this will be an interesting trip in that sense as well. So many expectations surround Tokyo in my mind right now. I hear so many things about it, have seen so many movies, see so many pictures. Even Lonely Planet has me convinced that Tokyo can rival New York.
Tokyo has big shoes to fill.
quinta-feira, 7 de maio de 2009
Remember the "hypothetical sign?"...
Update on my studying:
I've successfully scared about 9 people away in the past 9 hours that I've been in the BRining Hall (I've been keeping a tally, how else am I going to entertain myself while trying to remember reagents for Ozonolysis??).
This is how:
I swear I'm not crazy. Some might say I'm kind of intense. Or a violent little Latina. Take your pick =]
♥a (not to be confused with Big A, Amandla)
I've successfully scared about 9 people away in the past 9 hours that I've been in the BRining Hall (I've been keeping a tally, how else am I going to entertain myself while trying to remember reagents for Ozonolysis??).
This is how:
I swear I'm not crazy. Some might say I'm kind of intense. Or a violent little Latina. Take your pick =]
♥a (not to be confused with Big A, Amandla)
Stress Stress Stress Stress Stress
1. Two more finals, Friday and Saturday, Saturday is Orgo. HOW I survived an entire year of both Japanese and Orgo, I will never know. Well, I guess I haven't survived it yet. Might not. I wish I could have taken Japanese without the STRESS of Orgo, I probably would have done much better. In both.
I don't even feel like I have time for longer sentences. Study study study study. In the BRining hall (which Nicole says reminds her of shrimp...).
2. My blog thingy is in Portuguese. Sorry guys. It's been that way since I set it up, and theoretically, I could change it. But. I think it's kinda cool. And it's subconsciously helping me retain my Portuguese. At least I hope so.
3. I'm gonna look back on this post and think I'm neurotic. Restless energy. Maybe I'll go shower. Or spar. This is supposed to be about Japanese somehow. Well...ざんねんですねえ。。。
I don't even feel like I have time for longer sentences. Study study study study. In the BRining hall (which Nicole says reminds her of shrimp...).
2. My blog thingy is in Portuguese. Sorry guys. It's been that way since I set it up, and theoretically, I could change it. But. I think it's kinda cool. And it's subconsciously helping me retain my Portuguese. At least I hope so.
3. I'm gonna look back on this post and think I'm neurotic. Restless energy. Maybe I'll go shower. Or spar. This is supposed to be about Japanese somehow. Well...ざんねんですねえ。。。
sexta-feira, 1 de maio de 2009
You Mean I'm Supposed to SPEAK Japanese??
Should be finishing a paper that's due in about 3 hours. Less than that, because I have a scheduled water balloon fight at 4:30 (YEAH BRANFORD INDEPENDENCE DAY!). But since I can't go for a walk around the courtyard to try to get myself to concentrate on Jesus for my paper, I'll do the next best thing--write in my blogggg.
This morning was my Japanese Oral Exam. My friend was rightfully appalled when I told her about it--she couldn't understand how we could be made to speak in the language as first-years! It was definitely a major struggle, not gonna lie. Could totally have been worse, though, that's the good thing.
It makes me just a tiny bit worried that things were going pretty OK during the exam and then I started to forget really simple things left and right. Like NEWSPAPER. And WEEK. Really? Really. Sure, I could say "it differs, depending on the ____" but I couldn't fill in that blank with しゅう。 Pretty embarassing, of course, but I guess it's just another reminder of how much work I need to do before I leave New York for Tokyo!
I feel like that's almost the point of exams like this. To have a great story about how badly you messed up, lol.
Soooo excited for the final then! =P
PS I think I forgot how to insert pictures in blogs. Hmm.
This morning was my Japanese Oral Exam. My friend was rightfully appalled when I told her about it--she couldn't understand how we could be made to speak in the language as first-years! It was definitely a major struggle, not gonna lie. Could totally have been worse, though, that's the good thing.
It makes me just a tiny bit worried that things were going pretty OK during the exam and then I started to forget really simple things left and right. Like NEWSPAPER. And WEEK. Really? Really. Sure, I could say "it differs, depending on the ____" but I couldn't fill in that blank with しゅう。 Pretty embarassing, of course, but I guess it's just another reminder of how much work I need to do before I leave New York for Tokyo!
I feel like that's almost the point of exams like this. To have a great story about how badly you messed up, lol.
Soooo excited for the final then! =P
PS I think I forgot how to insert pictures in blogs. Hmm.
quinta-feira, 30 de abril de 2009
What to do, what to do...
*I just transferred this from my other blog. It was originally written on April 14th, 2009 at 18:42...because I know you care =]
___________________________________________________________________
Another short post, I have a board meeting to be at in 15 minutes (my life!!).
I got my check last week and wish someone could have taken a snapshot of my face! I've never seen so much money in one place, and on top of that, in my hands and in my name! That definitely made me really realize that I was hopping on a plane to Japan (for like a 14-hour flight, grumble grumble) and would be spending two months there. Still incredible. The more I talk with people about it, the more unbelievable it seems. And it seems like I'm talking to people more about it, randomly.
I work for the Admissions Office and was on the panel for the Yale Club of NYC Admitted Students Reception that we had last week. I was supposed to talk for 10 minutes about my experience at Yale (womp womp, I got nervous and forgot like half of the things I wanted to say and ended it early, lol). My focus when I talked about academics was about how:
a) Yale gives you crazy variety (my FM year schedule included Medical Spanish, Holocaust Writing, Intro to Computer Engineering, Intro to Cog Sci, Chem, and a Japanese Literature FM Seminar) in terms of classes you can take (one prefrosh is convinced I've taken every single course offered by Yale, lol), and
b) Yale gives you money to pursue your wildest academic dreams (JAPANNNN)
So I talked about how I went to Kyoto last year with my freshman seminar, Genji's World, and then decided to take Intro Japanese though I would be taking Orgo at the same time, and then got the Light Fellowship to return, this time to Tokyo for 2 months. Yay, happy ending! I was really excited about this anecdote, too, because I had been talking to the other student panelist (Michael Losak--absolutely wonderful human being) about how we wanted to focus on our cool factor--we basically wanted to emphasize the absolutely crazy and amazing things we had done at Yale that seem fairly normal to us Yalies but out-of-this-world to prefrosh (and other people). I think I did pretty well on the "COOL!" scale, if I do say so myself lol.
After the panel, maddd people stopped me to tell how jealous/excited/amazed/intrigued they were about my trip to Japan. It was one of those reflective moments: "Huh. Yeah, this is pretty amazing. And incredible. And unbelievable. And REAL. Oh crap."
Which leads me to the title of "what to do, what to do..." Because my life has been a mess the past two weeks (horrific housing drama + Tech and show for Sabrosura + Tech and show for RB) and will continue to be so for at least another week (Bulldog Days planning/running + Tech and Xplosion! competition for RB), buying plane tickets and actually being proactive about things relating to the trip have been pushed to the side momentarily. Especially since I don't know what to do! I want to stay in Japan after the program, and I know that at least I want to return to Kyoto (will always have a special place in my heart for Kyoto...) but how, for how long, with whom, etc.....all up in the air. Argh.
And the thing is, this is slightly stressing me out because I haven't dealt with it. When things scare me, I tend to ignore them, that childish "if I don't see it, maybe it won't see me, maybe it'll go away." Ohhhhhhkay. Just like now, I'm sitting in the Branford buttery with "The Way I Are" in the background (more Japanese memories! haha), writing in this blog, right this second. TOO BAD was written all over my suitemate Liz's face when she was asked me, "Wait, don't you have a Japanese test tomorrow...?" Yes, but I'm doing that hiding-from-it thing again. BAD IDEA, I know. Just like how I should have booked plane tickets days ago, taken out some time to do it. I guess the thought of maybe traveling Japan on my own, armed with only Lonely Planet and a language in which I'm shaky at best is just a little more terrifying than it is exciting.
Here's to hoping for that Japanese hospitality.
___________________________________________________________________
Another short post, I have a board meeting to be at in 15 minutes (my life!!).
I got my check last week and wish someone could have taken a snapshot of my face! I've never seen so much money in one place, and on top of that, in my hands and in my name! That definitely made me really realize that I was hopping on a plane to Japan (for like a 14-hour flight, grumble grumble) and would be spending two months there. Still incredible. The more I talk with people about it, the more unbelievable it seems. And it seems like I'm talking to people more about it, randomly.
I work for the Admissions Office and was on the panel for the Yale Club of NYC Admitted Students Reception that we had last week. I was supposed to talk for 10 minutes about my experience at Yale (womp womp, I got nervous and forgot like half of the things I wanted to say and ended it early, lol). My focus when I talked about academics was about how:
a) Yale gives you crazy variety (my FM year schedule included Medical Spanish, Holocaust Writing, Intro to Computer Engineering, Intro to Cog Sci, Chem, and a Japanese Literature FM Seminar) in terms of classes you can take (one prefrosh is convinced I've taken every single course offered by Yale, lol), and
b) Yale gives you money to pursue your wildest academic dreams (JAPANNNN)
So I talked about how I went to Kyoto last year with my freshman seminar, Genji's World, and then decided to take Intro Japanese though I would be taking Orgo at the same time, and then got the Light Fellowship to return, this time to Tokyo for 2 months. Yay, happy ending! I was really excited about this anecdote, too, because I had been talking to the other student panelist (Michael Losak--absolutely wonderful human being) about how we wanted to focus on our cool factor--we basically wanted to emphasize the absolutely crazy and amazing things we had done at Yale that seem fairly normal to us Yalies but out-of-this-world to prefrosh (and other people). I think I did pretty well on the "COOL!" scale, if I do say so myself lol.
After the panel, maddd people stopped me to tell how jealous/excited/amazed/intrigued they were about my trip to Japan. It was one of those reflective moments: "Huh. Yeah, this is pretty amazing. And incredible. And unbelievable. And REAL. Oh crap."
Which leads me to the title of "what to do, what to do..." Because my life has been a mess the past two weeks (horrific housing drama + Tech and show for Sabrosura + Tech and show for RB) and will continue to be so for at least another week (Bulldog Days planning/running + Tech and Xplosion! competition for RB), buying plane tickets and actually being proactive about things relating to the trip have been pushed to the side momentarily. Especially since I don't know what to do! I want to stay in Japan after the program, and I know that at least I want to return to Kyoto (will always have a special place in my heart for Kyoto...) but how, for how long, with whom, etc.....all up in the air. Argh.
And the thing is, this is slightly stressing me out because I haven't dealt with it. When things scare me, I tend to ignore them, that childish "if I don't see it, maybe it won't see me, maybe it'll go away." Ohhhhhhkay. Just like now, I'm sitting in the Branford buttery with "The Way I Are" in the background (more Japanese memories! haha), writing in this blog, right this second. TOO BAD was written all over my suitemate Liz's face when she was asked me, "Wait, don't you have a Japanese test tomorrow...?" Yes, but I'm doing that hiding-from-it thing again. BAD IDEA, I know. Just like how I should have booked plane tickets days ago, taken out some time to do it. I guess the thought of maybe traveling Japan on my own, armed with only Lonely Planet and a language in which I'm shaky at best is just a little more terrifying than it is exciting.
Here's to hoping for that Japanese hospitality.
Transition into Japan Mode!
*I just moved this from my previous blog. This was originally posted on March 26th, 2009 at 11:05 am.
Heyllooo.
I have 48573845 things to do in the next hour, so I'll make this short.
I am a Richard U. Light Fellow, going to Tokyo, Japan in the summer of 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As most of you know, as part of the fellowship, we have to keep a record of our time abroad, either through blog or through an end-of-semester report. I already had a (admittingly not very well-kept) blog from my summer in Brasil last year, so instead of making a separate Tokyo one, I decided to stay with this one. I love the ability to not only check back my posts from a year ago but also better compare Brasil to Tokyo, as I would do in my head anyway without even trying. Aaaaaand I love the continuity of travel in my Yale career, lol.
The world's ours to explore and make better =]
PS My picture is from my freshman seminar's trip last May to Kyoto. We be representinnn Yale in all zip codes, yo.
Heyllooo.
I have 48573845 things to do in the next hour, so I'll make this short.
I am a Richard U. Light Fellow, going to Tokyo, Japan in the summer of 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As most of you know, as part of the fellowship, we have to keep a record of our time abroad, either through blog or through an end-of-semester report. I already had a (admittingly not very well-kept) blog from my summer in Brasil last year, so instead of making a separate Tokyo one, I decided to stay with this one. I love the ability to not only check back my posts from a year ago but also better compare Brasil to Tokyo, as I would do in my head anyway without even trying. Aaaaaand I love the continuity of travel in my Yale career, lol.
The world's ours to explore and make better =]
PS My picture is from my freshman seminar's trip last May to Kyoto. We be representinnn Yale in all zip codes, yo.
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