Exam Week!

I just got out of my Japanese Speaking Exam. We had to meet a new familiy and use keigo to introduce ourselves and everything. It was fairly difficult but I think I did allright. Our professor told us to use our imagination so I was Spiderman in the interview, mask and all. It was pretty funny. My professor laughed. I don't think Takanashi Sensei would have found it that funny though. Lol..... Anyways, so much for trying to write often. So much has happened since the last post. It seems like every weekend we're going somewhere. I think I've been traveling too much and not studying nearly enough. Hopefully I'll become better at it. This weekend we went to Hiroshima and saw the Peace Museum. We also listened to a talk by a survivor. She's seventy-five years old. She was a very nice lady but of course her story was difficult to hear. All in all, the trip was a lot of fun. I took something like 400 pictures. Ironically I don't even have the time to look at them right now. Because I'm so busy. Hopefully after exams!

A week later

So I finally figured out the html and I can post pictures directly to this blog. Exciting! This week has flown by. I think it's our first 2-day weekend since the beginning of classes.

Sunday was our Judo Tournament. Florian won 2nd place in the white belt division. I won my first match and lost my second which in itself was a victory for me. I have real footage of my style that can be critiqued and refined. I also was able to use my favorite technique for the first time in a tournament. Although small victories, they are significant. They leave room for a lot of improvement.

Me and Flo


The Judo Club

The tournament was in the town where I live (Katano City) so I was able to walk there. After I got back home I realized I left my keys in my room and was locked out. After this I checked out the Middle School by my house. The Middle School was bigger than my High School back home. I walked by the school and guess what I saw.


These two crazy girls walking on the roof. They were really funny. I took pictures of their school and told them how big it is. I asked them where the nearest High School was and if they had a Judo club. I think they said that it's a little far away. Maybe. Lol. The school had a basketball court, large outdoor field, and even a swimming pool.




Monday sucked because it rained all day. I made the mistake of visiting the seminar house. We won't go into that one. I made it to the Hirakata Central Library and by some act of God/kindness of humanity a gentleman named Mr. Sonoda (spoke almost flawless English) helped me obtain a library membership. He sort of reminded me of Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid or more like the actor that plays him Pat Morita. I had my OCS shirt on and perhaps that had something to do with it. I don't know. Perhaps he had known Marines before (he must have been in his 60s or 70s). He left before I could really ask him any questions. And now I have a membership to the Library.

Well today is Thursday. We have our first Judo practice of the semester at around 16:30 today. It really hasn't hit me yet but in two days (Saturday September 29, 2007) I will no longer be a teenager. In Japan, age 20 means adulthood in the legal sense. In the US I still have a year to got until 21. Although it's a pretty meaningless and arbitrary division. I still have some time before I really become an adult. Most Indians feel that after Marriage and having kids is one truly an adult. It's funny because Ulrich and Ralfie were both about 25 and would still be considered "kids" in the Indian sense because they were still in college. But they were much more mature than most 25 year olds their age an at the same time they were much more fun as well. But most of my cousins were married at that age. And some were even having kids. The world just starts spinning faster and faster as you get older as Hye Man's father would say. And I'm really starting to feel it. Crazy.

Honeymoon is starting to end

I've been thinking about OCS a lot. I'm slowing begining to realize all the lessons we learned and how important they are. The ideas of teamwork and hard work are slowly being forgotten. One can even see this in Japan, a country that prides itself on it. I can only begin to worry about how the US will fare in the coming years. A generation of individuals will soon retire and expect its children to take care of them. Unfortunately, this generation is also one of individuals. Perhaps even worse than the last. People don't want to work hard anymore and they certainly don't want to look after anything besides their own skin. Even if we wanted to, this generation is not financially capable of taking care of the Baby Boomers. Perhaps if we were all millionaires but this is not the case. The generation that fought World War II is slowing dying off and their children, who grew up in the greatest country in the world (not necessarily because of their own sacrifices) are the largest income bracket. I wonder if they could go a day without food or water, a roof over their head. Would they be able to walk to work if they had to. Would they even be able to bike there? Hopefully our generation can unspoil itself but I don't see that happening. Anyway, back to Japan.
The hardest part of this place is realizing that I'm here as a student and not a tourist. Coming home everyday I feel exhausted and I can usually study for an hour before I'm falling asleep. I'll have to figure all that out. Japanese has progressively gotten harder. Not because of class but because I'm using it so much. Apparently when you use a language that's foreign to you it makes you really tired. I'm finding this out the hard way. I'm actually really tired right now. Whatever.
And now.........finally! You guys get to see pictures from Korea! Enjoy!

Seoul Day 1 and 2
http://elon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055627&l=8b631&id=18204859

Seoul Day 3
http://elon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055729&l=d8de7&id=18204859

Gyeong Beok Palace
http://elon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055728&l=784e2&id=18204859

Seoul Day 4
http://elon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056042&l=c4633&id=18204859

Seoul Day 5
http://elon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056045&l=4acfb&id=18204859

Seoul Day 6 Last Day!!
http://elon.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056047&l=e3aac&id=18204859

September 18, 2007

So I haven't posted in a long time. I'm really sorry about that. So much has happened in the last 2 and half weeks that I don't even think I'll remember it all. Anyways, I've been living with my host family for the past few weeks and I'm really enjoying it a lot. I'm starting to feel like part of the family almost. I spend a lot of time beating up my host-parents little grandson that comes over with his mom for dinner. This weekend we watched the World Judo Championships in Rio, Brazil. Japan won several medals. Ryoko Tani won Gold in under-48kg division. In style I might add. It was the first time my host family had really watched Judo on TV. Hopefully I've started a trend.
So far I've spent almost $900 here. And I'm really worried that I will overspend. I've realized that most of the money I spend is either on travel or food. So I'm trying to cut down on making impulse buys and eating out. Our meal plan will kick in next week and that should help out a lot. So far I've been to Osaka every weekend I've been here. Sometimes unintentionally. Lol...This weekend was the EISA festival, a celebration of the Okinawan community living in Osaka. We ate lots of interesting foods. I was really surprised that they eat Pavaikka (Goya) in Okinawa. They eat it with pork though whereas back home we don't really eat it with meat. Although that's not exactly a bad idea. I don't think my mom will believe me though. I think from now on I'll try to write more regularly that way I'll be less likely to forget stuff.

Kansai Gaidai Pre-Orientation

It's been more than a week since my last post. Seoul was a whole lot of fun. I'll try to put up photos at some point. We arrived on Monday afternoon at Kansai International Airport and drove for about an hour and a half to get to the University. It was funny because half the people were passed out and I was the only one awake. I'm getting up okay everyday. No matter what time I go to bed I manage to wake up around 0700. It may have something to do with this summer at OCS. So far this place has been really amazing. Japanese students are very friendly even if their English is not so great. And most of the times it's not. Put plainly, the Japanese speak very poor English. At many students also speak poor Japanese as well. The Kansai dialects are very different from what we have been learning in Japanese class. It's so strange to be able to smile at random girls and have them smile back. It's like being back home. It's awesome! Korea was tough because the girls there didn't play sports, weren't interested in foreign men, and for the most part weren't always attractive. The girls in Japan are the exact opposite. They play sports, are VERY interested in foreign men, and are EXTREMELY attractive. Pictures will ensue. Anyways, Tomorrow is the Orientation ceremony. My German friend Florian and I are thinking about skipping it to play Judo. I don't know if it will happen. You'll have to find out in the next blog!

A Seoul that never rests

We did so much stuff yesterday it's not even funny. We took the Seoul Subway system (which could be the most cleanest and advanced in the world) to the National Museum and the War Museum. It was really awesome. We came back and hung out with some International Students at the International House. Apparently Ping Pong is becoming a global sport. All these Arab guys were playing and they were really good too. Hye Man beat a few of them but got stopped by this one kid from Saudi. After that we met up with Chae and ate dinner at a traditional Korean restaurant on Insa-Dong. Insa-Dong is a street in Seoul with all the traditional Korean shops and restaurants. Then we went all the way to City Hall for this Festival trying to reduce Carbon Emissions. I tell you, Seoul is a friggin city that doesn't sleep. The later it gets, the more people hit the streets. I put some pictures up on Facebook. I'll try to get some up here as well.

South Korea!

I arrived in South Korea last night at about 21:00. There was a long line at immigration but they didn't give me a hard time because I knew 3 words of Korean. I found out that TSA had been through my bags, those bastards. When I arrived, the staff there thought I was military and asked me if I was returning from leave. I had my OCS shirt on and a fresh high and tight. It's funny looking back on the whole experience. Being a young brown kid, I was kind of expecting to be treated as a terrorist coming here. Instead everybody thought I was a Marine. I don't know which is funnier.
Anyways, Hyeman, Seungwon, and Hyowon met me at the Airport. We took the bus to Hyeman's apartment. And I have to say that his apartment is tiny. His whole apartment could fit in my room back home. Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and everything. It really makes me think just how good I have it back home and just how good we have it in America. We have space. In Korea there's no space at all. Especially in Seoul. Even a small one bedroom in America still has enough space for a TV, sound system, sofa, extra bed, a desktop computer, and even a few pets. I will never complain about my living conditions for as long as I live.
Right now we're just chilling out at the University. Sung Kyun Kwon. It's so funny because parts of Seoul look like New York City and other parts look like Kochi. For all my malus out there you know what I mean. Where we live, it's like Kochi. Lol, but for some wierd reason even in the middle of a foreign country, it feels like home. The University is so crazy because it's smaller than Elon but has almost twice the number of students. All the buildings are at least 5 stories tall with three or four underground. And it's HOT as HELL! I love this University because all the rooms are air-conditioned. Haha. Anyways, we gotta figure out our plan of attack.

Anyone in the US can call the following number and it will reach me. NO LONG DISTANCE CHARGE!!
Skype Number: (919) 373-4301

I just found out my new phone number for Japan. It should be working in about a week.
If you feel so motivated to call me long distance.

Japanese Cell: 81 90-9921-7949

Welcome to Japan!

I just touched down in Japan at Tokyo's Narita International Airport. I tell you this place looks more like a mall than anything else. Armani, Liquor stores, Starbucks. They got everything. And it's true. Starbucks tastes the same no matter what country you're in. 700 Yen will buy you a Tall Caramel Frappuccino and a Cinnamin Bun. That's about 6 dollars. I'm yet to really experience Japanese people. I'm still a little gun-shy about ordering from the noodle shops. I think I'll wait till I get to Osaka.
The flight over here wasn't so bad. I got a seat next to an elderly Korean gentleman who spoke English. We went over the Korean textbook for about an hour. He explained a lot of stuff to me. I feel a little silly studying Korean while I'm in Japan but I have an entire semester to study Japanese. And I'm going to need all the Korean I can get while I'm in Seoul. I'm not sure what to expect from Seoul. My image of Seoul is somewhat of a New York or a Miami or a Los Angeles on steroids. A city that never sleeps and is always open. We'll see if that holds up. Oh well, South Korea Here I Come!

Prior to leave post

Saturday 18 August 2007 16:16. (070818)

Got back from OCS a few days ago. Still exhausted as usual. Trying to deal with the bumps and bruises and all that trash. It all seems so surreal. OCS passed by in the blink of an eye. At the time I never thought it would end. Now it's over and I really am starting to miss everyone from my platoon. Lot of great guys there.
In 2 days I will be in the Republic of South Korea hanging with my former roomates and current best friends Hye Man and Seung Won or Sgt. Choi and Sgt. Baek. Haha. I'll leave for Osaka, Japan on 27 August. I'll be studying at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata City for the Fall semester. It's going to be amazing, that's all I can say.
Anyways, since this is the first post, there's not really much to talk about. I will try to update ya'll on the contents of my journey. It's going to be a long day of travel. And that's for sure.