Classes, Classes, and Some More Classes

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, 9:30 p.m. 

Good news! It’s only rained two out of the last four days here! Evidently, June is the rainy season for Okazaki, and I am told that I can expect it to rain almost every day for the rest of the time that I’m here. I don’t really mind the rain (though, it’s kind of a bummer to have to bike in) and it keeps it from being unbearably hot and humid. Yet, Monday and today were both completely rain free.

I’ve spent the majority of the past three days consumed in my studies of Japanese. Classes start at 9:00 a.m. each morning and end at 3:30 p.m. (expect for Friday, which ends at 1:30 p.m.). The school day is broken up into 6 different class periods, each 50 minutes. The four other students in my class and I stay in the same classroom the entire day, but the teachers rotate every couple class periods. So far I’ve had four different teachers. They’ve all been really great. Of course they only speak in Japanese, and we cover an overwhelming amount of material each day. They are all really good at making the lesson clear, and it is obvious that they really want us to do well. We have small grammar quizzes each morning, and spend a lot of the class periods engaging in mini-conversations with each other and with the teacher. Each day we cover a different chapter, and so far it has generally taken me at least three hours outside of class to make sure that I am ready for the next day. Today I had my first legit test. There was a written section and an oral interview. I think both parts went pretty well.  Our classes remind me a little bit of tutorial, for a couple reasons. First, there are only a handful of us, and we are all being consistently engaged by the teacher. Second, everyone has a strong desire to be there and puts forth a lot of effort into learning the material. Third, there’s a definite feeling of camaraderie in our class. Everyone is really kind and helpful to everyone else, and it feels like we are in it together. There are also some striking differences from tutorial: my Japanese teachers begin by explaining things, not asking questions, also, when I give offer an answer in my Japanese classes, I generally feel pretty confident about it or know that it’s wrong and I’ll soon be taught the correct answer, which is definitely not the case in tutorial, where absolutely everything seems to be subjective and there are never any purely correct answers it seems. Man, that comparison was a really drawn out way to get to my conclusion I apologize. Here it is, plainly: It’s really great to be in small classes in which everyone is passionate about the things you are learning and the teacher is clearly very invested in your learning. (This is the main similarity between tutorial and my classes in Japan.)

Even though no one can pronounce “Paige,” most people can get “Paigey” pretty easily. However, there’s a boy in my class from Taiwan who doesn’t speak very much English at all, and the way he pronounces my name changes every time her says it. Generally, it goes back and forth between “Paa-gey” and “Pay-gee”. It’s pretty adorable, and so incredibly hard not to laugh when it happens.

Monday after class, a few of the Yamasa teachers offered a cooking class that lasted about an hour. For 50 yen (about $0.50), we learned to make microwaveable ochya cake. Ochya is Japanese tea, and it seems that you can find almost anything in ochya flavor here, ice cream, bread, ect. In our cooking lesson (taught entirely in Japanese) we learned to make ochya cake, using a milk carton as the container. My classmates, Alex and Helen, and I worked together. Here are some pictures of our ochya cake, which turned out to be rather good:

 

I think that I am starting to get slightly better at communicating with my host family. I see my host mom far more than any of the other family members. However, I still have a tendency to just look at her and nod when I don’t really understand what she’s saying. I need to overcome that… Yesterday Lee taught me how to use our family washing machine. I’ll let you know, it’s a lot more intense than the ones I’ve been used to in America. There are three layers of doors (more like claws) that open up before you can put your clothes in. After the doors are all finally open, it’s pretty easy. Our family doesn’t have a dryer (which I think is pretty common, because it seems like almost every house has closes hanging outside). I’m not sure how they are supposed to dry during the next month though….

Yesterday I bought a raincoat for 150 yen (about $1.50) and had my first embarrassing language barrier situation. Generally, I’ve been able to get away with not saying anything expect thank you when I’m checking out at the super market or convenience store (and I really haven’t had to buy much); however, when I was buying my raincoat, the cashier started to speak to me incredibly quickly in Japanese and it became clear that the questions she was asking me were not rhetorical. I panicked at being expected to understand her terribly fast speaking and said “I’m sorry. I can’t understand you” (in Japanese), which I assumed would lead her to realize that my Japanese is not very advanced; however, I think the cashier just thought that I was mentally a bit slow and launched into her rapid questioning all over again. Finally I just said, “It’s alright, it’s alright” (in Japanese) and she seemed satisfied. I really do want people outside of the school and my host family to try to speak to me in Japanese, I just need to be more prepared next time. Maybe I’ll go back and try to buy something from the same cashier at the end of my month in Japan.

Now that I’m becoming more comfortable with biking again, and with knowing my way around Okazaki, I have actually been able to take my eyes off of the ground in front of me and look around a little when I’ve been biking. I was riding home from school today when I started to look around and realized that even from inside the city of Okazaki, Japan is completely breathtaking. There are mountains in the distance no matter what direction you look, and when the sun starts to set that sky turns crazy colors of blue with the sun shining through. I took some pictures but I don’t think they at all do it justice.

If you look at the right side of this photo, you can kind of see a park that is near my host family's house.

After taking these pictures I realized that my camera battery was dying and took out my charger when I got back to my room, which was when I had realized that I brought the wrong charger cable to Japan! Of course this is horrifying, because I want to be able to document all of my experiences in photo form, even if my pictures could never look like Evan’s. Thankfully, though, Kathleen has the same camera charger as me and agreed to send me her cable in the mail tomorrow. So no worries, this blog will not have to become composed entirely of text yet.

I know I have at least a dozen more things that I should have said in this post, but it’s almost 11:15 p.m. and I’m exhausted. Final note: Even the metal lids that cover manholes in the streets are beautiful in Japan. I’ll take a picture soon.

I should have said this earlier: To anyone who’s been following my blog, it means a lot to me that you have taken the time to read about my experiences in Japan, thanks for checking it out!

A few responses to comments left on my previous post:

Aunt Susan, It’s awesome to hear that I might be changing your mind about Japan. So far I have found it to be beautiful, enchanting, and exhausting (which I’d say is due to the amount of time I spend in class). I’m definitely a fan. Granted, Okazaki is not generally a tourist location since almost no one speaks English. If I get the chance to visit Kyoto, I’ll make sure to take tons of pictures, I think it seems like an ideal city to visit to experience traditional Japanese culture and beautiful landscapes without being expected to communicate only in Japanese.

Uncle Tim, I am so terribly glad that you asked. And the next time I see you, I’ll make sure that we sit down and have a three hour conversation so that I can explain it to you with precision.

Lucas, I’m thrilled that Nancy sent you the link! Of course you are welcome to join me in Japan! Thanks for following along J

K, I think I read that excerpt the other day as I was flying over some mountains. Thank you for the words of encouragement. I hope you’ll let me meet up with you and tell you all about it when I get home in June (maybe Gracie and Lauren can come too). Please say hello to Dawn and Raven for me!