I have three tutors here (which is apparently rather unusual. Most people only get one, occasionally two.) who have helped me get settled in at the Kaikan (international house where I’m living), taken me shopping for food and household items, and helped me with more official stuff like my alien registration. Well, technically I have one tutor, and two sub-tutors. I have no idea what the difference is between them though. So far they’ve all been helpful to me, so I’m guessing that it has more to do with the administrative side on their end. At any rate, let’s start with my Tutor and then move on to the sub tutors.
Ayumi Kusano is my tutor. She’s been the one that has accompanied me to the school orientations and gone with me to meet my advisor. From what I can tell her English is pretty good, but she speaks to me mainly in Japanese, (which I appreciate) so I don’t know the extent of her knowledge. She seems pretty cool though, she seems pretty laid back while still being school oriented. Llots of the other people I talk to, both international students and Japanese, seem to know who she is and think well of her. I’m glad for that because if I ever can’t find her for whatever reason, other people will be able to tell me if they’ve seen her. Ayumi is also taking some kind of English seminar class, and I’m going to meet with her teacher and talk about possibly volunteering as a guest speaker.
Takuri Mitarai is one of my sub-tutors. Takuri was the first person from Oita that contacted me directly. We exchanged several emails before I got to Japan. Our correspondence started out in English, and at my request slowly shifted to Japanese. Unfortunately Takuri is the tutor I’ve had the least amount of contact with. He has a part time job working as a cram school teacher (Cram school is basically night classes to prepare students for the college entrance exams) and it seems his schedule and mine don’t line up very well. He’s a nice guy though, always smiling. He’s big into basketball. I feel kinda bad because I know virtually nothing about sports other than soccer (and even then, only what was required of me to play when I was in elementary school).
Kengo Onishi is my Other sub-tutor. Out of all my tutors, Kengo engages me in English the most because he’s really intent on improving his fluency. He has a pretty good vocabulary (Much better than my Japanese one at any rate) and as such is good at explaining things that I have difficulty understanding in Japanese. We’re going to be actively helping each other with pronunciation. So far he’s the one I’ve spent the most time with. (The difference between the three is no more than 3 hours at this point though.) Kengo has taken me shopping twice so far (He has a car) and we’ve run into each other on campus a couple times. Actually, I always see Kengo and Takuri together on campus, which is nice. I like seeing familiar faces. Kengo has also invited me to his home and to his grandparent’s home, which is up in the mountains somewhere. Apparently they want an opportunity to talk with a foreigner. I look forward to doing that at some point in the future. I would love to see some more of Japanese home life.
All three of my tutors have been generous with their time and knowledge. They have also made themselves available to me whenever I may need it which is nice. I hope to be able to hang out with them in the future as friends, rather than just tutor and tutee. I think I’m well on the way to making that happen though.
Ok now that the tutor introduction is taken care of let’s move on to today’s events.
I had heard from some of the other Kaikan residents that it was supposed to rain today, so I packed my rain coat. Since I was also planning to go to Saga this evening I packed everything I needed for the weekend. (It was Mary’s birthday on the 12th, so that also included her birthday present) Combined with my various weekend things, my school bag was rather large and heavy. It drew many looks and a fair number of comments both in English and Japanese. (Most Japanese school bags are roughly the same dimensions as a briefcase if not smaller)
At school I had a fair amount of time between classes (I have one morning class, and then a two and a half hour break before my afternoon class on Fridays), so I grabbed a bench and just enjoyed the weather for a while. After not too long I was joined by a couple other International students, and we spent the afternoon talking. After my afternoon class I met up with Ayumi and went to go meet my Advisor (he was away in Osaka for some kind of university business during orientation when I was supposed to meet him). We looked at the classes I’ve been attending, and how I think my schedule will be once it’s finalized. I placed into level 3 Japanese, but my kanji skills are kinda lacking so I’m also taking level 2 reading. One of my level 3 teachers thinks I should take level 2 this semester though because they’re worried about my performace in level 4 next semester. The only problem I have with that is I need these courses to transfer for my major once I’m back at SF state, and I’m pretty sure the level 3 courses won’t cut it. However after looking at the schedule, it looks like I’ll be able to take almost all of the level 2 and 3 courses at the same time this semester. Even though it’s a lot of Japanese, I’ll be getting the all new information I’m supposed to, and the all the review that I so desperately need. Even though it’s going to be a lot of work, I’m guessing it will still be easier than my kanji class at SF state (I studied 16 hours a week for that class alone and still only managed to get a C). And being able to use what I’m learning in class in my daily life ought to help it stick. Already there have been quite a few pieces of vocabulary that I used to have a really hard time remembering, and now that I’ve been able to use in context they are sticking.
After meeting with my advisor, Ayumi and I went to the Seikyo (the building which houses the cafeteria, book store, and discount student travel agency) where Ayumi helped me get my tickets to Saga for the weekend. (The people at the travel agency are amazing!) Once that was done I walked back outside and ran into Soo Min (a Korean girl who also lives at the Kaikan), who informed me that there were several other Kaikan residents hanging out in the cafeteria waiting for the welcoming party that was happening at 5:30 (It was probably 4:00 at this point). So I went and found those guys who were doing a laid back mix of studying and goofing off. It’ was pretty fun. At some point I spotted Kengo and Takuri and went over to them. They were talking to their senpai (a senior classmate essentially) and I joined in on the conversation. I wound up telling them about the two other times I was in Japan, in Japanese. After the conversation they joined me in sitting with the other Kaikan members until the party started.
The party started off kinda awkward because nobody really knew what was going on. I put my bag down under a table and found some familiar faces to chat with. I realized I wanted my camera and went back over to the tables but several other bags had been placed in front of it by this time. Rather than try and dig it out I opted to go around the side and dive under the table instead. It worked quite well, but I surprised a group of girls who were setting down their umbrellas when I slid back out from under the table suddenly. (The floor was actually quite smooth, so I was literally sliding.) Once people started taking pictures the atmosphere lightened up considerably. Oh yeah, this welcome party was between the international students, their tutors, and all the staff and teachers in the international education department, as well as the members of the international student assistant organization whose name I can’t remember. It was nice for me because we all had name tags, So I was able to relearn the names of a lot of the people I’d been introduced to over the past couple weeks. (I probably forgot a lot of them already though. But I rememberd quite a few as well, so I’m ahead of where I was earlier in the day) at 6:00 we did a toast (Kanpai!) and a bunch of food was brought out. I proceeded to make a food-kabob on my yakiniku skewer.
(It was delicious)
Once again I drew quite a few looks and comments in Japanese and English. But that’s ok, I find life is easier when people recognize you, even if it’s for something weird. Once that initial barrier is broken Japanese folk tend to be more talkative and friendly. After food were a couple speeches and we broke up into groups to do some self introductions. The main party ended after that and most of the other students headed to the nijikai (After party) which you had to pay 500 yen (about $7.25 with the current exchange rate) for, but they serve alcoholic drinks. Apparently that’s where people really get to know each other, but I needed to leave at that point so I could catch my train. It turned out I wasn’t the only Kaikan resident who was skipping out on the nijikai. The Korean girls Soo Min and Chi Hee were there, and so were 4 Chinese students, Sho (Who is my neighbor) Nicole, Wendy, (they haven’t told me their Chinese names) and one other whose name I haven’t learned yet. Nicole was getting waiting for the train so I lent her my coat, which being me sized, and her being an Asian woman, was rather large. So large in fact, that I was able to share it with Nicole and Chi Hee at the same time.
(Part of my ongoing effort to prove to Asian women that despite what they think, they aren’t fat)
Once the train came we all go on and headed back to Oita Station where I parted ways with them and got on my train which is where I’m writing this entry from. I love train rides, but this one has been less than pleasant. Apparently something I ate at the party had been cooked with alcohol because I’m experiencing the symptoms of what I’m going to refer to from now on as “Alcohol Sickness” (provided I remember the term). At any rate, My laptop is running out of battery, and I’ve given a pretty good update I think. Also, it looks like I’m almost at Hakata where I will transfer trains. Perfect timing. Later!
~Daniel
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