Well, I don't feel like anything amazing has been going on lately, but thinking about it, there's actually quite a bit to update you all on. Probably the coolest thing ever is that I just talked for 40 minutes on the phone IN JAPANESE. I actually really just hung up and found out how long it had been, and I must say, I'm quite happy about that ^_^ hahaha.
Let's see, ooooh I got a cell phone (けいたい - keitai) last week, which is awesome. I ended up getting the Softbank Toshiba 811T, but actually the entire story of getting this phone is kind of long--this explanation is kind of detailed so if you want to skip it it's fine :)
Anyway, I knew I wanted to get a phone when I got here, but I had some very specific criteria that my new phone would have to meet. It had to work as a phone, obviously, but it also had to be able to play music, have a headphone jack, have removable memory, write in Japanese as well as English, have at least a 2 megapixel camera with a flash and as many features as possible, work in America as well as Japan (meaning it had to work on gsm as well as 3g networks and have a slot for a sim card), and be easy enough to use that I would be able to make the most of these features. I also wanted it to be small and hopefully cheap, but those were secondary requirements. The idea behind these somewhat crazy-sounding requirements was that I had never personally bought a new phone, camera, or mp3 player for myself, and I wanted one device that would do everything. So, with all of that in mind, within the first couple days of being in Japan I was online searching for my future phone. Long story short, I eventually found the 811T and decided that it was probably my best shot. But then there were more problems, like the fact that I'm only staying in Japan for 4 months and Softbank plans are usually for two years, and that if I'm not staying in Japan for at least 6 months they wouldn't sell me anything but prepaid plans. Davy Millard to the rescue! Davy (a friend who grew up in Japan and graduated from Wheaton 2 years ahead of me and is now living in Tokyo with his wife and brother) took me through Ikebukuro, talked with all the Softbank reps, helped me figure out what sort of plan to get, and then eventually got the plan under his name so that I could use a non-prepaid plan even though I'm not in Japan very long. We also randomly found the 811T at one of 4 different stores, when everything that we heard made us think that it was out of production and sold out everywhere either because it was too popular or too unpopular. But we randomly found one, and they had either orange or red. I got the red one.
Anyway, enough of that cell phone stuff. This last weekend we had Monday off for the Japanese national holiday "Respect for the Aged Day" (敬老の日 - keirou no hi) so Dave, our friend Julie, and I all went to Nikko, Japan for about a day and a half. It was really sweet! There's a phrase in Japanese that I can't quote exactly, but it means something like "Don't say magnificent until you see Nikko," although I've heard it can also be interpreted "See Nikko and say 'enough.'" So, Dave planned out most of the trip and we headed out for Nikko on a train and spent a busy day touring a lot of famous shrines, including visiting the burial place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, for whom the Tokugawa period of Japanese history is named. I put some of my pictures (taken with my new phone!) up on facebook, and I think you should all be able to see them if you follow
this link. Those pictures are also captioned, so you get a brief description of our trip at the same time. Some of them might not make sense, but if they don't you should just move on and not worry about it :)
In other news, my Intermediate Japanese I class is still easy, and my Oral Intensive Japanese class is still very hard, making me feel stupid after every class, and therefore very motivated to study. My new plan is to try to study Japanese outside of class for about 2 hours a day--I don't think it'll be too difficult regarding finding time, since there's definitely time when I could do it between/after classes at school. Finding the motivation might be the harder part, unless classes keep going like they have been. I really want to get good at Japanese, and I think if I keep on studying on my own now like I did during the summer, I will improve relatively quickly. I've found that it never feels like you're progressing quickly, even if you are, so with that in mind I think I can be a little more patient in my studies. I say that because I got through two semesters of Japanese in 2-3 months during the summer, but at the time it didn't feel like I was moving so quickly. Now, however, it really does feel like I accomplished something, (case in point: a 40 minute phone conversation in Japanese!), so I'm excited to really get back into some hardcore studying.
About that phone conversation though--of course it's not as though I spoke perfect Japanese for 40 minutes or understood everything my friend said, but since she has studied English in Japan (i.e. knows vocabulary and grammar but can't speak it), we were able to work our way around most problems and figure things out, although it was funny sometimes when it took 5 or more minutes to get a simple message like "I have church until 5 on Sunday" across. It seems sudden to me now, actually, but after that I'm really inspired/motivated to keep studying, since that's kind of an obvious sign of real progress. So with all that said, I have to get back to preparing to give a news presentation in class tomorrow! It's going to be really hard haha, but luckily I have some awesome friends who are willing to read over stuff like this before I turn it in.
Oh, I forgot to write about this but Dave and I also went to a Saturday night once-a-month youth service thing with New Hope International Fellowship, which is the church I've been going to and plan to stick with while I'm here. My pastor from my church back in Wheaton actually grew up in Japan and told me about the church, and Saturday night some of the people in charge of the youth stuff freaked out when they heard that my pastor was "Mitchi." Also, one of the guys in charge's wife is Korean, and since I told them all how much I like Korean food she offered to make Korean food for the service next month! So I am ridiculously excited, since now I get to go early and learn how to make real 비비면 (bibimyun), which I've only had in instant noodle form before, and even then it was amaaaazingly good.
So, that's what's going on right now. I hope everyone's doing great whether you're back home or abroad like me. Soooo until next time! じゃあ、また！
This is a shot of our apartment building from across the street. The parking lot in front is open to anybody, so those cars don't belong to anyone I know.
This is from the doorway of Azabu Hall, the one most of my classes are in, one of the buildings of Temple University in Japan.
This is a pretty common street picture in Japan, especially because of the bikes. Tokyo Tower, which is really close to our school, is in the background.
I took a little walking trip on my own over to Tokyo Tower one day and shot this picture from the base.
It's pretty common here for American celebrities to advertise Japanese products. I read a really interesting article once analyzing the reasons it works the way it does etc, but the point is that it's pretty funny to see over here, since these same celebrities would hate for anyone to know about it, since this kind of thing doesn't reflect well on them in America. Tommy Lee Jones is currently being paid an exorbitant amount to advertise Boss canned coffee. He doesn't even hold a can, he just stands there looking tough.
This is a shot of Lake Chuzenji in Nikko with some mountains in the background. Very beautiful area.
Kegon Falls in Nikko. The stream is a run-off from Lake Chuzenji.
Ok, this picture... I was riding on the train on the way home one day when I happened to look down and see A HEAD in this lady's bag. For like one second I was really totally freaked out! Like wtf omgomg why is there a head in the bag... I mean I noticed it wasn't real right away but STILL. So I took a picture. The bad quality is due to the shaking of the train and the inconspicuous way I tried to take the picture, due to the fact that I felt really shady taking a picture of some random girl's bag.
I think I mentioned this, but we went to a Sumo Tournament for Dave's birthday a week or two ago. Most of my pictures aren't very good (I have no optical zoom) but this is what most of them look like. Sumo is actually pretty fun to watch, although it'd be better if more matches lasted longer than 5-6 seconds.
