First Day of Classes

I have been living in Japan for one week now, and I can safely say I know my way to campus–shortcuts included!  Which, unfortunately, is a great accomplishment as of late.  Maybe Japan just has a unique way of making people forgetful, or my brain is on such an overload that I can’t even remember my PIN number for my debit card anymore (which is a rather large problem…considering I need to withdraw money).

[singlepic=68,320,240,,left]In any case, on Monday we started classes.  Each student is allowed up to 17 credit hours, and so as usual, I’m taking the maximum that I can.  Typically, I am not content unless I am extremely busy…even in a foreign country.  In fact, I’m beginning to think that the busier I am in Japan the happier I will be here.  I am starting to feel a small creeping feeling of homesickiness–and I’ve got four months to go before I can even think about returning to America.  Thankfully, it is a feeling that comes and goes quickly, but I think homework and projects will help.  I’m a sucker for learning.

My first class is Speaking Japanese 1, with Hirataka-sensei.  This class I will have every day–and for good reason!  And while I already know how to make a self-introduction, and the syllabus seems a little too simple, I’m sure I will get a lot out of this class.  Here’s a quick lesson for the rest of you:

English: My name is Mr. Waddlesworth.

Japanese: Watashi (I) wa (topic marker) Waddlesworth-san (name) desu (“is/are”).

*This roughly translate to “As for me, I am Mr. Waddlesworth.”*

My second class is Reading and Writing Japanese 1, where we are learning Hiragana, Katakana, and 100 symbols in Kanji.  This class is taught my Yuki-sensei, and I really like her.  She is young and very funny, and the class makes me feel like I am back in elementary school. (“Okay, class!  What is this symbol?…Very good!”)  We have this class on Monday, Wednesday and on Thursday for about 50 minutes each.  I cannot stress how important it is to learn to read Japanese.  #1: it helps you buy food in a grocery market…particularly because a lot of familiar foods are written in katakana and sound similar to the English version.  For example, “orangu juuicu” is orange juice.

In the afternoon I have my English speaking classes.  I only have these on Monday and Wednesday, and they are both 80 minutes long.  My classmates are from all over the world, which is so exciting!

My first class (in the afternoon) is Japanese Popular Media and Culture, taught by an American professor, Dr. Hollstein.  He seems like a very knowledgable and interesting guy, and he really enjoys what he is teaching.  The objective of the class is to look at Japanese manga, anime and TV dramas and how they have affected Japanese culture through history and today.  The fact that I get to read comics for class is a dream come true!

My second afternoon class is Intercultural Communication in Japan with Dr. Lind.  Dr. Lind seems like a really great professor, too, and he originates from Texas.  He said we’d be having a lot of discussions in class…and what’s great is that our topic includes communication in many different cultures–and we have representatives in the class from all over!  [singlepic=63,320,240,,right]

Finally, my last class is Basic Ceramics with Inomata-sensei.  He is a Japanese potter here in Makino, and so we’ll be learning how to make Japanese pottery on the wheel.  I can’t wait!  Ceramics will take a good chunk of my time each week, however…about eight hours, and that is without any outside effort to get my projects done on time.  Still, I find that ceramics really helps my stress level, and I do need it for my art minor.

Okay! I should be getting ready for another day of classes, so I best wrap this post up.  A friend from home sent me this link to comfort me when I told him that meat was so expensive in Japan…I think all of you might enjoy it, too.

Bacon Takes Over the Internet.