迷失的老美

Well, classes started up on Friday (at last) and we have slowly been getting into the swing of things again. I swapped my Japanology for Japanese History to be able to add another class, and I still need to talk to a prof to see if I can get into another Linguistics class. The Sociolinguistics class is the same bullshit as the American version, just a different emphasis… but yea, same shit, different pile basically. I need a real Linguistics class. I was able to talk to é老师 about the chinese class and got placed into the 4th level (Chinese Conversation B), which oddly is also the highest level. I also ran into some Japanese students who were taking Chinese… god did their pronunciation suck, but whatever, I just need to keep my chinese and improve it if at all possible here. The teachers are from Shanghai, but that’s better than nothing, and far better than taking it on Mondays with a Japanese teacher. For this class, I dropped my Japanology, which was mostly just bullshit anyways, taught by a guy who is somewhat cool, but scatterbrained and cant hold a topic to save his life. The Japanese language lessons are well… interesting, dumbed down, and the teachers are afraid to use kanji. Makes me want to stab them. Our REAL japanese language teacher is no where to be found, so, we have been getting lessons from the scatterbrain. Yesterday turned into a random rant about calligraphy for some reason. IES basically screwed us and decided that we only needed 4 hours of language lessons a week. A sharp contrast compared to Beijing. My one fear right now is that after looking through the real catalog of classes, there simply isnt really anything left of interest for 2nd semester. And I will be the only IES student here both terms. So, that means I get put inot a vet position with a bunch of n00bs. So, I am starting to explore a few options. Change of venue one might say. Turns out that IES has a program at 北外 as well, and it might be possible to switch there for 2nd semester. Much better quality of classes, and they offer internships and have an undergrad Linguistics major. This is one of the schools that I got basically accepted to during the financial crisis this summer. Plus, I would be back in Beijing. Other options would be checking out a different setting in Japan. There are Nagoya and Tokyo options at IES too. But, right now, I am just seeing if it is possible at this stage in the game. Waiting for the IES rep to actually return an email, been waiting a while now, would be nice if she would say something.

Last night was ä秋节 and I ate 月é along with all the Chinese students here. Also, managed to find a way around the proxy of doom and get voice chat going with Effie. Much cheaper than a phone call and I was overjoyed to hear her voice again. Miss her so much. A major part of the reason why I am looking into the 北外 option if it is possible. Oh well, I am a weird confused foreigner. Being split between continuing Japanese, a language which I have devoted much to, or throwing it away for Chinese, a language spoken by 1/5 of the world and spoken in a country that oddly feels like home to me.

Well, 杨é said that the last 2 photos of her were bad… so, here is a picture she said is good. Personally, I find it impossible for her to take a bad picture.

*UPDATE*
I am too lazy to make a new post for this, so I am tacking onto this one. While in Shanghai, I hung out with Sarinah for a day and I have another picture to add.

Actually a piture with me in it. One of these days I will get a real camera to call my own.

Well, met with teachers today at lunch. The Sociolinguistics class is going to be bullshit like I expected, but we were able to talk them up to 11 hours a week. Still pretty weak compared to Chinese this summer, but whatever, it is better than the 4 hours they tried to stick us with. The rest of my schedule is pretty empty, and I am currently trying to fill it up. I need real classes, the bullshit they offer is too simple and doesnt help me in any real way. So, I am going to go for real classes with Japanese students. Linguistics classes here seem to have some promise, so, I am going to go for those as much as I can. However, while browsing through the course guide, I found something that will make all my teachers and friends in China very happy. They have Chinese classes here. Although their pronunciation all sucks for Chinese, it is still worth it to keep my level improving. I dont want to show up in Beijing this winter and disappoint everyone with bad Chinese. So, that is a definite that I am signing up for. Things are looking up I guess.

Clubs: Clubs seem to play a MAJOR role in the life of the average Japanese student, so, with all this free time even after getting more classes, I went along with the group in trying to get into a few. There is a “weightlifting club” which gets us a gym to use for free instead of paying 50 yen per time, and we all got involved in the Archery club. This should be enough, although, there is an American Football club that might be worth looking into. It would be nice to have a good physical game to take out frustrations about Japan on the Japanese directly in a way that is allowed. hehe

Well, national holiday tomorrow (again)… so, nothing is open anywhere and there is nothing to do. Thinking about hibernating for a while

I had some ideas what this meeting was going to be about, it was about none of those things. It turned out that because I asked about counterfeit money, he was concerned that I had ambition to get in on the racket. In China, I got taken for 50kuai, so, I learned all about the counterfeiting in China. Learned how to look out for it and how to avoid being passed a fake note. In Japan, the bills are in 1000, 5000, and 10000 yen denominations. Getting passed a fake one of any of these would hurt. So, I asked. I wanted to know if they are high quality, the telltale signs, etc. This is possibly the stupidest thing that he could have pulled me aside for, but, whatever. I finally find out my classes later today… so yay.

And sleeping with no mattress = win. Best night’s sleep since Beijing

Well, things are getting better, slowly. I finally snapped about the mattress. It is too damned soft. Everyone else thinks that they are too hard, but I have been sleeping on Beida chuang all summer and I need a hard, firm bed. Firm like the floor. I snapped and told otosan and okaasan that I didnt want the mattress and to get rid of it please. There is a plywood base under the mattress, and that is closer to what I want without sleeping on the floor itself. So, it is gone now, and they gave me some blankets, put my 竹席 on top of that and im all good. Koreans also tend to do this according to them, so it was not such a weird request.

FINALLY found an ATM that works, and I FINALLY got internet that works too. Too bad it is even more restrictive than chinese internet and all IP phone stuff and filesharing doesnt work at all. So much for my cheap calls to china and the states… gotta find a work around or bitch at the right people I guess. Tomorrow morning is my much awaited meeting with satoshisensei where I get to calm his fears or increase them… eh, Japanese. No classes today, none tomorrow, and Thursday is a holiday. Japan is fucked up. But, at least I have access to money again, so that makes things almost tolerable. Also, I found out that I can get free lunches and 1000 yen an hour up to 5 days a week for talking with english club members. I think I found out how to eat here. I might be able to scrape by on that if I have to. Oh well, still missing China, still wishing I was at Beiwai like I could have been right now, but I guess after classes start up (finally) I will have less time to think. I am going to try to audit or enroll in real classes and take the most intensive Japanese courses that I can, and at the same time, I am still studying Chinese to keep from losing it. I see my future in China and I dont want to shoot myself in the foot now by forgetting. Its kind of weird to get fresh blood from the states. I have missed out on a bit, dont see how I could go back if I even wanted to at this point. Oh well, sleep time.