April 9, Monday: Placement Test Part II, International Student Orientation (Before, During)

Whew! It's been a long time. I've been battling a cold this week, so I've been pretty tired. It's almost halfway through the semester; I'm having mid-semester exams next week (not fun!). On that note, I'm going to try to catch you guys up a little.

So, on Monday, April 9th, I set out at 9:30am for campus so I could finish my placement test.

Before I left the dorm, I took some pictures from the windows in the laundry room and next to the elevator.

I'm always impressed by all the beautiful and carefully tended plants at people's houses.

Oranges?

An attempt to get a good picture of the giant crows that live here.

Attempt #2.

A cemetery I pass on the way to school. It's haunted by cats, especially black ones. The graves are well-tended, unlike the grassy overgrown tombstones you'd see in a typical American cemetery.

The view from the International Student Center (留学生センター).

At the International Student Center, I finished my placement test. The first section I did was a listening section. I went to the computer room, and once the teacher had the other students and me wait for latecomers, she handed each of us a sheet of paper with a set of multiple choice questions. While she played a recording, we listened and circled our answers. This test was almost laughably easy.

After the listening test was over, we remained in our seats as we waited for our turns for the  conversation part of the placement test. I was one of the last people to go. The teacher handed me a laminated card with the room number that the previous student had brought back, and sent me to the room. I knocked on the door and entered after being invited inside. Inside, H-sensei greeted me and we had a brief conversation. During the conversation, he asked me how confident I felt about using keigo (polite speech). I told him I felt rather confident since it had been well integrated into my Japanese courses at the University of Pittsburgh. We did a little practice conversation where I had to call him to let him know that I couldn't make our appointment since I was sick. I used keigo passably well, and he confidently circled 4 on my results sheet.

After I brought the laminated card back to the listening teacher, I went downstairs to discuss my results with a teacher who would recommend which classes I should take. I had to wait a while. Once it was my turn, I sat down next to the teacher, who looked at my results, pulled the two class schedules toward him, and promptly began circling the hardest ones that matched my results. When I suggested that the classes might be a bit too hard, he said something along the lines of 「行ってみて下さいね。」. I remained uncertain but accepted his advice to "try them and see." The advising session was over all too quickly. I withdrew to a table to evaluate the schedule he had recommended for me.

As a foreign student, I had three schedules of classes to choose from. One sheet was from my faculty, Intercultural Studies, and had classes intended for Japanese students, with all but three explicitly taught only in Japanese. It was required that I take at least one class from this schedule, but since my Japanese was weak and these classes conflicted with the other schedules, I decided to look at that one later. The other two sheets were schedules for classes at the International Student Center; the green one contained classes for levels beginner to advanced, and the yellow one contained classes at levels higher than that. For some reason, although my placement test scores were all 4 and below (highest possible is 5), the teacher had recommended I try going to all of the beyond-advanced level classes. At the same time, he had also circled Listening, Conversation, Reading, Composition, and Kanji classes on the green schedule. Although I had scored rather weakly on Reading and Grammar, he recommended I try level 4 for Reading and Composition. Kanji, my weakest subject, was the only class that I felt matched my own estimation of how suitable I was for the class.  Everything else seemed a bit on the hard side. However, since I had finally made it to Japan and wanted to make the most of time here, I figured I'd try out the hard classes before I had to register.

After that ordeal, I had some free time before the next event, so I decided to eat lunch at the nearby LANS Box cafeteria.

The hamburger patty was surprisingly good, but I'm not really a fan of cold tofu or cold, sour squash. The rice was the perfect texture though. Japan really knows how to cook rice. In America, it's a gamble whether you'll get edible rice, especially at a school cafeteria; but here, the rice is always properly cooked, no matter what.

After eating, I took some pictures of outside LANS Box and Kobe University Centennial hall (神戸大学百年記念館) as I walked back the scenic area next to the International Student Center.

Then I went to the Bazaar held by the student group Truss. At the bazaar, there were all sorts of items being sold really cheap. There were pots, plates, bowls, silverware, purses, backpacks, clothes, towels, hangers.... There was also a free lottery for more expensive items like a rice cooker or a vacuum cleaner. Near the entrance, some kind elderly people from some organization (I feel guilty for not remembering what it's called) were giving out cups of tea, chocolate, and small flower bouquets. I enjoyed the chocolate and tried not to burn my tongue on the tea. I didn't win the lottery for the rice cooker, to my mild disappointment. I did buy a pot, wooden spatula, hanger, and hand towel for a total of 110 yen (~$1.40).

After the Bazaar, I had more free time before the International Student Orientation at 2:30pm, so I took a walk to enjoy the cherry blossoms with my new friend M-san.

The clover in this field are ridiculously huge.

That walkway is known as Uribo Road (ウリボロード, if I remember the katana right). It's named after the baby wild boars that roam with their parents (Inoshishi 猪　いのしし) nearby at night.

M-san.

The vending machines outside of LANS Box.

A couple of the squad of workers who keep the walkways free of leaves and stray branches. (There's never any trash to clean up.) Today they're wearing yellow.

After that pleasant break, I returned to Rokko Hall for a long and boring presentation that was difficult to follow since it was all in Japanese. I followed along as they instructed us to look at the materials from the packet each international student had each been given, but I couldn't read a lot of it. I became very sleepy. The most interesting part was when they listed all the countries students were from and had those students stand up as their country was called. I almost missed mine since I was confused and didn't recognize the word "America" when they said it. There are surprisingly few Americans here at Kobe; most students are from Europe or somewhere in Asia or Oceania. As expected, there are a lot of students from China.

In my boredom, I happened to look up and notice the ceiling of the auditorium.

It reminded me of a seashell for some reason.

I'd like to continue, but I need my sleep since I'm sick and I have to get up early tomorrow for an event with Art Club. お待たせいたしました。I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. You'll hear from me next in the post "April 9, Monday Continued: International Student Orientation (After), Karaoke and Hanami"!

Kanji Practice 1

I know you guys have been waiting for my next post full of pictures and stuff, but I've been busy having fun and studying for class, so I'm still working on it. For people curious about my experience with kanji though, this post is for you! (Sorry, everyone else)

Before coming to Japan I had studied a woefully few 400 kanji. To get me more used to reading Japanese and hopefully learn a few more kanji, I changed my Facebook to Japanese and installed the Firefox add-on Rikaichan, which shows the readings and meanings for words. Rikaichan is very useful, but its hovering box and shortcut keys makes it hard to click on things or type. I recommend Rikaichan, since it's easy to turn off when it gets annoying, and it's really helpful when you need it.

Since I've come to Japan, I've encountered kanji everywhere: forms I need to fill out, street signs, restaurant names and menus (although menus also tend to contain ridiculous amounts of katakana, so good luck figuring out what European food they're referring to), posters, ads, TV, trains, buses, class, etc. Frankly, without a dictionary or knowledge of kanji, life in Japan can be pretty difficult.

When I started attending class, my lack of kanji knowledge really became apparent. Based on my placement test, I ended up in Reading IV, Composition IV, Conversation IV, Listening IV, and Kanji II and III. See the level difference between my Kanji classes and everything else? Two whole levels of kanji I don't know that I encounter in every class. Since my vocabulary is thin, my class ends up being a rush to copy the teacher's notes into my own while using my dictionary to find the readings and definitions for all of the kanji. If there are no notes to copy, I just make a vocabulary list.

When I've learned new kanji, I often find that for some, I remember either the writing, reading, OR meaning the best. It takes 5-10 encounters with the kanji for that to happen, and then 5-10 more plus some practice before I remember all three for a kanji. Once I've seen a kanji, it's easier to connect it with words, meanings, or readings I already know.

That's the purpose of this post: I've come into contact with a lot of kanji, and if you're interested in preparing for coming to Japan, I'm going to start posting somewhat random lists of kanji words, readings, and definitions. Hopefully, seeing the kanji will help you remember them later. Since I can't put furigana over the words, I'll put the hiragana after the kanji, and let you figure out which kanji they belong to <3. No romaji, sorry.

一生懸命/一所懸命　いっしょうけんめい/いっしょけんめい　(do something) as hard as you can
国際文化学部　         こくさいぶんかがくぶ　Intercultural Studies Faculty (my major department at Kobe University)

From my homework due Wednesday:
The title:
主張理解　         しゅちょうりかい　assertion comprehension (?)
長文　                 ちょうぶん　long piece of writing (passage, etc)

The directions (you should know these since they appear in some form on every standardized test):
問題　                もんだい　 problem; question
次　                    つぎ　next
文章　               ぶんしょう　sentence; writing; composition; style
読む　               よむ　read
後　                   あと　after
問い　               とい　question
に対する　        にたいする　to face
答え　               こたえ　answer
最も               　もっとも　(the) most
選ぶ　              えらぶ　choose
Bonus word: 正しい　ただしい　 right; correct (I didn't know this word when I was taking the placement test for Kitakyushu University at Pitt. I couldn't read the directions, so I guessed at how to answer.)

The reading passage:
写真　                   しゃしん　photograph
良い　                   よい　good, excellent
作品　                  さくひん　a (piece of) work
判　                      はん　a seal; size (paper)
判断　                  はんだん　judgement
規格　                 きかく　a standard
定規　                 じょうぎ　a ruler (measure)
当たる/当る　     あたる　to be hit; to strike (Imagine that the middle stroke on top is hitting the E-shaped target; this word's meaning is hitting a target, in a general sense. For example, people will ask 当る？to check if they got something right.)
自分　                じぶん　self
良し悪し　         よしあし　right or wrong; good or bad; quality （悪い　わるい　bad）
分かる　            わかる　understand
一般　                いっぱん　general, universal
伝える　            つたえる　to convey, report, communicate
方法　               ほうほう　way (to do ~, of doing ~); method (of doing ~); manner (of doing ~)
言葉　              ことば　word
話す　              はなす　speak; talk
映像　              えいぞう　image; reflection; picture
一見　             いっけん　a look; a glance
それぞれ　each; respectively
別　              べつ　separate; different
実　              じつ　truth
頭　              あたま　head
中　              なか　inside
内容　          ないよう　subject; contents
浮かぶ　     うかぶ　float; be suspended; rise to the surface; to come to mind; to have inspiration
表現　         ひょうげん　an expression; a representation
変わる　     かわる　to change
につれて/に連れて with
次々　      つぎつぎ　in rapid succession
ゆく　(= いく) go; come
文字　       もじ　a letter; a (Chinese) character
連想　       れんそう　association (associate)
感じ　        かんじ　feeling; sense; impression *Commonly used in conversation*

I'm going to Kyoto again tomorrow, bright and early, so I'm ending this here, but this will be continued, eventually....

April 8, Sunday Outing

久しぶりですねえ。Hisashiburi desu nee. It's been a while, hasn't it?

I've been spending my weekends going places, and this past week was Golden Week, so I haven't had time to update. But now, loyal followers who have been waiting for my next post, your patience will be rewarded.

Sunday, April 8th was a whole month ago, and I have to admit, if I didn't take pictures I would remember nothing to tell you.

I had run out of food in my room, so I went out in the nice weather to find a store to buy food at. The sakura were still blooming, the sky was clear, and it wasn't too hot. I finally explored the local area a bit.

I hear cars in Japan are smaller than in America, but without an American car next to it, I can't tell. At the very least, the license plate number has a lot fewer digits, probably because there are fewer cars here than in America.

I went into this restaurant since I was so hungry and it was the first place I saw. I didn't know how to order or what was on the menu, so I sat on a bench at the back to read the menu at my own pace and watch the people in line. I was lucky there was a menu of the back wall next to the bench, since unlike in America, only the special items are shown up top. The rest of the menu is on the counter, so you only get to see it once you're at the front of the line.

I ended up ordering what the people in front of me in line ordered: a chicken bento. When I was paying, I embarrassingly got the 50-yen and 5-yen coins mixed up. After I paid, I returned to the bench to wait for my food.

I was curious about the sink, since there were no places to sit and eat nearby, and the employees probably had a sink in the kitchen. Who would wash their hands?  I didn't see anyone use the sink while I was there.

I can't get over how nice the scenery in Kobe is. The sakura and the rivers give me a calming feeling.

The van says "Oriental Bakery" in katakana. I don't know what kind of food a place called that would sell.

It seemed that there was a celebration of some sort going on this side of the street, but I decided I would check it out later.

Bus stop in front of the shrine.

The way they trim trees here is baffling to me. In America they cut off the lower branches, but in Japan they often seem to  cut off nearly all of them.

Food!

They look like Bugles, but they're called Tongari Corn.

Fruit-flavored "Fettuccine" gummies.

This seems intended for children, but frankly, I find the idea of eating something decorated using a syringe a little offputting. Especially when it's filled with a reddish fluid.

Canned vegetables and bottled coffee.

I recently tried that Healthy Milk Tea on the top left and was dismayed to find it was lavender flavored, which is (1) a flavor/scent I don't like, and (2) a flavor/scent I associate with bath soap or perfume. The drink didn't actually taste bad but the smell/taste of drinking soap/perfume made me feel like it did.

C.C. Lemon is a watery soda that kind of tastes like Sprite.

A telephone booth! I don't even know if those exist in America anymore.

I know the phone is green for a reason, but I don't remember why. The poster on the right is a campaign poster for some minor official. I saw them everywhere, so I asked a Japanese friend if it was an election year. It is, but at least to people my age, it's not an important one.

It's weird to see a place that looks big and spacious. As usual, there are far more bikes than cars.

The red kanji say "Hana mi en," or "flower-viewing party."

I would have joined them to eat, since I hadn't found a place to eat yet, but I didn't have a blanket and it would be awkward by myself.

A grandmother and her grandmother going to pray at the shrine together.

The big black kanji say "uketsuke," which means receptionist. I learned later when I went to a shrine in Kyoto that you can get your fortune at a shrine, and after the receptionist gives you your fortune on a strip of paper, you read it and tie it to a stand such as the one you can see next to the elderly lady.

The map says "Roads to Mt. Maya (Maya-san)." According to Wikipedia Japan, Maya-san is part of Mt. Rokko's mountain range.

Some topped trees.

I need to ask someone knowledgeable what this contraption on the river is for. The colorful sign says the days of garbage collection for this spot, which is a "Clean Station."

I get to see lots of waterfalls <3

The sign says "When this neighborhood is under construction, please contact the following."

I've heard that it's generally looked down upon to eat while walking (I've never seen anyone do it), but at this point I was so hungry I decided to eat one of the onigiri I'd bought at Co-op.

See the plant at the bottom of the picture, on the wall? That's a giant cactus plant. Ironically, it's on the wall next to a river. I didn't notice it until recently, and I have a better picture of it in a later set.

All the driveways I've seen look pretty difficult to drive in and out of.

Strange ivy on a balcony. The rainbow on the bottom right is probably dust on my camera lens. It's pretty.

I just noticed the ladder now.

A futon hanging on a balcony. At the bottom, more election spam.

Neighborhood vending machine. Unlike America, in Kobe you find vending machines everywhere, not just public buildings.

In front of Gomo Tenjin Shrine.

Got distracted by a butterfly.

The part of the shrine where you wash your hands and mouth to purify yourself.

The shrine.

People with sons hang these carp-shaped koinobori outside for Children's Day on May 5. According to Kids Web Japan, "the carp was chosen because it symbolizes strength and success; according to a Chinese legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon."

Post office box.

 I decided that since the weather was nice, I would eat outside on the stairs to nowhere (mentioned in "Moving In").

Chopsticks I bought at Co-op.

Even cold, it looked delicious, and tasted pretty good.

The north half of Kokui Dorm.

After I got back to my room, I drank some milk coffee and did some organizing.

Kirin is as pervasive as Coke and Pepsi are in America.

Dessert--yum.

I used up my first toilet paper roll.

Green is such a nice color for toilet paper.

I always have to look up the kanji to figure out how to recycle the different parts. Sometimes I can't find the kanji combinations, so I have to guess and apply common sense. My electronic dictionary just pooped out on me today, and I'm too lazy to use other slower methods to look up the kanji. The general gist of the kanji: on the left in the arrows "kami" (paper), underneath is "hako" (box) and something about individual wrappers; on the right in the arrows "pura" (plastic), and underneath is something about outer film.

Top: in arrows "pura" (plastic), next to it "kyappu" (cap) and "laberu" (label). Bottom: to the right of the triangle "risaikuru (recycle) ni go-[something I'm too lazy to look up] kudasai (please)." Bottom next to PET: "botoru" (bottle).

The kanji for the flavor mean "high/expensive greens (like vegetable)," but they're not in my dictionary as a compound, so I'm not really sure what's in this onigiri.

I'm opening it properly this time.

High greens.

Experimenting with cell phone straps.

I decided to flip through KooBee, a magazine I got on the day of the Activities Fair, if I remember correctly. I found the names interesting, especially Fuzzy Navel. I don't know much of anything about cocktails, so if in America that's a normal name, let me know.

And that's the end of my slow-paced Sunday. Look for the exciting start of my second week in Japan in the next post: "April 9, Monday: Placement Test Part II, International Student Orientation (Before, During, After), Karaoke and Hanami"!