Thursday, 10/2/2014 Orientation and Art Club

This morning I woke up early, probably because I was a little cold, despite having adding a freshly washed sheet to my bed. I went back to sleep at woke up 10 minutes before my alarm from a dream about me and my ninja family trying to defeat/escape from bad guys who had our house under siege by paparazzi. I got up at 7:40, got ready, and put my plastic trash out at 8:20am. As I was waiting for the elevator, I saw it was going up to the 5^th floor. A middle-aged/old salaryman with a combover came out of the elevator. We nodded at each other, and glanced at each other again as the elevator doors closed behind me and stepped out the glass security door. I went back to my room to wait for F-sensei. I opened the windows and ate a banana.

At a little past 9, my intercom rang, and F-sensei told me to hurry down. I donned the gloves from last time and raced downstairs and dragged the rusty drying rack (he did understand what I wanted after all) and the basket of hangers he had left in front of the security door to the elevator. F-sensei passed by outside in his car, and I waved and bowed to him. As I carried the grubby thing to my room, I resolved to cover it using the same plastic sheets I had bought at the 100 yen store to cover the old desk with. Then I grabbed my stuff and left, fearing that I would be late for orientation. F-sensei and K-san from the International Exchange and Support room had both checked to make sure I would attend. F-sensei, especially, said that attendance was mandatory, in a way that if I didn’t attend, I would be kicked out of the program.

I made it to campus by about 9:30am, where I ran into a group of Chinese students. One of them recognized me from the day before, and she called out to me. We walked together to the Economics building. We waited outside since we were 20 minutes early. When it was time, we all filed into the room, where we were given assigned seats. I was placed in the back and asked to try my best with Japanese explanations. The Chinese people were lucky, because after the Japanese explanations, they got Chinese explanations too. But I understood most things, and some of the papers had English too, so I was fine.

Orientation felt very long. The banana had dissolved away into nothing, leaving me feeling lethargic and restless. I was also suddenly afflicted with a runny nose, which I tried to blow discreetly as some of the very accomplished senior Chinese students (one of whom was preparing to study abroad in Germany) introduced themselves. They were very good at Japanese. I’ve been surprised by how many Chinese people at Tohoku University are excellent speakers of Japanese, some with minimal Chinese accents. Of course, they’ve been in Japan for a while and are probably hardworking and very smart.

I was exhausted by the time orientation was over. I was hungry, but I didn’t feel like venturing out by myself to get food. I went up to the Exchange room and sat next to the quiet Japanese guy from the night before (Yh-san). There were other Japanese guys there, and we said introductions. Then most of them except for Yh-san had to go to class. I stayed and looked at my orientation papers for a while, and Yh-san gave me a tiny cookie, which re-energized me. I decided to go to the school convenience store to buy food. As I was leaving the store with onigiri and a daifuku?, I ran into the Fulbright researcher studying geology here, with some of her coworkers. We spoke briefly, she introduced me to her coworkers, and then I went back to the Exchange room.

My food disappeared very quickly. I regained some of my focus and looked through my papers and worked on various paperwork forms I needed to fill out. One of the Japanese guys came back as Yh-san left, so he helped me with the parts of the forms I was unsure about. Meanwhile, the two of the staff members were passionately arguing/discussing the upcoming Welcome party and whether or not they were expected to attend. One of the women hadn’t been present at the previous instance of the event, so kept asking the other one what had happened to the attendance sheet, but she didn’t know. The staff get along really well, so even though they seemed like they were arguing, they were actually agreeing and patting each other on the shoulder. Yh-san commented later after they left that the Exchange room was rather noisy (sawagashii) today.

At about 3 or 4pm, a lot of the Japanese people came back, and it became even noisier. Allergy-san was there, and his voice was louder than everyone’s. I tried to work on my application for a Japanese tutor, but I couldn’t concentrate, so I joined the conversations instead. Or, I attempted to. I mostly listened, because there were at least 3 conversations going on at once. Allergy-san’s was the loudest, but he also had the most slangy Japanese, and he spoke really fast, so I didn’t understand a lot of what he was saying. The Japanese girl, K-san, and the guy next to her were talking about paperwork. One of the staff members was talking to me; she told me that I actually didn’t have a tutor yet, because all the guys I had met so far didn’t speak clean enough Japanese for me to learn from. She thought I should have a more serious, hardworking tutor like K-san to teach me proper Japanese, like the kind I would need to write for my research reports, and I could just be friends with the guys.

Things continued like this, with lively conversations going on all around, until after 5pm, when Allergy-san and K-san mentioned that there was a class they wanted to go to, but they weren’t sure about it because it might rain and because it wasn’t clear whether it was in English or Japanese. They finally left at 5:40pm, and I tagged along.

The class was called “Global Company Research,” and the teacher, a soft-spoken middle-aged man who you could barely hear despite the microphone, conducted the introduction mostly in English, with some Japanese explanations.

When class ended, I went up to the assistant teacher to ask if I could audit the class, and to have her sign my form. Then I rejoined with the Japanese people, who had found some friends, and we all went outside, fearing that it would be pouring rain. It turned out to be a gentle sprinkle, but the Japanese people all acted like it would suddenly turn into a downpour. The girls hadn’t brought umbrellas, and they debated how safe it would be to ride their bikes back. They ended up doing it.

I parted ways with them at the bike lot, explaining that I wanted to look for the Art Club. They pointed me in the direction they thought it was, and I started walking. I was approaching the Bee Café when I spotted a group of people practicing a dance. I went up to them and asked about how often they practice, what kind of dance they do (hip hop/break dance), and if I could watch. They were very friendly, but told me that their leader hadn’t arrived yet. I told them I would come back in a little while to watch then.

I kept walking to a building that was labeled “Physical Education Building.” It clearly didn’t have clubrooms for nonsport activities, so I went around the side of the buildings to a row of low buildings. The first door was open, revealing a guy working a pottery wheel, with pots on the floor all over the room. There was another door inside leading to a side room, with a couple guys talking. (BTW: the university is probably about 60% boys to 40% girls, or maybe more skewed, depending on the department.) I asked the guy at the wheel if this was the art club, but he said that this was the pottery club, and that the art club was somewhere else, but he didn’t know where. I thanked him and kept walking along the path between the club rooms and the Phys Ed Bldg. Suddenly, I heard two guys calling out to me. I turned around and saw the two guys who had been in the side room. They explained that they had heard I was looking for the Art Club, and that they thought it was in that building over there. I thanked them, and they hurried away as I followed the path to a poorly lit building. A girl exited an unlit door to the bike lot. Some of the rooms were lit, and many were dark. I could hear people practicing on instruments: trumpets, violins. I went around the building to see if there was a better lit door, but there wasn’t. I went in the other open door, past a staircase, and found myself in a courtyard. Students sat on the edges practicing with their violins. I spotted the mandolin club practicing in their club room. I went out through the door to the bike lot, and then came back in. As I passed the staircase, a group of people came from the courtyard. I stood aside for them, and asked them if they knew where the Art Club was. They were flustered by my question. They didn’t know where it was. I thanked them and went upstairs a floor. There were flyers for various clubs hanging on the walls: Go club, manga club, animation club, jazz club, etc. There was a Photo club flyer buried beneath a spider web. On the second floor, there was a large space in the middle I couldn’t enter (I don’t remember why). I walked around the edge to where a couple of trumpet players were squatting, paging through music. It was dim. They scooted so I could go past, but I stopped and asked where the Art Club was. To my surprise, one of the players knew, and he enthusiastically offered to take me up a floor to their room. We walked up the stairs together onto the dark 3^rd floor (all the floor were dimly lit and grimy). We turned to the left and he pointed to room 307. Next to the door of the room was a stack of paintings leaning against the wall. He moved some aside so I could see the one reading “Art Club” in Japanese. I thanked him with a big smile and went to the door. I could see the room was full of people. I timidly knocked and opened the door. I asked, “Is this the Art Club?” They said yes. Then I asked if I could come in (although I was already halfway in anyway). They were disconcerted, but they welcomed me. I introduced myself, and they commented on my Japanese skill. I asked about the club, and they explained, gesturing to the sculptures and paintings displayed around the room. Then they had me sit and gave me a photo album of their previous art gallery show for me to look at. As I paged through it, they explained different events they had coming up: the school festival at the end of October, where they would sell food and draw portraits; a portrait practice session tomorrow; a riverside potato boiling event, apparently a tradition in Sendai. They were also very relaxed about attendance. The room’s smell and the club’s atmosphere reminded me a lot of the Art Club at Kobe University. But I definitely had less difficulty communicating this time around.

After they explained the events and mentioned the 3000 yen ($30) club fee, I took my leave. I went back to the dance club. I asked if it was okay to watch, and they said it was okay to try practicing with them. I immediately joined them at the back, but I was awful. I hadn’t eaten dinner and I was tired from orientation, so I couldn’t remember the dance moves. The leader also asked for less feedback from the dancers; he paid attention and would repeat moves if he saw a need, but there was more pressure to catch up quickly. The people in the front row caught on very quickly, so I tried to follow them. The practice style was also different. He would teach a set of moves, and then we would practice them in a loop. Then we would learn the next set of moves, and loop them. After we learned 4-6 sets, we went through all of them. Personally, I’m terrible at mentally connecting set of steps, so I always forgot the next step. The practice speed went from slow to very fast quickly and abruptly, so I was trying to catch up the whole time.

After an hour, we got 15 minutes break to drink water and practice on our own. I had reached the end of my endurance, so I decided to leave. I wanted to say something to the leader before I left, but everyone was busy practicing and teaching each other, so I didn’t know how to interrupt. I walked home, feeling guilty for not properly showing gratitude for letting me practice with them.

I stopped at the CO-OP on the way, and picked up some items to make dinner and breakfast with.

Then I looked at the mail I had gotten: a mysterious paper saying that a company was holding a security deposit of 10,000 yen ($100) for me, a notice of undelivered mail from the post office, an advertisement for a prep class to become a government employee, some sort of magazine printed on newsprint, and a weekly newspaper from Kahoku Sendai. I don’t understand the bill-type of mails I’ve received, so I plan to ask about them tomorrow.

All the Japanese people I met today asked if I speak Japanese; and when someone or I would answer yes, they would respond “Really?” disbelievingly, look at me incredulously, and then speak Japanese. As the conversation progressed, they would become impressed that my abilities exceeded their expectations so much. I guess at a university that offers so many English-language classes, including entire degree programs targeted towards foreigners, it’s normal not to expect much Japanese skill from a foreigner.

Writing this took a while, so it’s 1:26am now. My internet isn’t working. “Error 651: The modem (or other connecting device) has reported an error.) I want to read the email my advisor has sent me.

Wednesday, 10/1/2014 First Day of Classes, and Beef Tongue

I got up at 8:40am today. I did my laundry, washing the new sheets and blanket I bought. There were a lot less people on the street at 9:30am. I sat in the coin laundry reading the previous day’s newspaper that someone had left on the washer. I didn’t understand many of the words, but I got the gist. There had been a volcanic eruption at a mountain somewhere, and 12 people had been killed. Rescue efforts had paused do to the risk of more volcanic activity. In another article, the electric company for northeast Japan was planning to implement more renewable energy sources, in particular what they called “Mega-solar,” but the problem was that this would likely dramatically increase monthly energy costs for households.

Near the time that my drying was finished, an old man spotted me and stood in front of the door. We nodded to each other, but he kept standing there. Finally he came in and stubbed out his cigarette in the trash. He left, but a few other old men began loitering outside. I waited a moment before getting my laundry. When I left the coin laundry, there was a group of 7-8 old men standing in front of the shrine on the other side of the tonkatsu restaurant next to the laundry. I nodded at them and made my way past them.

I got back to my room at 11:40. I bought a takeout lunch at the fast food place next door. I hung up the laundry that was still wet, folded the rest, and ate the lunch in my room. I had opened the windows to let the air circulate and blow against the clothes, but the temperature difference made me really cold. I donned my sweatjacket. The radio was on, playing mostly Western music, alternated with news clips, the radio person talking, and commercials.

At noon, I finally connected my internet. I took care of things that had been waiting, until the buzzer rang at about 1:30pm. I went downstairs and had the deliveryman carry the bedding set up to the door of my room. Then I signed his slip and lugged the unwieldy package into my room. I took off the paper cover and stuffed the pack into my closet. If it really would inflate, there was no point opening it until I needed it.

I continued my computer stuff until I realized it was 2:30pm, and I had half an hour to get to campus. I threw on my backpack and speedwalked to campus. I wasn’t quite sure where the room was, so I arrived about 10 minutes late. I was gestured to a seat at the end of the U-shaped table. I was the farthest from the front, so I had difficulty hearing and I couldn’t see the board at all. On top of that, they used lots of words I didn’t know and made references to events that had been planned previously, so the fellow exchange students (3 Chinese students) and I were left very confused. After the seminar ended at 5pm, the Japanese students stayed after to prepare for presentations they would be conducting in Osaka at a conference for disaster preparation and management. Our teacher came to us exchange students. We went over the papers and had her explain all the things we didn’t understand. She was very kind, understanding, and laid back.

After our questions were answered, I had her sign a form for me at her office, and then we parted at the Economics office. The Chinese research students were there, so we exchanged contact information. I also showed them to the International Exchange and Support room. One of the Chinese-speaking staff members was there, and I introduced them to her. She told them she wouldn’t speak Chinese to them from then on, and teased them to work on their Japanese. The Japanese guy she was speaking to was the one who had been suffering from allergies the last time I came. He was completely better, so it must have been a cold. I introduced myself to the other two Japanese people and sat down next to Allergy-san as the Chinese people left to go home. While we were hanging out, a black British student came to use a computer. We talked and I explained to him that the best way to improve one’s Japanese is to make Japanese friends and join Japanese clubs, in addition to reading anything you come across in your daily life. He left, and I drank some coffee with the Japanese people. I asked them if they had dinner plans, and since they didn’t, they agreed to eat with me. “What do you want to eat?” the girl asked me. I decided that I wanted meat more than fish, so Allergy-san looked up restaurants that served Sendai’s specialty, cow tongue. We agreed to meet later in front of the Disney store in the downtown area. Allergy-san and the quiet guy wanted to drop off their motorcycles at home. So I walked with the girl to her bike, but before we made it there we encountered a couple of Chinese girls who needed help finding the bus station that would take them home. At the same time, a friend of theirs happened by, so it ended up turning into an exchanging of contact information, while the Japanese girl used her phone and asked people nearby until she found out where the bus stop was. It’s rather inconvenient I don’t have a smart phone, because apparently everyone, American, Chinese, or Japanese, now uses Line to chat with each other. If I could at least register from a PC, I could use it on my PC, but you have to have a smartphone to even sign up for the service.

While we were standing at the intersection exchanging information, the quiet Japanese guy found us. He got caught up the exchanging too, but finally everyone had each other’s contact information. The girl and I hurried to her bike so that we could stop by her apartment, which was on the way, to drop off the bike, and then walk to Disney. When we got to Disney, the other two guys were waiting. We walked to the store, which was in the basement of a building. It was small room with tatami mat flooring on a raised area. We took off our shoes as we entered and climbed onto the tatami area, where seat cushions were arranged around the low tables. There was only one employee, an old woman, who brought us a menu and iced barley tea, took our orders, cooked our food, and later talked with us. Allergy-san, a very energetic person who talks a lot, had a good time talking with the old woman. The rest of laughed as he came up with witty or self-deprecating replies to her questions about us being students at Tohoku University (a high-ranked public university). She enjoyed talking with us.

Allergy-san was surprised that I could use chopsticks (although I dropped a piece before very first bite), and the others commented as well. I explained that Americans are used to using chopsticks from a young age because they’re available at Chinese restaurants.

After dinner, we walked back to Disney. We kept being hailed by the nighttime employees, who asked if we were looking for a place to drink or do karaoke. The quiet guy split off from us to go home. Allergy-san and I walked with S-san, the girl, to her apartment, and then Allergy-san walked me home (which was really nice of him, because it’s far). While we walked, I told him about my research theme, which turned into a very long-winded and stumbling attempt to explain my goals for the future to make the world a better place. He commented that I had pretty deep thoughts and that my Japanese was very good. I was moved that he walked me home and that he had listened and engaged with my explanation about my goals. This was the kind of interaction I had been craving; I didn’t have to be lonely anymore. I could go with my new friends to restaurants and karaoke.

I felt very happy and excited when I got home. From now on, things would be more fun, and probably very busy.