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Published: September 13th 2006
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Everyone at IES Kanda for the Entrance Ceremony
People I know - from left to right
Bottom row (people sitting/squatting) - 4th, Priscilla; 5th, Lisa; 6th Betsy, 8th; Aubrey; 9th, Katie
1st row - 2nd, TK; 3rd, me; 4th, Liz; 5th, Kim; 8th, Fidel; 9th, Sylvia; 11th, Zhumei; 12th, Allison; 13th, Ian
2nd row: 1st, Heidi; 2nd, Chandra; 3rd, Matt; 4th, Patrick; 7th (slightly obscured by Liz), Noah; 8th, Danny; 11th, Travis; 13th, Ryan L; 14th, Marius; 15th, Rob I had my first class at Meikai yesterday, and that class is TINY. Over half the people in it dropped because they don't want to go out to Shin-urayasu. But we get reimbursed so I would rather take the classes I like.
So, my real, graded Japanese class is fun. The teacher, Yahagi-sensei, is really cheerful. I think that woman must down about a pot of expresso before school every day. But she's patient and is allowing us to ask her questions in English if we don't understand. The structure of the class is a little odd, so I'll explain. It's "Jissen Nihongo" which means practical Japanese. Instead of learning in a linear fashion, we study 5 topics while I'm here, each about two weeks. Our first topic is "making friends." In that topic, we learn related vocabulary and kanji, as well as grammar patterns. So it's like cluster teaching. For Thursday, I have to be able to write and read 15 kanji, such as "college," "hometown," and other things you would use when being introduced to a new person. In each topic, we have days where we learn the grammar, then we do a PA (performance activity) with volunteer
Japanese students. After the PA we do a self-evaluation. Then there is a day or two for wrapping up everything. Also there are 2 kanji tests, where you must be able to read and write kanji. After you have done all this, there is a test on it all. New topics are introduced the next day.
My Art class is not that much fun, but I'm coming to think it's a typical thing of art history, where you get teachers that are knowledgeable but unable to teach well. The Japanese society class is going to be lots of fun, and it's pretty easy. Field trip to Harajuku!! The history class has really small readings so I like that, and it seems to be a good class.
So, on Sunday I went to Harajuku with Ian, Ryan L, Ryan P, and Liz. The reason I went was because I had an interview with the keyboardist of PE'Z, but I also wanted to see Harajuku itself. The district is really interesting and I definitely want to go back when it's not as hot. The costumes didn't bother me that much, but I think Mama would have been staring. As for
food, crepes stands everywhere. Literally each 20 feet there is a crepes stand. They're delicious too. Some stands even sell shaved ice, the quintessential Japanese treat. When I met up with Non-Non and Ayou (not their real names, obviously) we took the subway to where we were to meet up with the manager of PE'Z. They let us into a building by keying us in, then took us up to a room that looks like those weird interrogation rooms in movies. It was all concrete, with a table in the middle and not nice at all. The room had overheard lights and was almost barren. Then she brought us tea. The contrast amused me. The keyboardist was very nice, and so was the manager, whose card I got.
After we got back to Harajuku, I think Ayou hit on me a little. He's French so maybe it wasn't, but his whole "Will I see you before the Miyavi live?" "...uh...Maybe." "When? Where?" was a little suspicious. You had to be there, maybe. Speaking of the Miyavi live, it kicks off my weekend of BUSY. Here's the breakdown:
Friday - class, then the Miyavi live at 5. We meet
up and get in together, hopefully to good seats. We also have to pick up the set list. The live is an acoustic live, so I'm utterly excited to see that. And it's the day after his birthday, so yay!
Saturday - Field trip to Asakusa, meetup at 10 am. Water taxi to Sumo places. We also visit shrines and the like. Flexible times for ending, depending on how long we stay to watch sumo.
Sunday - PURE ROCK JAPAN at Shibuya O-EAST. This was another event that I, Non-Non and Ayou were invited to. We've been requested to take pictures and wear black so we're inconspicuous.
Monday - No class due to National "The Aged Day." But I have a Moi dix Mois live we've been invited to at Ebisu LIQUIDROOM in Harajuku. So I'll be going to that.
Then resume the regularly scheduled classes.
I have a plethora of pictures for you, plus a bonus! It's a video of the train situation in Japan.
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