Japan Study Abroad

4 weeks

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, it's been a little busy here. We started a really important verb form after the mid-term so I've been kind of distracted.

 

It is 4 weeks until the final...meaning 4 weeks and one day before I have to leave. What happened to all the time I thought I had? It seriously feels like I just got here 2 weeks ago, yet when I think about how much I've learned it feel like I've been here for months...does that make sense?

Although I must say I'm looking forward to dryers and the lint collectors in those dryers.

Something happened in class the other day when we where asking questions in group work. The word "roller costar" came up, although it sounds like 'rola costa' when a native Japanese/Korean/Chinese speaker says it. The teacher asked if anyone knows what roller costar is in Japanese...we all thought roller costar was what they called it. Then she says, "jet-o-costaaaa" while lunging across the room. As expected we all burst into laughter.

That's one thing I really love about the teachers here. They really get into it! They'll be asked the same questions we ask our classmates in group work and they answer. The only time there was any hesitation was when we where asking each others nicknames and somebody asked the teacher...it turns out her nickname is the name of a guy in our class. They also have a scary knack for picking up on what you have confidence in and what you don't. Within the first two weeks, 2 of the 3 teachers had talked to me after class about my speaking because they knew I understood what they where saying, I just got nerves when I had to talk.

 

Well...it's 12:30 here so I'm going to go to sleep now. See ya! 

ps. I'm going to try and upload some more pictures soon!

...mid-terms.........

As I'm sure you can tell by the title of this post, mid-terms are upon KCP.

 

It feels like I just got here! How can it be mid-terms already?! And how can we have already covered 12 chapters?!?!

 

So I haven't had much time to post lately. My days have been taken over with studying and cleaning my room, which has become the trash dumping place for my "friends". We eat in my room, and they tend to leave the remains of their food related paraphernalia in my room. But I digress, back to the point. We had 5 tests last week in 4 days. One was a surprise chapter 10/11 quiz on Friday. When the teacher told us we where having another test that day after already taking a dictation test...the entire class almost fell off their chairs. 

 

I've got to get back to studying now. Kato-sensei gave us massive amounts of worksheets to fill out/study for the mid-term. I'll probably post again Wednesday or Thursday. 

 

Talk to you soon!!! 

SORRY!!!!!! I'm making up for it with a long post with pictures!!!

I've been soo busy I forgot to create a new post!!!!!!!

Mid-terms are already a week away for us! I can't believe I've already been here over a month...it feels more like 2 weeks.

 

Alright! First off Calligraphy:

 

TADA!!! My first official calligraphy piece (it's now on my wall)! It is the Kanji for にほん, Nihon, Japan (hiragana, romanaji, and English). I like the first kanji (also used to indicate a day like Sunday or Mother's Day) more than the second. I can never get the kanji for Hon (also means book, or used as a counter) in the right proportions. Sadly we don't make our own ink; it comes out of a bottle.

 

Extra Class = Chocolate Heaven 

It is much more fun than it sounds. Periodically KCP has extra classes on various topics after regular classes end. Because Valentine's Day is soon, it was decided to hold a cooking class to teach student's how to bake chocolate cake! If you wanted to join the class you had to sign up for, what we later found out was a raffle to see who would be in the class. As it turned out 2 of my other friends from our dorm got into the class too. The class was held in another building about 2 minutes walk from KCP. We where split into 4 groups and baked cake in paper cups with truffles. It was so much fun!!! We had to make it from scratch, but we basically just added melted chocolate bars, butter, sugar, and baking soda and put the mix in paper cups. We had to tear off the cups to get the cake out and it turned into a competition to see who could get theirs out in one piece. It was a lot harder than it sounds. But...I GOT IT!!!!! The teachers came around and one of them video taped me taking the first bite...very embarrassing...

 

the goo which turned into truffles.

 

demo by the teacher

   

one fourteen of the massive chocolate bars we used.

 

I forgot...we added coco-powder to the cake too

   

While we where waiting for the cakes to finish baking we balled up the truffle goo and rolled it in either more coco-powder (my all time fav!!) or powdered sugar. Finished product with all of us!

 

THE CAKE THAT SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!

 

It kinda fell apart after the first bite...but it was still very yummy!!!

I'll write more later! At the moment I'm very tired, again...but it's a national holiday here tomorrow, so we don't have school. I'll probably post more pictures then.

 

Night!!

O.o...calligraphy

I forgot to mention before, but we also have a weekly 45 minute class which we sign up for and is completely unrelated to class but mandatory for US students.

I chose the calligraphy class. There is also a Japanese Pop Song class where you basically sing pop songs karaoke style with a very large group of people. A dance class, kanji class, conversation class, and there is a tea ceremony class where you learn how to host a tea ceremony (but it's only open for students in level 2 and above). Basically there is something for everyone here.

Anyway, I started taking this calligraphy class thinking, "It's like a combination of art and kanji so I’ll have fun and it will be productive." Ya, it's A LOT harder than it looks. People talk about calligraphy being borderline meditative, and they are right. You can't focus on anything else, or it comes out looking like a funhouse mirror played with it. Does that make sense to anyone else?

To be perfectly honest I'm very tired today so I'll post again about this with pictures of my first official calligraphy-thing (aka it's on nice paper).

Alright I'm going to sleep.

Kanji...

Compared to yesterday today was quite dull...but what could top throwing soybeans at people dressed up as red and green Oni.

We have our first Kanji test tomorrow...not looking forward to it. We started learning kanji on the 29th and we are already having a test. It's not just the symbols we need to know but the multiple meanings in hiragana. One of the kanji has four basic uses; student, birthday, to live, and to be born. In total 30 kanji and 51 meanings (12 of the 30 kanji are numerical so I didn't include them into the 'meanings' category).

Don't get me wrong, it is very interesting and makes reading much faster. But seeing the Chinese student write out a kanji in .25 seconds when it takes me 3 minutes to write the same thing...it's a little...hhhmmmm...anyway, I really want to lean this. On average we learn about 6 new Kanji per day, except on test days.

I don't mean to scare anyone away from this program...it really isn't impossible, it just sounds a lot harder than it is.

I'll be upload pictures starting tomorrow. The kanji test is our last test this week, and we just finished chapter 9 today. Usually we have more homework towards the end of a chapter than the beginning. So I'll have a little more free time tomorrow to play around with TypePad.

J'ya mata ashita!!

Setsubun

Today was Setsubun!!!!

It means "turn of a year" and long ago Japan used to celebrate 4 at the change of each season according to the old Lunar Calendar. Now only the start of Spring is celebrated because it was the beginning of a new year.

Today it is celebrated by throwing soybeans at Oni (usually the father dressed up or imaginary) to drive out bad spirits and attract good luck. While saying, "Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi!" Then each family member eats their age in soybeans for good luck. A person who's Zodiac animal it is that year is supposed to have a very good or lucky year. "Oni wa soto" is said to drive out the bad spirits, while "Fuku wa uchi" is a wish for good luck in the house.

This in and of itself, all be it interesting, sounds rather mundane. This was the case in class today as our teacher was handing out very large amounts of soybeans for us to eat at a latter point, but not at that moment. No one paid much attention to the now rather suspicious boxes of soybeans on our desks as the lesson continued. Until the door burst open and two people dressed in Oni (ogre) costumes burst threw the door and started shouting while waving clubs......I am not joking...there was a red one and a green one. The teacher had to give us the hint to throw the soybeans at the Oni because we where all on the verge of either screaming or laughing.

Afterwards the teacher just shook her head (while laughing) at us and said (roughly translated), "You forgot to say it! The Oni wouldn't have gone away!"

first post...finally

Hi everyone!!

I've been having computer related issues for a while now, so I'm really sorry this blog has been postponed for so long.

I'm going to try and speak casually here so it is more like we are having a conversation than I'm just writing a blog.

First off! I'm Cody, yes it is a boy's name but I am in fact a girl. I'm a graphic design major and currently studying Japanese in Tokyo, Japan. I'm living in a brand new girls only dorm about 30 minutes away from the school.

I feel like this would be a good time to speak a little about the program because many people don't even know it exists. This is an SHU approved program with Lincoln University as the sponsoring school. Basically you apply to Lincoln who then reports to the actual school, KCP International. This is a intensive Japanese language program, meaning you have one class every day for 3 hours, taught entirely in Japanese. You can study at KCP for 3 months to up to 2 years, so the length of your stay is, to a point, flexible. US Program students have a Saturday culture class where we learn about the Japanese culture and see the city, but it isn't held ever Saturday. There is also an English support class for us on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

You can elect between dorms or a homestay. A homestay is the most popular and much harder to get. I chose a dorm because I wanted a little more freedom in my diet and how I spent my time. For girls particularly, your homestay family will want to know where you are at almost all times. No matter where you stay you will have a curfew (yes, boys too), it is just part of the Japanese culture.

I'm not going to lie, this program is a lot of work. The President of the college said in the opening ceremony, "This is the hardest language school in Japan." At this school you cover a whole year of University language study in three months. And to communicate with the majority of your classmates you need to speak in Japanese. Most of the school is Korean, Chinese is a close second, with American far in the minority. Last week we had a fun portion of class when we learned how to ask what something was in another language. All of the Americans in my class had a line in front of them, I had a lot of fun teaching people how to say "eraser" and "fax".

English speakers come into learning Japanese at a disadvantage on all sides, and you really notice it here. The grammar, and writing style is completely foreign to us. Korean has the same grammatical structure as Japanese, while Chinese student's already know Kanji. Unless you know first year grammar, can speak with the correct accent and intonation, and know 150+ kanji perfectly, don't expect to be put into Level 2. Even people on the borderline chose Level 1 for an even better foundation.

Well it is now 2:20am here, so I'm going to bed. I'll try and write again tomorrow, and if not then very soon.

If you have any questions you can contact Marylou Roof at RoofM@sacredhear.edu or you can email me directly at linderc@sacredheart.edu

to visit the school's website: http://www.lincoln-japan.com/ 

Talk to you all soon!!!