I guess it's been a while since I posted on here. It's amazing how living (really living) in a place will prevent you from the tasks you wanted to do. I guess there's a whole week and a half to catch y'all up on (y'all = my parents, I think. No one else seems to read this). Well, here goes.
The weeks proceed as many weeks at college do - I am definitely a college student in Japan, surrounded by twenty-somethings at almost all times, taking classes, studying, playing guitar, doing homework, pretending to do homework and really fucking around on the computer. But my weeks are also filled with things that I didn't normally do at school before. I go out exploring a lot, trying to read the signs and figure out what's going on. I try to be really respectful to all the Japanese people I meet because I am a representative of all foreigners, and especially all Americans. I don't want to perpetuate negative stereotypes that it seems that Japanese people already have about foreigners. I gave ten yen (about 12 cents) to an elderly woman on the bus the other day because she was short and needed the money to get off the bus. She was so surprised I thought she might have a heart attack. She didn't. That was good. I really would have been the asshole foreigner then.
I have shit tons of tests and things (that's what happens when you take 5 classes, I guess), but all the classes are FAR easier than the classes at Wesleyan so that's a relief. I mean, I have between 5 and 15 pages of reading for each class. I am used to more like 60 in textbooks/real book that are much harder to read. Is this what other colleges in the states are like? I'm a little worried that I'll be off my game when I get back. Meh. Whatever.
I can't believe I've been here for three weeks. It seems like no time at all and an eternity. I'm getting used to living with my roommate (who still only lays WarCraft all day) and the rules of Japanese houses - the different shoes for outside, inside, bathroom, laundry room, and the roof where we hang out clothes to dry, and the call and response that everyone goes through every time they enter or exit the house. I actually really like the second part. I feel like everyone acknowledges you and recognizes that you are coming or going. It marks a passage/transition through a liminal space, and it makes you feel like everyone loves you.
My seminar house is great. I was talking with someone who lives in a different seminar house today and she said that, unlike her house, Seminar House 1 was 家族みたいです - like a family. And it's true. Everyone knows everyone (except my roommate) and gets along. There's a few aloof girls who seem like bitches and a few obnoxious people but everyone is really good-intentioned, just perhaps misunderstood. There are not a lot of the typical "artsy" types here, which one might think would lead to my feeling alienated, but I don't. I get along really well with jocks, even though we don't enjoy the exact same things. We're all just trying to do each other right, and that's really good to see/experience. Plus, they're not going to start hating on me. We're living together all semester. Creating bad vibes now would be a pain in the ass for everyone.
Some of the international boys have begun calling me "Tennessee John." I guess the whole "my name is a state is my name" thing was a little too much for them, so they needed to tag something onto it. Plus, they tell me I sound like a cowboy and because I'm from America obviously that's what I am.
This weekend was super fun. I got some super cool pants (picture below) in a shopping district in Osaka called Shinsaibashi, and then went to a beautiful building called the Osaka Sky Building that has a "Sky Garden" at the top with an incredible view of the entire city. Damn, it was gorgeous. It was all for lovers and couples and other mushy stuff like that so I had my friends take a picture of me in the big heart with a sadface on because I was all alone. All the Japanese people watching thought that was super funny. Afterwards we went out to dinner (probably at about 11:30) and ended up sleeping in a hotel. Thank God for three day weekends.
I've spent a good amount of time in the last few days playing music with Japanese people. Damn, they are good. Yesterday I played with a girl named Kaoru and was kind of expecting her to "play the guitar" but not really play the guitar. She could play. I mean, she was taking ripping solos and adding tasty lines and just being really great. I was uber surprised. And then today after class I jammed with a guy named Minori who was ALSO really good. Again, ripping solos and tasty parts when I was taking more leads. I hope that they will each come and sit in with me for a few songs at Cafe Istanbul next next Friday.
"What? Cafe Istanbul? Tennessee, what are you talking about? Aren't you in Japan???" Yes, I am in Japan, thank you very much. That in no way precludes me from playing at Cafe Istanbul. It's a little bar near the school that caters primarily to Kansai students. The owner is a really nice woman named Masako and I went down there on Monday night and played for her for a few hours in an audition of sorts and when I was done she just said, "So, when can you play a show here?" やった！Anyways, its on October 5th and I have to play for an hour and a half (wowza!). I'm totally psyched. Also, the week afterwards, on Friday the 12th, I'm playing another show at the International Communication Center, which is a new building that is affiliated with Kansai and is all about building (you guessed it) intercultural communication. I'm sharing the bill with the school choir and the school jazz band; it seems like its going to be a pretty serious event. Guess who's headlining? Moi. Nbd.
I also started writing songs in Japanese. Just finished my most recent one - it switches between Japanese and English line by line. It rhymes, too, which is something Japanese songs generally don't do. Maybe I'll post it here! Maybe not.
これは長めになったね。This post is getting a bit long, it seems. I guess I'll leave you with two little factoids: I learned only pick up lines in my spoken Japanese class on Tuesday, and my spoken teacher opens every class with a favorite video of his. It makes the mornings great.
SUPER COOL PANTS!!!!
The weeks proceed as many weeks at college do - I am definitely a college student in Japan, surrounded by twenty-somethings at almost all times, taking classes, studying, playing guitar, doing homework, pretending to do homework and really fucking around on the computer. But my weeks are also filled with things that I didn't normally do at school before. I go out exploring a lot, trying to read the signs and figure out what's going on. I try to be really respectful to all the Japanese people I meet because I am a representative of all foreigners, and especially all Americans. I don't want to perpetuate negative stereotypes that it seems that Japanese people already have about foreigners. I gave ten yen (about 12 cents) to an elderly woman on the bus the other day because she was short and needed the money to get off the bus. She was so surprised I thought she might have a heart attack. She didn't. That was good. I really would have been the asshole foreigner then.
I have shit tons of tests and things (that's what happens when you take 5 classes, I guess), but all the classes are FAR easier than the classes at Wesleyan so that's a relief. I mean, I have between 5 and 15 pages of reading for each class. I am used to more like 60 in textbooks/real book that are much harder to read. Is this what other colleges in the states are like? I'm a little worried that I'll be off my game when I get back. Meh. Whatever.
I can't believe I've been here for three weeks. It seems like no time at all and an eternity. I'm getting used to living with my roommate (who still only lays WarCraft all day) and the rules of Japanese houses - the different shoes for outside, inside, bathroom, laundry room, and the roof where we hang out clothes to dry, and the call and response that everyone goes through every time they enter or exit the house. I actually really like the second part. I feel like everyone acknowledges you and recognizes that you are coming or going. It marks a passage/transition through a liminal space, and it makes you feel like everyone loves you.
My seminar house is great. I was talking with someone who lives in a different seminar house today and she said that, unlike her house, Seminar House 1 was 家族みたいです - like a family. And it's true. Everyone knows everyone (except my roommate) and gets along. There's a few aloof girls who seem like bitches and a few obnoxious people but everyone is really good-intentioned, just perhaps misunderstood. There are not a lot of the typical "artsy" types here, which one might think would lead to my feeling alienated, but I don't. I get along really well with jocks, even though we don't enjoy the exact same things. We're all just trying to do each other right, and that's really good to see/experience. Plus, they're not going to start hating on me. We're living together all semester. Creating bad vibes now would be a pain in the ass for everyone.
Some of the international boys have begun calling me "Tennessee John." I guess the whole "my name is a state is my name" thing was a little too much for them, so they needed to tag something onto it. Plus, they tell me I sound like a cowboy and because I'm from America obviously that's what I am.
This weekend was super fun. I got some super cool pants (picture below) in a shopping district in Osaka called Shinsaibashi, and then went to a beautiful building called the Osaka Sky Building that has a "Sky Garden" at the top with an incredible view of the entire city. Damn, it was gorgeous. It was all for lovers and couples and other mushy stuff like that so I had my friends take a picture of me in the big heart with a sadface on because I was all alone. All the Japanese people watching thought that was super funny. Afterwards we went out to dinner (probably at about 11:30) and ended up sleeping in a hotel. Thank God for three day weekends.
I've spent a good amount of time in the last few days playing music with Japanese people. Damn, they are good. Yesterday I played with a girl named Kaoru and was kind of expecting her to "play the guitar" but not really play the guitar. She could play. I mean, she was taking ripping solos and adding tasty lines and just being really great. I was uber surprised. And then today after class I jammed with a guy named Minori who was ALSO really good. Again, ripping solos and tasty parts when I was taking more leads. I hope that they will each come and sit in with me for a few songs at Cafe Istanbul next next Friday.
"What? Cafe Istanbul? Tennessee, what are you talking about? Aren't you in Japan???" Yes, I am in Japan, thank you very much. That in no way precludes me from playing at Cafe Istanbul. It's a little bar near the school that caters primarily to Kansai students. The owner is a really nice woman named Masako and I went down there on Monday night and played for her for a few hours in an audition of sorts and when I was done she just said, "So, when can you play a show here?" やった！Anyways, its on October 5th and I have to play for an hour and a half (wowza!). I'm totally psyched. Also, the week afterwards, on Friday the 12th, I'm playing another show at the International Communication Center, which is a new building that is affiliated with Kansai and is all about building (you guessed it) intercultural communication. I'm sharing the bill with the school choir and the school jazz band; it seems like its going to be a pretty serious event. Guess who's headlining? Moi. Nbd.
I also started writing songs in Japanese. Just finished my most recent one - it switches between Japanese and English line by line. It rhymes, too, which is something Japanese songs generally don't do. Maybe I'll post it here! Maybe not.
これは長めになったね。This post is getting a bit long, it seems. I guess I'll leave you with two little factoids: I learned only pick up lines in my spoken Japanese class on Tuesday, and my spoken teacher opens every class with a favorite video of his. It makes the mornings great.
SUPER COOL PANTS!!!!
Maybe they like Tennessee John cause it sounds close to Tennessee-San.
ReplyDeleteI'm very pleased and proud to hear that you are taking your role as an ambassador from the states seriously. I think it really matters that we build these little local bridges. Who knows what the future holds, but in any case I believe we will need an international community of thoughtful, respectful, connected people.
If you can arrange to record some of your show at Cafe Instanbul ... YouTube!!