My busiest day yet...
Today was the busiest day yet, and also the best. Yesterday I bought cereal and milk at the 99 yen shop, so today I had a special treat: a noodle-free breakfast. The cereal was called Calbee and I bought two flavors- the cocoa krispie kind and the corn flakes sprinkled with chocolate kind. I thought it was neat that there was a picture of Charlie Brown and Snoopy on the front of the box. I didn't have a bowl to eat the cereal in, though, so I grabbed a handful at a time and drank milk to wash it down with.
So after my satisfying breakfast, I headed to the university to take my Japanese placement test. It was held in a large auditorium, with seating much nicer than the USF variety. The first test was listening comprehension: a dialogue was played once, then a question was asked once, and we had to fill in the best answer on our bubble sheets. The majority of the dialogues I didn't understand: I would focus on a word I recognized and then miss the rest of the conversation. So I'll probably be put pretty low in my speaking and listening class. But oh well, I really need the practice I guess. The second test was the Japanese alphabet- it was easier than I expected. They only quizzed us on a few letters, and I thought we were going to have to write the entire alphabet. The next test was the grammar test. The way it worked was everyone got the same test regardless of their Japanese language level. The test got progressively harder as it progressed, so you just filled out as much as you could and then turned it in. The arrangement of the grammar was a lot different than I was taught. Section A was pretty easy, and the difficulty was kicked up a notch in section B but I still completed it all, and I completed probably 99% of section C- it got really tough toward the end. But I only answered the first question in section D, and then quit. The grammar test seemed to do a good job of sifting the different levels out- it had so many questions to cover each grammatical point. But the speaking test had so few questions that I wonder how accurate it really is.... So anyway, the last test was the kanji (Chinese characters) test. Ah, kanji. How I love kanji. The first section was seeing the kanji and choosing its pronunciation. Surprisingly, I knew all but about 6 or 7 of them, out of maybe thirty or so. The second section was looking at a kanji's pronunciation and picking the correct kanji. This one used much harder kanji, so out of the thirty or so questions I probably answered around 19-20. So all in all, I thought the test was tough but I'm surprised that I did as well as I think I did.
So after the test my friends and I got lunch at the cafeteria. I had katsudon: it's breaded pork covered in this sweet sauce, draped over a bowl of rice. Deeelicious. Afterward we headed down to the Sumitomu Mitsui Banking Corporation building by Hirakata station. It's a lovely thirty-minute walk from the university, despite the sweltering heat and humidity. Around the university all there are are bars and convenience stores, but toward the station there are restaurants, shops, office buildings, and cool stuff like that. It's funny because people consider Hirakata rural, but I think it rivals Tampa in scale. So anyways, about the bank. What an adventure! We had no clue what to do: all I had were my passport, traveller's check, and my Japanese phrasebook for how to say "I want to cash a traveler's check." So my friends and I went up to the second floor for currency exchange, took a number, and waited. When my number was up the teller- an extremely friendly young Japanese woman- called me up to the front and asked me to have a seat. She gave me a form and asked me to fill out my name, address, and telephone number- the process was surprisingly easy. I brought traveller's checks to pay my homestay fees- a wopping 2900 yen (about 2500 US dollars) that must be paid in cash. So now I have 3,000 dollars worth of yen in my dorm room- I think it came out to be like 340,000 yen or so. I'm glad I didn't get mugged today. I felt sorry for the teller, though. There were at least ten of us Kansai Gaidai students there at the bank, and it was very busy. I asked her if it was always that busy and she laughed and said yes.
So after the bank, my friends and I set off for Hirakata city hall, to turn in our alien registration forms (after they're processed, we'll get our alien registration cards). Well we had no idea where city hall was; all we knew was we took a left before the station. To make matters worse, none of us knew the word for "city hall." So we showed our paperwork to a street vendor, pointed to a word on our forms that we thought was city hall (it was written in kanji so we couldn't read it), and it turned out to be the building right in front of us. Turns out that city hall is called "shiyakusho." So we went into the building, but we entered through the wrong side. We had to ask a security guard to find the alien registration counter. I didn't receive an alien registration form in my packet because I think my host family is supposed to help me turn it in. But the guy at the registration counter told me that if I have my passport and two small ID photos, then I should fill out the form and turn it in today because the office will get busy starting tomorrow. I didn't have the ID photos, but the guy was very helpful and showed me on a map the location of a nearby photo machine. He even walked me out of the building and pointed me in the right direction. The photo booth was very easy to use, and it even counted down "san, ni, ichi" before taking my picture. It sucked, though, because I dropped all of my change while trying to pay the machine and so I had to chase it all down. In Japan the coins range from 1 yen to 500 yen, the equivalent of one penny to 5 bucks. So change is really important over here- I dropped about 8 bucks worth of coins at that machine! But back to the city hall story, I was able to turn in the form and the card will be ready by the end of September. How exciting.
So with our forms turned in, we started the long haul back to the dorms. I've been looking for a bookstore to buy some easy-to-read comic books at (I think I can learn a lot from them), and so I was very excited when my friends spotted one along the way. It was pretty obvious- it had the symbol for "book" on a big red placard outside the store- but I hadn't noticed it before. So we went entered the store, which was full of manga (Japanese comic books), and I asked the old lady behind the counter if she had any easy-to-read manga, like children's manga. She said they don't sell any, and pointed out the rack full of hentai (Japanese cartoon porn) behind me. But she gave me directions to a place near Hirakata station that sells the manga I'm looking for. I saw what looked to be a business card on the desk, and I asked her if it was a business card (hoping she would let me have one), but surprisingly it was a bookmark. So I learned the Japanese word for bookmark. I guess she assumed that I hadn't heard of a bookmark before, so she demonstrated how to use it (what a kind old lady). My friend wanted to know the kanji for bookmark, but she couldn't remember so she looked it up in a dictionary. When she couldn't find it (again, this lady was so kind), she called her husband from the back of the store and he came out and looked it up in an older dictionary. He even made a copy of the page in the dictionary for my friends. So I started talking to him and his wife about Hirakata and how humid it is, and I told him that it's about the same in Florida except in Florida it's year-round hot and humid. I said I was excited for when it will become cooler, and he told me that it never snows in Hirakata or Osaka. What a disappointement. But fortunately it snows in Kyoto, about 500 kilometers north of where I am, from about December to February. So you know where I'll be in December! The shop owner started talking about "television talent," which I found out means "actor," and then he mentioned "bengoshi" which means "lawyer," but I couldn't find out what he was saying. So after a while we said goodbye and continued our journey back to the dorms.
There was one last adventure to be had, however. My friends and I passed a bicycle shop and my roommate Zach stopped to check out some of the bikes on display outside (he had been looking for a bike to take around in the city). The man inside the shop showed him some other bikes on display, and Zach was torn between two models. One was a typical city bike with large wheels and a metal basket in front, and the other was a small bike (but not a children's bike) with small wheels and no basket. The bigger bike was around $50 with tax, and even though the smaller bike had a cheaper price it would actually be more expensive in the end because to buy a basket for it would cost around $20. The man at the shop recommended larger wheels, and Zach really liked the fact that he could put his books and stuff in the basket, so after trying both bikes out (I wish I'd have had my camera) he finally decided on the larger one. The woman in the store came out for the purchasing, and like the man she was very friendly and helpful. It took a long time for her to explain the bicycle registration system, because I kept having to stop her for clarification and to ask about words I didn't understand, but in the end I figured it out. The bike was used, so it had already been registered and had a sticker with the registration number on it. She (the vendor) would keep a copy of Zach's receipt with his name, address, and the bike's registration number on it. Then, if a policeman stopped Zach and wanted verification that the bike was indeed his, the policeman could go to the bike shop and see the copy of the receipt. However, Zach still needs to keep his receipt because when he leaves for America he can return the bike to that shop and get a partial reimbursement (I believe that's what she said). If he doesn't keep the receipt, though, he can't turn the bike back in. It's funny- in Japan so many people ride bikes that they have this nation-wide registration thing to prevent crime. But in America kids are usually the only ones who ride bikes, so I guess a registration program isn't possible. I mean, sure we can register our bikes with the USF police, but if they get stolen I doubt the police will be able to do anything about it. But really I don't know if Japan even needs a registration system- crime is so low over here. I mean, it's common for women to walk alone at night, and people leave their bikes outside of stores all the time.
So today was very busy, and very fun! I don't mean to brag, but I'm really happy that I can communicate at the level I have been. Sure my Japanese is slow and choppy, but between my broken Japanese and sign language I have been able to communicate some pretty complicated ideas. I can't wait to start class and learn even more Japanese to use in conversation. Stay tuned for more news from abroad.
So after my satisfying breakfast, I headed to the university to take my Japanese placement test. It was held in a large auditorium, with seating much nicer than the USF variety. The first test was listening comprehension: a dialogue was played once, then a question was asked once, and we had to fill in the best answer on our bubble sheets. The majority of the dialogues I didn't understand: I would focus on a word I recognized and then miss the rest of the conversation. So I'll probably be put pretty low in my speaking and listening class. But oh well, I really need the practice I guess. The second test was the Japanese alphabet- it was easier than I expected. They only quizzed us on a few letters, and I thought we were going to have to write the entire alphabet. The next test was the grammar test. The way it worked was everyone got the same test regardless of their Japanese language level. The test got progressively harder as it progressed, so you just filled out as much as you could and then turned it in. The arrangement of the grammar was a lot different than I was taught. Section A was pretty easy, and the difficulty was kicked up a notch in section B but I still completed it all, and I completed probably 99% of section C- it got really tough toward the end. But I only answered the first question in section D, and then quit. The grammar test seemed to do a good job of sifting the different levels out- it had so many questions to cover each grammatical point. But the speaking test had so few questions that I wonder how accurate it really is.... So anyway, the last test was the kanji (Chinese characters) test. Ah, kanji. How I love kanji. The first section was seeing the kanji and choosing its pronunciation. Surprisingly, I knew all but about 6 or 7 of them, out of maybe thirty or so. The second section was looking at a kanji's pronunciation and picking the correct kanji. This one used much harder kanji, so out of the thirty or so questions I probably answered around 19-20. So all in all, I thought the test was tough but I'm surprised that I did as well as I think I did.
So after the test my friends and I got lunch at the cafeteria. I had katsudon: it's breaded pork covered in this sweet sauce, draped over a bowl of rice. Deeelicious. Afterward we headed down to the Sumitomu Mitsui Banking Corporation building by Hirakata station. It's a lovely thirty-minute walk from the university, despite the sweltering heat and humidity. Around the university all there are are bars and convenience stores, but toward the station there are restaurants, shops, office buildings, and cool stuff like that. It's funny because people consider Hirakata rural, but I think it rivals Tampa in scale. So anyways, about the bank. What an adventure! We had no clue what to do: all I had were my passport, traveller's check, and my Japanese phrasebook for how to say "I want to cash a traveler's check." So my friends and I went up to the second floor for currency exchange, took a number, and waited. When my number was up the teller- an extremely friendly young Japanese woman- called me up to the front and asked me to have a seat. She gave me a form and asked me to fill out my name, address, and telephone number- the process was surprisingly easy. I brought traveller's checks to pay my homestay fees- a wopping 2900 yen (about 2500 US dollars) that must be paid in cash. So now I have 3,000 dollars worth of yen in my dorm room- I think it came out to be like 340,000 yen or so. I'm glad I didn't get mugged today. I felt sorry for the teller, though. There were at least ten of us Kansai Gaidai students there at the bank, and it was very busy. I asked her if it was always that busy and she laughed and said yes.
So after the bank, my friends and I set off for Hirakata city hall, to turn in our alien registration forms (after they're processed, we'll get our alien registration cards). Well we had no idea where city hall was; all we knew was we took a left before the station. To make matters worse, none of us knew the word for "city hall." So we showed our paperwork to a street vendor, pointed to a word on our forms that we thought was city hall (it was written in kanji so we couldn't read it), and it turned out to be the building right in front of us. Turns out that city hall is called "shiyakusho." So we went into the building, but we entered through the wrong side. We had to ask a security guard to find the alien registration counter. I didn't receive an alien registration form in my packet because I think my host family is supposed to help me turn it in. But the guy at the registration counter told me that if I have my passport and two small ID photos, then I should fill out the form and turn it in today because the office will get busy starting tomorrow. I didn't have the ID photos, but the guy was very helpful and showed me on a map the location of a nearby photo machine. He even walked me out of the building and pointed me in the right direction. The photo booth was very easy to use, and it even counted down "san, ni, ichi" before taking my picture. It sucked, though, because I dropped all of my change while trying to pay the machine and so I had to chase it all down. In Japan the coins range from 1 yen to 500 yen, the equivalent of one penny to 5 bucks. So change is really important over here- I dropped about 8 bucks worth of coins at that machine! But back to the city hall story, I was able to turn in the form and the card will be ready by the end of September. How exciting.
So with our forms turned in, we started the long haul back to the dorms. I've been looking for a bookstore to buy some easy-to-read comic books at (I think I can learn a lot from them), and so I was very excited when my friends spotted one along the way. It was pretty obvious- it had the symbol for "book" on a big red placard outside the store- but I hadn't noticed it before. So we went entered the store, which was full of manga (Japanese comic books), and I asked the old lady behind the counter if she had any easy-to-read manga, like children's manga. She said they don't sell any, and pointed out the rack full of hentai (Japanese cartoon porn) behind me. But she gave me directions to a place near Hirakata station that sells the manga I'm looking for. I saw what looked to be a business card on the desk, and I asked her if it was a business card (hoping she would let me have one), but surprisingly it was a bookmark. So I learned the Japanese word for bookmark. I guess she assumed that I hadn't heard of a bookmark before, so she demonstrated how to use it (what a kind old lady). My friend wanted to know the kanji for bookmark, but she couldn't remember so she looked it up in a dictionary. When she couldn't find it (again, this lady was so kind), she called her husband from the back of the store and he came out and looked it up in an older dictionary. He even made a copy of the page in the dictionary for my friends. So I started talking to him and his wife about Hirakata and how humid it is, and I told him that it's about the same in Florida except in Florida it's year-round hot and humid. I said I was excited for when it will become cooler, and he told me that it never snows in Hirakata or Osaka. What a disappointement. But fortunately it snows in Kyoto, about 500 kilometers north of where I am, from about December to February. So you know where I'll be in December! The shop owner started talking about "television talent," which I found out means "actor," and then he mentioned "bengoshi" which means "lawyer," but I couldn't find out what he was saying. So after a while we said goodbye and continued our journey back to the dorms.
There was one last adventure to be had, however. My friends and I passed a bicycle shop and my roommate Zach stopped to check out some of the bikes on display outside (he had been looking for a bike to take around in the city). The man inside the shop showed him some other bikes on display, and Zach was torn between two models. One was a typical city bike with large wheels and a metal basket in front, and the other was a small bike (but not a children's bike) with small wheels and no basket. The bigger bike was around $50 with tax, and even though the smaller bike had a cheaper price it would actually be more expensive in the end because to buy a basket for it would cost around $20. The man at the shop recommended larger wheels, and Zach really liked the fact that he could put his books and stuff in the basket, so after trying both bikes out (I wish I'd have had my camera) he finally decided on the larger one. The woman in the store came out for the purchasing, and like the man she was very friendly and helpful. It took a long time for her to explain the bicycle registration system, because I kept having to stop her for clarification and to ask about words I didn't understand, but in the end I figured it out. The bike was used, so it had already been registered and had a sticker with the registration number on it. She (the vendor) would keep a copy of Zach's receipt with his name, address, and the bike's registration number on it. Then, if a policeman stopped Zach and wanted verification that the bike was indeed his, the policeman could go to the bike shop and see the copy of the receipt. However, Zach still needs to keep his receipt because when he leaves for America he can return the bike to that shop and get a partial reimbursement (I believe that's what she said). If he doesn't keep the receipt, though, he can't turn the bike back in. It's funny- in Japan so many people ride bikes that they have this nation-wide registration thing to prevent crime. But in America kids are usually the only ones who ride bikes, so I guess a registration program isn't possible. I mean, sure we can register our bikes with the USF police, but if they get stolen I doubt the police will be able to do anything about it. But really I don't know if Japan even needs a registration system- crime is so low over here. I mean, it's common for women to walk alone at night, and people leave their bikes outside of stores all the time.
So today was very busy, and very fun! I don't mean to brag, but I'm really happy that I can communicate at the level I have been. Sure my Japanese is slow and choppy, but between my broken Japanese and sign language I have been able to communicate some pretty complicated ideas. I can't wait to start class and learn even more Japanese to use in conversation. Stay tuned for more news from abroad.