◊♦◊ 2006.05.01 ◊♦◊

Listening to  » »  Standing Alone by Echo Image

So these last few weeks have been busy, while somehow being not busy...*scratches head* I'm not exactly sure how that works really, but I don't know how else to describe it. The funny thing is is that I feel like I have accomplished more in the past few weeks (in terms of improving my Japanese language skills) than I have in the previous seven months. So...here are the classes I'll be taking this semester.

Japanese I: Yes, I dropped from Japanese III to I. There is a perfectly logical (albeit needlessly complicated) reason for this. I originally placed back into level three after taking the placement test again, but after last semester's class stretched my sanity almost to a breaking point (and left me wanting to commit murder and/or feeling like the biggest, brainless, 'what-on-earth-made-want-to-come-to-this-$&$#@-country' idiot after every class) I decided to drop into level two. Well, after mentioning this to a friend who, after an explanation that makes my head hurt if I think on it to much, to make a long story short, said that level one Japanese, for all intents and purposes, is ahead of level two Japanese. So level one is actually level two and two is one. Confuzzled yet? Anywho, there are only five students in the class, and it is more like a study group than a class, and I feel like I have gotten more out of it in just the few classes I have had so far than I did during the entire last semester.

Japanese Culture: Okay, this class started out very well. I understood pretty much everything the teacher said, and after the first class I was left with the impression that it would be very interesting. By the end of the third class, I was wanting to shoot myself. There are three sections of this class (the students take the one that is matched to their level) and this class is for level one and two students. Half of the students in the class appear to have never seen Japanese in their life and can barely read even the most basic of basic words. Hence, the teacher is having to teach so that lowest level student can understand. This last week's class we were doing Japanese pronunciation. Yes. I said pronunciation. How to pronounce Japanese words. .......... Why? That's what I would like to know. By the end of this class, there was a throbbing relentess pain behind my right eye, and I was ready to violently throttle half of the students in that class. (I could hear Nicole grinding her teeth from the effort of not calling the lot of them...well...the few words I caught when she was speaking under her breath I won't repeat here.)

English Studies: This is the second Lord of the Rings class (for the Two Towers) and it is just a fun class. It's larger than last semester which makes for more interesting discussions. It's really just more of the same stuff as last semester such as reading the book, watching the movie and documentaries, history of the novels and author, etc. Fun.

Creative Writing in English: This class I am taking with Nicole just for the fun of it (that and I needed two more credit hours). It is a class for non-native speakers, so naturally there are going to be some boring moments such as when the professor has to explain what a thesaurus is to the class. (Although she kept mispronouncing it and kept saying "thesarsis" which was an endless source of amusement for myself and Nicole.) The professor bugs me a bit since she treats anyone who doesn't meet her standards in creative writing (which is nearly every non-native speaker) as an idiot, and sometimes seems to fall short of calling them just that. It seems she needs to realize that there are mostly non-native speakers who are taking this class to learn about creative writing in English.

British Thoughts and Culture: This class is going to be so cool. First of all, the professor is everything I picture when I think of a refined Englishman, right down to the accent and the pocketwatch he checks every twenty minutes (as if he is just as eager as the students for class to end). The one thing that spoils this image and makes him an absolute delight to listen to is that he speaks a bit like the bishop from the movie The Princess Bride. ("Wuve, sweet wuve...") During the first class when he began speaking, of course Cathryn and I immediately recognized who he sounded like. I was practically suffocating trying not to bust up laughing. Cathryn, meanwhile, had slowly put her head down on the desk and was trying very very hard to control herself. We both knew that if one of us lost it, it would send both of us into a gigglefit for the next twenty minutes. This professor also has this dry British humor that is wonderful, but is sadly wasted on the mostly Japanese class. (And speaking of the class, it's huge. There are over a hundred students. The probability that there are this many Aoyama students that can actually speak English, in my experience, should not be possible.)

And Miyuki (one of my unitmates) has been cooking stuff for me for the past few weeks. She has made me several dishes so far that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to try. She is also learning English and comparatively, her level of English is about at the same level as my Japanese, so the conversations we have tend to be half and half of each language. And Yumi (another unitmate who speaks English fairly well) always joins us and occasionally acts as a sort of translator for me and Miyuki when we are having difficulties and just can't seem to understand each other. But Miyuki and Yumi are both so sweet and I truly enjoy talking to them.

And w-inds' new single comes out in a few weeks which means a new music video will be released as well!
*breaks down into incoherent fangirly gibbering*

The Siren ran for it @ 9:01 p.m. //

◊♦◊ 2006.04.13 ◊♦◊

Listening to  » »  Withered Earth from Genso Suikoden II

I'm finally posting something I've been working on for the past few days. This I decided to show only to family and friends, so the site is password protected. A window will pop up when you click the link and enter the user name and password in the fields provided. The user name is my last name (in lowercase), and the password is the year I was born (four digits). If you know me, you know this information.

So clickie clickie here to see my little site.

The Siren ran for it @ 12:12 a.m. //

◊♦◊ 2006.04.05 ◊♦◊

Listening to  » »  Wings by Utada Hikaru

So on Monday, we took our second Japanese placement exam...blarrrrg... It was certainly harder than last semester's test. I was surprised at how many of the answers I left blank because I couldn't read the kanji or I didn't know the grammar. One good thing about this is that they won't try to put me into Japanese IV, because if they tried to, then I would just have to hurt someone.

So after that me, Cathryn, Nicole, Katie (who is from Florida), Kate, and Rob (who are both from England...and yes, Rob being the funny guy he is, does have blue hair), headed down to Shibuya to try an El Torito Mexican restaurant Cathryn discovered that morning. So what happens when I am deprived of Mexican food for seven months? I take pictures of my food because it is just so beautiful. It was very good (although I have had better) but after seven months of no Mexican food, at that moment it was the best meal I have eaten since arriving in Japan.

And this was just something I did while killing time waiting for a DVD to finish burning. Personality quizzes like this amuse me. Here are my results:

Pretty accurate, really. Martyr complex...heh, figures.

I also added some links to photos in the top section (my little biography area). If y'all are curious about what these pretty Japanese men I love look like, just click on the names to open a photo of them.

The Siren ran for it @ 4:25 p.m. //

◊♦◊ 2006.04.02 ◊♦◊

Listening to  » »  Rain by Arashi

Woo! New site layout featuring the very gorgeous and drool-worthy Keita Tachibana from w-inds. I rather like this layout...*stares at Keita's picture dreamily*

...several minutes later...

...Sorry, kinda got...distracted...and...*clears throat* ANYWAY, on with the point of this entry. On March 22, Cathryn, Nicole and I visited Meiji Shrine in Harajuku. It was kind of an accident, actually. We had wandered around Harajuku for part of the day shopping and whatnot, and we just kinda stumbled upon the shrine. I mean, I knew it was there in Harajuku, I just didn't realize how close we were to it until we were standing in front of the gate. So we decided "Why not?" and went in to see it.

Visit to Meiji Shrine in Harajuku on March 22, 2006

So here's the gate we kinda stumbled upon. (So far both of the temples I have visited I have discovered by accident). We didn't see it from a distance because of a bus terminal in the way. So then we walked down the loooooong path to the temple (it was quite pretty with lots of green and a little stream we crossed). There were places along the path where, for a fee, you could see some other part of the area around the shrine, but we didn't do any of that.

This (right photo) we came across before entering the shrine itself. One is supposed to rinse one's hands and rinse one's mouth out (?) before entering the temple. We rinsed our hands (since it would have been sort of rude not to) but opted to skip rinsing our mouths out with the water. After this, we made a brief stop at a stand where you can buy a variety of charms from the temple priestesses (yes, they were in robes and were very cool looking).

Here are a few photos of the inner area of
Meiji-jingu Shrine:

These were hung on a large circular stand inside the main area. There were hundreds of these things hung up. (That photo only shows a small part of the stand). Visitors to the temple can buy one of these tablets and write their wishes and hopes on them and then hang them up here (and hope what they wrote comes true). We saw messages written on these in nearly every langauge I could think of, and some of them were quite amusing. People wished for everything from wanting a sick family member to get well, to wanting to meet their favorite pop star. There was one cute one by a young girl who wrote the name of her favorite Japanese pop idol (I knew it was a pop idol because I recognized the kanji for his name), she wrote the kanji for love five times, drew hearts all over it, and wrote how much she wanted to meet him. We giggled over this one because the name of the music artist the girl wrote happened to be the same artist that Nicole is quite taken with.

And finally, as we left the shrine (back down the long path to the entrance gate) we came across this:


Is it a statue? Or a man? Or both?

(Note: The sign in the bottom left corner of the photo translates to: "The Human Statue from England. Give him money and he will move. Thank you very much. --Grey Man")

How's that for having too much time on one's hands? It looked like he had collected quite a bit of money, though, which is not too bad.

The Siren ran for it @ 2:25 p.m. //

◊♦◊ 2006.03.23 ◊♦◊

Whew...it's been a while y'all. Heh...now that I actually have something worth posting with lots of pictures. ^_^ So without further ado...

March 9, 2006 - Trip to Odaiba

Nicole, Cathryn, and I had wanted to go to Odaiba for a while, and once Cathryn got a day off during the week (because that is the time to go to Odaiba since I hear that crowded doesn't even begin to describe it on weekends...) we seized the chance to head out there. This is no short trip from my dorm, and after a one hour and thirty minute ride on the train, we finally reached the station where we would depart from to reach Odaiba. (Odaiba is located out in Tokyo Bay and, while there are multiple ways to reach the island, the Yurikamome is the easiest and most entertaining. It is an unmanned elevated train that crosses on the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba). The scenery was awesome from the bridge and we got to see quite a bit of Odaiba before we reached our first destination.

When we got off the train at the first station, from there we could see the Fuji TV building (Fuji TV is one of the big television stations in Japan). I guess you can get a tour of some of the studios for a small entrance fee, and if you're lucky or time it right, you can even sit in and watch a show being filmed on the spot. We did not actually go here since we already had a full day planned with other stuff to do.

We first planned to visit the Science and Innovative Technology Museum on Odaiba (because I just love science museums and all the exhibits here are in Japanese and English). On the way, we passed the Maritime Science Museum, which is a huge building which is constructed to look like an ocean liner. While it looked mildly interesting, we had decided not to visit there on this trip because of the somewhat high price of admission to get in. We took a little detour before reaching the science museum, since whenever I see water and boats, my first response is always, predictably, "Oooo, boats!" and run to the docks like a little kid (geez, you'd think I'd never seen the ocean before, ^_^). The science museum (all five huge floors of it) had many interesting exhibits including real aliens. ... I know you're thinking that the people working at the museum thought they could fool the silly foreigners, but I read the plaque by the exhibit in Japanese (what I could read, anyway) as well as English, so I know they aren't lying. It's two fish born in space on the space station, so that makes them real aliens. Hee, I am way too amused by the alien fish. Soooo, the science museum was interesting, we got some lunch, then headed to our next stop.

This ferris wheel is, I believe, in the Guiness World Book of Records as the largest ferris wheel in the world. So, naturally, we had to take a ride on it. It just kept getting bigger the closer we got to it. And since it was during a weekday, there were no long lines we had to wait in. ^_^ It takes sixteen minutes to make one rotation on this thing, and what an awesome view of the bay it gave us.

After the ride on the neato ferris wheel, the three of us headed to Docks and Aquacity which are two huge shopping centers in Odaiba. Out front of Aquacity, we found a strange sight. I was amused. Of, course this is Japan. I was not really surprised. Amused, perhaps, but not really surprised.

So we didn't see everything there is to see in Odaiba, but we can always go back at some point (I hope to anyway). Anywho, the following Wednesday we (March 15) Nicole had planned for Cathryn and I, as well as a friend of hers to visit the Imperial Palace. Taking the tour of the Imperial Palace has been on my list of things to do while I am in Japan, although the process to apply to take the tour looked a bit daunting. When Nicole made the effort to look into it and got us all scheduled to take the tour that day, I was beyond thrilled. ^_^

March 15, 2006 - Trip to the Imperial Palace

The day started out great. Cathryn and I left early before meeting Nicole to make a stop at the HMV (a huge music and movie store) in Shibuya to buy the new album by w-inds that was released that day. We got there early because we knew that on the day of the release that we would get a cool poster when we bought the album and we certainly didn't want to miss out on that. ^_^ (I'm 22 and I still turn into an embarassingly squealy fangirl when it comes to w-inds. *sighs* kind of sad, really......but they are just the most gorgeous men) ........ *clears throat* sorry for kinda going off in my own little world for a moment... ....well, just look at this picture and you can see where I'm coming from. *grins stupidly* Even most of my friends usually comment on how pretty they are.

So, ANYWHO, back to my story (and reality)...after buying the album Cathryn and I headed out to Otemachi station to meet Nicole. Cathryn and I met Nicole with plenty of time to spare to get to the palace to check in. (You have to check in and show your passport if you are a foreigner in order to take the tour and they require you getting there ten minutes before the tour starts). Nicole's friend, Justin, was running a bit late, but we knew we had plenty of time to get to the palace. So we waited. And waited. Twenty-five minutes later, we were still waiting for Justin. He FINALLY shows up and as a result of his lateness, we had to sprint to the palace in order to make it in time. (I bet we were a sight to see, four foreigners running through the streets toward the palace). The guard we were supposed to check in with was gathering his things and turning to head back through the gate, and we barely caught him. That's how close we were to almost missing the tour. And if we had missed the tour, I would have pitched Justin into the moat (probably with assistance from Cathryn). So needless to say, Justin did not make a stellar first impression on me (as shown by the fact I didn't talk to him for the first thirty minutes of the tour).

But, we got in okay, and they provided us with headsets that had English translations of what the tour guide was saying. The tour lasted about 75 minutes and we got to see the Imperial Palace where the emperor and the imperial family lives. Sadly, we didn't get to actually go inside any of the buildings, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Here are a few pictures I took during the tour:

This is one of the oldest remains of the Edo Castle (Edo is the original name for Tokyo). It was reconstructed in 1659. I would have loved to go inside this building. ^_^

This is the Kyuden Totei Plaza, and in the center on the balcony is where the emperor and empress receive greetings of visitors on new year's day and on the emperor's birthday. I guess this plaza just overflows with people during this time.

I was surprised how many people were in our tour group. The guard to the left of the crowd was this funny little old man who, everytime me or my friends fell behind even the slightest from the main group to take a photo, he would come up behind us with his arms waving telling us to hurry and catch up with the group (in Japanese of course). That was amusing in its own way. ^^

I didn't catch the name of this bridge. This photo I took while standing on another bridge nearby. On the other side of the bridge we were standing on (which is called Seimon-Tetsu-Bashi, or just Niju-Bashi for short), we could see another keep that had been moved here from Kyoto in the early 17th century during the reign of the Shogun Iemitsu.

The next three pictures were taken after the tour ended and the four of us wandered over to the east gardens of the palace to explore a bit. The Tokagakudo Concert Hall was the first building we saw (sadly, we could not go inside because of construction out front). It was built in 1966 to honor the Empress Kojun. The next photo is of the remains of one of the ramparts of Edo Castle. It was destroyed in 1657 and was never rebuilt, and all that is left today is the stone wall of the foundation. I was amazed at how many of the buildings had been destroyed by fire sometime in the past and rebuilt later. Most of the buildings had been destroyed in the 17th century when many buildings were made of wood and vulnerable to fire, and had to be rebuilt. (Just thought I'd share that little tidbit of info with y'all ^^).

And this last picture that I took while in the gardens I just have to share. This was the only tree in the entire garden that was blossoming and it was too pretty not to take a picture of. (I was feeling poetic at the time).

The following Wednesday after seeing the palace me, Nicole, and Cathryn went to see the Meiji Shrine, but since this entry is long enough already, I'll save that little story for my next entry...

The Siren ran for it @ 3:31 a.m. //

Name: Summer Grace  Birthdate: October 6  Where: Tokyo, Japan ^_^
Obsessed With Tachibana Keita, Chiba Ryohei, Ogata Ryuichi, w-inds.
Loves Teppei Koike, Hayami Mokomichi, Yamashita Tomohisa, Takenouchi Yutaka, Lin Jun Jie, Blackmore's Night, Evanescence, Lead, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Johnny Depp, Elijah Wood, Alan Rickman, Liam Neeson, Christian Bale, Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Silent Hill, Star Trek, Star Wars, Linkin Park, Delerium, T.M. Revolution, Sting, Cusco, Enya, Mediaeval Baebes, Solas   Dislikes Ignorant people, rude people, close-minded people, homework, essays, having to wake up early.
Past Blog Archives: 08/05-09/05, 10/05-02/06

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