So the Japanese Proficiency Exam (日本語能力試験) is in about 4 days. Sunday morning. Let's look at all the studying I've done in the past few months. I did a full practice test (last year's actual exam). Passed that. Not an amazing score, but not too shabby I guess. And....
OK, so all I've done is a practice exam. Aside from that I haven't truly studied Japanese in about 3 years. This could be bad. I think I'm going to start cramming for the next few days just to try and remember some more kanji and grammar.
By now I'm sure all of you back in the states are reeling in pain over how much turkey and stuffing you're eaten over the past few hours. I am extremely jealous. It's Friday afternoon here, and it's also Thanksgiving! Well, kind of. It's actually Labor Thanksgiving Day, a kind of Japanese Labor Day. Anyway, it's a convenient coincidence and also a day off over here, so that's a bonus. While it's possible to get turkey here, it's even more impossible to find a way to cook it, so we're all going out tonight for Korean BBQ at Top Run, the super yakiniku buffet, to gorge ourselves properly.
A quick story to start the day. I had a private lesson scheduled at 1PM today, so I was sitting around at the station waiting for the guy to show up. He calls me at 1:01 to say he can't make it. Come on! I haven't decided if I'll make him pay for the lesson, which I think I'm supposed to do. I probably will. Anyway, as I go back to the illegal bicycle parking area, where I had been towed from less than 2 weeks ago, I take the lock off my bike and throw it into the basket. (Yes, my bike has a basket and a bell. Shut up). I get tapped on the shoulder by this old guy in a windbreaker. Excuse me, can I talk to you for a minute? Great, I figure. There are a few different religious groups and cults who hang around Chiba station trying to recruit people, so I figured this guy was one of them. I was just about to pull the old Sorry I don't speak Japanese line when the guy reaches into his jacket pocket, presumably to pull either a brochure or a gun on me. Either way I didn't want it. I'm not a weirdo or anything, I'm actually with the Chuo-Ward Police Department, he explains as he shows me his ID and badge. Crap. I assumed he was going to give me grief for parking my bike illegally along with the other 100 people who had done the same. Not at all.
Turns out him and his partner, who was standing behind me without me previously noticing, were just going around to do checks and stuff. They noticed the built-in lock on my bike had a key in it and looked broken, and just wanted to check. They asked me where I lived and my name. After I said Leong, I think he also kind of assumed me being foreign was part of the reason I was so weirded out by their sudden approach. Sorry to scare you, just wanted to see if your bike was OK. I explained that I don't use the built-in one so I leave the key in it while I keep the other on my key chain. I use a stronger lock, which I pointed to in the basket.
So that was my first ever stopped-by-the-police encounter here in Japan. They didn't need to see my ID, didn't give me any grief, nothing. They were just trying to make sure I knew my bike might have been broken. They were actually some of the nicest random people I've spoken to here, which is saying a lot for Japan. It was kind of weird though, because they weren't just the bike cops, they were actually plain clothes officers. Maybe detectives? Who knows. I'm just glad I didn't give them any lip or didn't to ignore them as I rode away, assuming they were cult members. The day might have gotten a lot messier.
For about a week and a half I was working up in Wako city, which was actually pretty fun. The most painful part of the assignment was the commute, which involved riding trains and subways for about an hour and a half one way. First I rode from Chiba to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Ikebukuro, then from there up to Wakoshi station. The first leg of the trip was usually pretty full in the morning, and I never got to sit down. Standing for about 40 minutes surrounded and crowded by mostly middle-aged to old men is no picnic, especially when you get a good whiff of "old man smell" that makes you want to vomit bloody diarrhea. And if you ever experience some guy pressing his sweaty back direct against yours, you too will feel the burning rage comparable only to Nick Roberts witnessing someone hawk a loogie onto the sidewalk.
Luckily, the last two trains I rode in the morning were usually less crowded and I was able to sit and sleep for those rides. It's strange when you start a train routine, even if only for a week or two, because you adapt and start to remember all kinds of weird things, like which car to get on so that you'll be closest to the escalator when you arrive. You also start to see the same people, whom of course you would never speak to, but there is that silent and awkward bit of acknowledgment in the split-second of eye contact you make when you realize this is the old man who almost drooled on himself the previous day. Or the old guy who was reading hardcore pornography last week. There was also the high school girl who probably thought I was just being creepy, even though I was just trying to figure out how a completely Japanese-looking girl was reading a super thick English mystery novel. Even I don't attempt books that thick.
And there is no bigger victory on a train commute than scoring a seat, especially a corner seat, on a crowded train. For the most part my return trip from Tokyo to Chiba was always packed, even more than in the mornings. Having a seat was not a realistic goal. Once though, a miracle happened. I was standing in front of a corner seat, swaying back and forth on the grips while staring at posters advertising about 50 different brands of canned coffee. Somewhere around Kinshicho, which is relatively early in the ride, the guy sitting in front of me starts to gather his things and stuff them into his man-bag. I recognized immediately that he was going to get off the train. The seat would be mine. As soon was we stop, however, the greasy salaryman next to me starts to move. OH HELL NO. I casually yet powerfully swing my briefcase, already retrieved from the overhead rack, into the seat space and perform a counter-clockwise spin placing myself gently and smoothly into the treasured corner spot. Middle aged salary man didn't know what hit him. I slept the rest of the journey in luxurious comfort, not only because I was sitting down after a long day's work, but because I had just shown the guy now standing in front of me who's boss of them all since 1983. ME.
After work tonight, headed to dinner to meet up with Sunny, who works in Roppongi. Spotted this near the station:
Had no idea that (Iron Chef Chinese) Chen Kenichi's restaurant, Shisen Hanten, had a branch in Roppongi. It definitely looked fairly small, but the menu they had outside showed that it's still pretty pricey. I'll go there one day. I seriously need to get on hitting up these Iron Chef restaurants.
The course I'm teaching this week is as exhausting as expected. Everyday from 9 to 5 with 50 minutes for lunch and a few 5 or 10 minute breaks scattered throughout. There are 2 110-minute sessions in the morning and 3 70-minute sessions in the afternoon. The students are pretty much studying and practicing conversations for 6 or 7 solid hours a day, for about 2 weeks. Teaching it isn't difficult at all, but just a little repetitive and definitely tiring since I'm standing up all day.
Luckily, my group of 10 students are all pretty funny, and we all get along. Most are under 30, and I think there is even 1 who is younger than me. Half of them work in farther-off parts of Japan like Osaka or Nagano, and are thus staying in a dorm on-site. Everyone else commutes from Tokyo or somewhere close by; I probably have the longest commute out of the group. After class today a bunch of them were talking about bringing DSs tomorrow to play Mario Kart, so I told them I'll bring mine. Oh, and one student asked me at the end of the first day if I've ever been told I look like Jack Bauer from 24. I of course said no, but he is pretty adamant that I look like an old white guy. None of the other students see it either (thank goodness).
Riding the trains isn't as bad as I feared. I think I'm just before rush hour, which is great. I rode the limited express the first day (an extra 500 yen from Chiba to Tokyo), which gives you a bus/airplane-like seat instead of the usual bench and stand setup. I might do it again tomorrow to get an extra hour of sleep during the commute. I still have to wake up at like 5:30, which means I'm going to bed ASAP.
Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?
I've been working. Not like I found that next career, but I'm working a little bit more than part time this month. Right after I got back from the US I started a bi-weekly teaching thing back down in Ichihara, as a corporate English teaching assignment. Corporate Division is also sending me to Wako city this week to teach a 6-day intensive course. 9 to 5; intensive indeed. It's going to be tough for me to teach the same class of students for an entire day, but I figure it's going to be even worse for the students. Can you imagine sitting in the same classroom for an entire day learning the same subject? That's more torturous than I can imagine. I'll try and make it fun so I don't fall asleep while reading out of this textbook. Hopefully I'll have some cool students or at least co-workers for this gig. I definitely can't complain about the pay though - it's great.
Oh, I'm also teaching private lessons on weekends. This is through another company, and they keep sending students my way! I almost want to tell them to ease up because I don't feel like working tons of hours on Saturdays and Sundays. But yeah, I still have a lot of free time, but I think this month's total income will be comparable to what I made before. Still need to find a "real" job though - not just because of money or anything but because I'm getting bored. You would think that having lots of time to play Mario Galaxy would never get old, but I realized that I need some kind of job. I'll hopefully find something I like by year-end.
Since I have to be in Wako city (Saitama I think) at 8:10AM to meet the other teachers and stuff, I have to leave Chiba on the 6:25AM express train. That means I'll need to wake up around 5 or 5:30. And it's almost 2 now. Ouch. Riding the rush hour Tokyo-bound train is going to be a fuuun time.
I've been back in Japan for about a week and a half; I guess I should give a quick summary of what else I did in the US to wrap that all up blog-wise. I also need to post pictures all over the place (here, Facebook, mixi, your mom's house). I'll probably do it tomorrow.
So I already wrote a bit when I was in St. Louis. In general, it was just a lot of hanging out with the family since Al came in for the weekend, and seeing friends. A great time. I thought for some reason that all kinds of things would be different when I went home, but it was quite the opposite. Actually, things had changed a lot less than I had imagined. It was almost as if I had never left. I got to watch a decent amount of American TV too. Most of it is terrible, yes, but it's not as terrible as Japanese TV. I watched Heroes for the first time on actual broadcast, and my brother Joe got me hooked on The Office with Steve Carell. What a great show. Shopping was a good experience too, but just because I love walking around Target or Wal-Mart. Everything in one spot! Japanese stores don't really have that down as well. Oh, and there was one other major thing that was enjoyable about going back to America...
Hell. Yes.
It's not like food in Japan is bad, but there are just some things that seem to be impossible for chefs here to get right. Nothing beats real St. Louis style pizza, and certainly not any Japanese pizza. Let's see, what else... Steak, Cecil Whitakers, Jack in the Box, Mexican food, IHOP, Denny's, Penn Station, White Castle - all were eaten by me during my vacation. And of course home cooking. My Dad decided to make a full turkey dinner on the Saturday I was there, so missing Thanksgiving in America again won't be such a big deal.
After spending just over a week at home, I went to LA for a few days to hang out with friends. It's strange how the majority of my close friends from college now either live in California or Japan. I stayed at Joey and Kyle's new place, which puts my apartment in Chiba to utter shame just because of how huge their place was. Went to a sweet comedy show, ate more good food, went to happy hour, saw friends, walked to a funky mall with random walkways going everywhere, and went to a cool Oktoberfest-type party at the Alpine Village. Oh yeah, and just for future reference, if you've only got 4 guys, reserving a table and getting an entire liter of alcohol that no one wants to drink isn't such a great idea. *cough*PAT*cough* Haha.
Saturday morning, had breakfast at IHOP with Kyle and Ashley, then went to the airport. My flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30, so getting there at 12:15ish I figured I was golden. Wrong. There was a typhoon in Japan so the outgoing flights had been delayed. My flight on Singapore Air had to wait for the plane from Tokyo to arrive, so I ended up getting delayed like 3 or 4 hours. Really not that bad, but by the time I got to Narita and then back to my apartment it was around 11 or 12PM and I was beyond exhausted. But America was a great vacation, and hopefully I'll go back again soon. Maybe Christmas.
My first night in LA last week, I went with Joey and Kyle to see a comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade house. While waiting in line to get into the show, we were standing outside on the sidewalk. At one point, a car pulled up. Unfortunately, I was intrigued by the offerings in the adjacent book shop, and just happened to turn around at the same time the car stopped. A few seconds later I look behind my shoulder to double check if maybe perhaps a bird had given me a crap surprise or something. Luckily, my shoulder was clean. I was so relieved that I didn't notice the car was still there, waiting for someone in line to ask if they needed help. Moments later, Kyle, being the good citizen he is, asked the driver what was up, and it turns out the woman just needed directions on where to park for the comedy show. It also turns out that the woman was Janeane Garofalo.
It's too bad I didn't get a chance to help her out. As my friends will tell you, I am never one to turn my back on someone . It's the same way how I follow Ari's lead by never falling asleep when someone has really interesting to say. Now if you'll pardon me, I'm gonna go lift weights.
