First day of class

My first day of class was both good and bad; but mostly good. My first class was Spoken Japanese at 11am. I got up at 9:30, ate some breakfast (rice lolol) and left for class. I kinda really loved this class. The level may be a little bit too advance (about 5 chapters ahead of where I am) but so far it seems fine. I understand just about everything our teacher says. Also I really like this teacher. He's funny, energetic, etc. There will be a review test at the end of the week and if I fail that horribly, I will go down a level. We shall see what happens.

That class ended at 11:50, and since I didn't have another class until 4:40 (boooo) I went back to my room. When I got back to my room I took a nap! It was quite lovely. I got up at umm 3ish and hung around my room until 4:00, when I left to go back to class.

When I left the Seminar House it was raining (booo) but I had bought an umbrella a few days ago, so I was good to go! I walked walked walked back to campus and found my class. Now this class was not one of my first choices (in fact I'm considering dropping it for something else). Anyway, this class was Visual Anthropology of Japan. Now, personally, I feel that the title 'Visual Anthropology of Japan' is quite self-explanitory. But apparently not! Our teacher spent 70 out of the 90 minutes of class defining both 'visual' and 'anthropology'. During this time, I learned that Archaeology (one of the 4 divisions of anthropology) is not accompanied by Indiana Jones-eqsue adventures. Damn! I was rather disappointed; my dreams had been crushed.

We also looked at a picture and attempted to analyze it. Now this picture was of a Japanese family huddled together posing for a picture. In the background there was a gate to a shrine. And in the foreground was, oddly enough, a group of pink-faced monkies. Yeah, I dunno. So everyone attemps to pull some deep meaning out of this picture: "you can see the similarities between the human and primate family and it shows how we're not that different" and "this picture really portrays Japanese culture by emphasizing the group aspect of Japanese people. No one is off on they're own, they are together with others". Ok, so I guess I could understand where some of that bullshit comes from, but honestly, what family/group of people would NOT huddle together and pose for a picture in a similar fashion? But I felt that if I had said that, several people would have shanked me. My interpretation of this picture is as follows: it is a metephor for the struggles of the working class.

Anyway, to make this class even better, I happened to be sitting next to THAT kid. Yes, you know THAT kid very well, I'm sure. THAT kid feels the need to comment on or reply to everything the professor says in order to show how much he/she knows about "insert class subject here". And of course, THAT kid also thinks that they are VERY funny. And surely enough, you always just happen to get seated next to THAT kid. And if that all wasn't enough torture, our teacher decides to assign us some last minute homework. But not just any homework; GROUPWORK. And not just any groupwork, GROUPWORK to be done OUTSIDE of class. The assignment is to get together with your partner, get to know them, and take a picture, NAY, a portrait of them and submit it. There are a few students in the class who are natives of Japan and I happened to be paired with one. She seems very nice. But of course, because no one wanted to work with him, THAT kid gets stuck in our group as a 3rd member. Can you tell how much I'm loving this class? The subject is rather interesting, and the teacher is actually not bad at all, but his class and lectures seem to be tailored for morons. I don't think I'm a genius or anything, but everyone just seems very dumb.

Finally that class ends and I get to walk home. It's 6:15 so it's already dark, but I can deal with that. It's still raining, but that shouldn't be a problem since I brought my umbrella. Well, it shouldn't have been a problem. But, of course, someone stole my umbrella. I got to walk home in the rain. It was incredibly fun. Upon returning to my dorm, I took a warm shower and chilled until I went to bed at 11.

You have to take the good with the bad, I suppose. I can deal. Though, I'm really hoping to drop that class and join one with a better time on better days, and hopefully one that does not force me to work with obnoxious students inside or outside of class.

As for today, I had my Spoken Japanese class again, along with my first session of Reading and Writing Japanese. Well, if my Spoken Japanese class was too advanced, this one very well may be too easy. I have already learned the material from the first 7 weeks of class. But I'm pretty sure the next level of class would be way too advanced. So I get a 7 week review. Yay!

Right now, I'm just waiting until 1:15 so I can go meet my partners for my favourite class and take their pictures. Also, our teacher never said anything about writing to explain the meaning behind the pictures. I'm pretty sure I will just take a picture and leave, in that case. After that, I will hang around and possibly study until 4:40 when I have my next class (oddly enough, with the same teacher as the other class). This one I actually did choose, though. Perhaps it will suck less. I sure hope so. Then I get to go home. I have to do laundry since I have maybe 3 shirts left and that's it.

Until next time!

P.S. Oh yeah! I totally sit next to the 4th Jonas brother in my two Japanese classes. His name is Jet. Tell me that's not perfect! Jet Jonas. Except his last name isn't Jonas...details, details.