Life in Japan : Third Week

Goodness gracious. I've been here for three weeks already? That means I'll be here for a MONTH in no time!!!! (how enlightening..haha!) Yes, counting the number of days that I have been here, and it's precisely three weeks.

It's been quite a three weeks. I've been through some ups and downs - there were moments of laughters and tears. I'm not trying to be emotional / sentimental - because this blog is not meant to be Janice overwhelming friends in North America with entries soliciting pity - because at the end of the day, I consciously chose to be here and despite some of the initial challenges that I have faced so far, I am confident that God has brought me here for a reason - and I shall return home being a stronger person!

That aside, so. Let me start with school! (dang...) Life as a student kind of sucks. I think it was awesome being a student at UBC. Classes were 50 minutes each, and before I had the opportunity to zone out into space, classes were over by then. But not so in Japan, or in Keio. Classes are 90 minutes EACH. HOLY SMOKES. For someone who has severe symptoms of A.D.D., 90 minutes is terrifyingly long.

I have "core" courses which I was placed based on the results on my placement test from two weeks ago. They run three times a week - tues / thurs /saturday from 9 - 12:15 in the morning!. Seriously - classes should NOT be happening first thing saturday morning. Apparently it's because the campus is too small and they have insufficient number of classrooms. It sucks regardless. But the ONLY good thing about a saturday morning class is that you wouldn't have to endure the pain of rush hour densha. Yesterday (Tuesday), I really thought I was going to catch on to H1 cause somebody in my cart SNEEZED, and let's just say we were all a tad too close to each other than I would like. Not the most pleasing feeling, but it sure does make New York subways, despite the smelly un-air conditioned platforms, more preferable as at least when I took the subways in New York, it was never butt-close to anyone. Anyways, I think I've ranted long enough about the denshas - just be glad you guys don't need to be travelling in them!!

So anyways, the ride to school is exhausting so by the time I get to school, my shirt's all damp with sweat, my hair's messed up like a crazy lady, and my face covered in sweat. Who would be in the mood for class by then? sheeessssh.

On to the classes - so yesterday, during one of those 90 minute sessions, I ACCIDENTALLY (I repeat - accidentally) zoned out, and right at that moment, the professor turned to me and called my name. It was the worst feeling. (Almost as bad as being in a pitch and your M.D. turns to you asking for back up and you don't have it).

Dee-dee-dum-dum. Yeah, being a student...enough said!

Moving on. So Saturday, I had the biggest snafu since I've been here. I was exhausted after three hours of class but ended up hanging out with my dormmates at Shibuya after class. I was planning to visit a friend's fellowship that evening, and so instead of going home and then heading out to Tokyo again, I elected to stay in the "city." (Just imagine I live in New Jersey - and commute into the city's a bit of a pain...I need to find someone in Tokyo that I can just borrow a bed just in case I miss midnight trains...)

So anyways, I TOTALLY screwd up the station name. I was suppose to get to A_KA_ZA_KA (赤坂), which was literally two stations away from where I was. Instead, I travelled half way around Tokyo metropolis on the JR train, and went to A_SA_KU_SA (浅草). It was the most embarrassing moment EVER!! (It's worse than taking the Q train to Brooklyn...cause it's not as easy as taking the same train back!). After much turmoil, I finally made it there - but I spent two hours on the train, and exhausted all my train money. Thought I would never make it home that day...

Other notable things - portions here are INCREDIBLY (I repeat, INCREDIBLY) small. My presence really noticeably increased the national average height here. (teehee). Because we only get 45 minutes lunch break (stingy!), we all have to grab lunch at the school cafeteria. And yesterday, I looked at the picture on the wall and pointed to this "chuu-ka-don" (aka Chinese rice? Basically rice with mushy veggies and meats on it) because it looked kind of good. Turns out it was this teeny little bowl with toppings not exceeding half of my palm. My face went green immediately. At this rate, I either get really fat from eating too much rice cause there's nothing else to eat anyway, or I get really skinny cause the portions are so small and I walk so much now! I sincerely hope it's the latter.

And one thing I noticed about myself. Once a banker...you're a banker for life! I miss using excel and running models. (nerd alert!!) So I found myself using excel to help me to optimize my course schedules, running pivot tables to help me budget daily expenses...kind of crazy!!!

No more exciting touristy stuff yet - but definitely keeping this blog going!