That was fast

Although Grams claim that John Williams solved it ages ago, Mom was the first one to produce for me the correct answer of 2/3 to the question "If one and a half chickens lays one and a half eggs in one and a half days, how many eggs does one chicken lay in a day?" Congratulations, bragging rights are now yours.

Yesterday, my friends and I began what we hope to be a weekely ritual of "movie night." The idea was the brainchild of Christian, who had a similar weekly movie night with his friends while he was living in China for two years. It turns out that he and I are both avid film watchers (eiga o mimas: to watch a movie), and have decided that at least we two shall participate in this weekly event, which occurs at my apartment. Many people will be given open invitations, although not everyone will be able to make it. Such was the case last night, when we had 4 participants, although as many as 7 or 8 could have shown up.

I like this event very much, because it is entertaining, social, great for discussion, and actually educational. I say educational because we have decided that movie night will be a 3-part process. First, we will watch a movie of the groups choosing, the only provisions being that everyone wants to see it, and at least some people need to have not seen it. This will certainly almost always be an American movie, as all American films seem to see release in Nihon, and all of the DVDs have full English voice and subtitle support, with the option of subtitles and possibly dubbing in Nihongo. So we will all go to the store, pick out a movie, and chip in to buy it (or buy one for yourself and bring it to movie night). Step 2 is going out for dinner if we haven't already eaten too many snacks, and step 3, the educational step, will be to watch a Japanese movie. At first with subtitles, but the hope is that eventually we won't need them. If the movie is good, then not only are we thoroughly entertained, but throughout the movie we can listen and try to pick up words, and compare it to what is in the subtitles. This is especially helpful in teaching us the shorthand and slang of Nihongo, which most people use, as opposed to the formal speech we are learning in class right now.

Last night's movies of choice were the American "Jarhead" and the Japanese "Love Letter." The former, "Jarhead," I would strongly recommend, but only to males. It is not a movie for woman. The movie is the true account of a Marine sniper's experiences in the Gulf War, and is a very, very interesting and unique military movie. Nothing really happens out in the desert, and the movie does a great job of conveying the feel of long, hot boredom, and the minor insanity that accompanies it. Furthermore, it is full of memorable scenes, characters, and lines, none of which are appropriate to describe on this blog, but my favorite can be found at my facebook profile for those who have access. The second movie, "Love Letter," is simultaneously horribly and cleverly titled. "Love Letter" is a pretty cliche and obvious name for a love story, but then again, "Love Letter" is not exactly a love story in the traditional sense, and the title is quite clever in the context of the movie. While the movie is not without its flaws (one of which is the only-okay acting), it is beautifully directed, and the story is unique and sad. In fact, the one of the most unique aspects of the film is the reason for the sadness, which I don't think has been used in a love story before. For example (this isn't spoiling anything), the main male love interest has already died at the start of the movie, but his death is not the real tragedy of the story. I don't know if it has seen US release, but I will track it down and bring it home with me, since I strongly, strongly recommend it. It is considered a classic in Nihon, apparently.

Okay, I've rambled waaaay too far off course. The title of today's blog refers to my first month (4 weeks, rather) in Nihon, which finished today, but I swear it only started maybe like a week and a half ago. The first week and a half was really quite slow, as I felt lost and had a whole lot of adjusting to do. However, as I found my rhythm, things fell into place, and I really am in love with Nihon and Okazaki, as well as the Yamasa Institute. Yamasa is clearly a fantastic institution, and every student here who has studied at othere Japanese schools as well says that Yamasa is, far and ahead, the best language school in the country. The pace is fast. Very fast. Every night I have to study a new list of vocabulary for a quiz the following day. Every day we learn new grammar constructions that we apply the vocabulary to. In one brief month, I have learned hundreds of words and enough grammar knowledge to more than reasonably get by in Nihon.

Unfortunately, it's so fast paced that there is no way I have been able to retain everything in my long term memory. That's where review days come in. Tomorrow is the third review day we've had so far, and these days occur with increasing frequency. On these days, we have no homework or vocabulary due, but we reinforce everything we've learned so far, to help lock everything in without forcing anything else out (via new information). Obviously, I cherish these days, and I'm fairly certain they occur more and more often as we learn more and more, and need to retain the old while also making room for the new. On top of all this, each and every one of my teachers is absolutely excellent, and a few of them are even exceedingly good-looking. My first month's experience has me seriously considering returning to Yamasa instead of the Friends World program in January.

I have also greatly enjoyed my out-of-school experiences in Okazaki and Nihon. A glimpse into my daily life on the weekdays: I wake up at 8 (assuming I do not sleep through my alarm like I did yesterday, ruining my perfect attendance record), and do not eat anything unless I am really hungry or know that I won't be able to get lunch (the reasoning for which is, 100% of the time, exchanging traveler's cheques at the bank). If breakfast is at hand, then it almost certainly is Coco Krispies, which along with Frosties is the only good cereal at the supermarket. At 8:40-8:45 ish, I lock up my apartment and set off for Yamasa via bicycle. If I haul ass, I can make it in 5-7 minutes, otherwise it takes me a little over 10 minutes. At 9, I have 3 50 minute classes, and then we break for lunch at 11:50. Lunch was for the first two weeks at the coffee shop, whose praises I have sung in a previous entry. For the last two weeks, however, it has been at this amazing soup restaurant just down the street, where a bowl of Udon (delicious soup with thick noodles) is only ¥300, and adding veggie tempura, as I always do, is an additional ¥100. It's great food, extremely healthy, and dirt cheap. In other words, it's the best of all worlds.

After lunch, we have two more 50 minute classes, ending the day at 2:30. After this I either do my homework at Yamasa, which is a better study environment than my apartment, or perhaps run some errands or go on a mini-outing with one of my classmates. Generally, I finally return home between 3:30 and 5. Then I hop on the ole laptop and use one of my hapless neighbors' wi-fi signals to get online. Email is checked, news is read, business is tended to. Internet time can last between 20 minutes and 2 hours, depending on how distracted I get. Following this, there are 3 possible scenarios. If I haven't done my homework yet, I do it then. If I have already done my homework and I am not hungry, I usually play for an hour, plus or minus change depending on when I get to a natural stopping point, of Playstation 2. I shoot for an hour though. If I have already done my homework, or if my homework was just completed, and I am hungry, I go to dinner, which as at Yoshinoya 80% of the time. After dinner, I return home to either play Playstation 2 if I didn't already, or basically fart around and do whatever I feel like. This might be trying to listen to Nihongo on the TV, chatting online with those waking up early or going to bed really late in the US, or some other generally enjoyable activity. Several times a week, shopping is also fit into the schedule, as is laundry. After I have put off going to bed for a sufficient amount of time, I study tomorrow's vocab and then stare at my eyelids until 8 the next morning.

Weekends are obviously open. If I have nothing planned for the morning, I will sleep for 10+ hours. I was never able to regularly sleep this long at home, but unless there is an alarm to stop me, it happens every night, beginning with when I first arrived. Each weekend I have managed to go on some outing with Kai, Tiago, and possibly Verena and/or Christian, all of which I have already documented. Generally these are not heavily planned in advance, they just kind of happen, but they always make for an entertaining weekend.

Okay, if you've made it this far into this epic post without your monitor setting your eyeballs aflame, I commend you. Tomorrow is Kai's last night, so expect an update on those festivities, but aside from that, who knows what the future may bring?