Thursday... one day from Friday. As of yesterday, I had attended at least one of each of my five classes. Was that proper grammar? I think my English has declined tremendously in constantly simplifying it for my Japanese/ESL friends. Being back in beginning language classes feels bizarre. I'm 20 years old and learning how to count, tell time, and identify colors. I'm also learning how to cross the street safely, hold utensils properly, and be polite to my elders. I stare at the TV in wonderment, watching the flashing images but not understanding what is going on. I also now play with rattles and scream and throw my bottle when riding public transportation.
Jokes aside, it does feel like I am a child again. It's kind of nice having free reign to make mistakes for that reason (silly foreigner) though of course I do not wish to offend anyone and would never exploit my foreignness (?).

About my other English-speaking classes:
My professors are American and have all taught at American universities, so the feeling within these classrooms is familiar. I'm taking an economics/business class which I have not done before. It's supposed to be about the merging of Japanese society/culture with the economy, so there is the sociology half of it that I hope I can master. I'm a little intimidated since the class presupposes I've had some basic background in economics or business, and my fellow classmates are all International Business or Asian Studies majors. Err...
My anthropology classes are quite anthropological. Much of what we have gone over is review for me, but of course the first days of such classes professors always need to cover "What is anthropology? How do we define culture? How and why do we study it?" which is always a snore fest. I'm still optimistic!

It's proven interesting to be in such a multicultural environment. Today I had lunch in my dorm's kitchen with a Japanese girl, my Swedish roommate, a Norweigian, and a Brit. It was a mishmash of language and miscommunication to say the least. It keeps surprising me how cultural humor is, and how much of my own humor does not resonate with others. I tried telling my Swedish roommate "Yo Mama" jokes last night--if you're familiar with those--but that kind of thing can not be explained to a non-American. It does feel nice to be asked which English word to use to convey a particular meaning or to be asked about my country in general, even if they just want to know what kind of wild animals we have or why we would ever reelect George W. Bush for a second term. I love hearing what they have to say about America, even though it's rarely complimentary.

I need to do homework, but here are some pictures.

Classic "Engrish", though I have seen much worse since:



Sometimes restaurants have "fry poteto" on their menus, and it's always a treat, especially alongside traditional Japanese foods like onigiri and yakitori:


Yumiko san and me on the train. She is a local Gaidai student but lives in the Seminar House in order to improve her English. She thinks she's fat, by the way, if that gives you any idea of what body image is/means here:


Thanks for reading.