Introductions

So one of the things that I've grown to find so completely annoying about Japan is their love for self introductions. I feel like I'm standing in front of my second grade class "Hi my name is Liza, my favorite color is orange, and when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut!!!"

A typical Japanese self introduction includes:

1.) Hajimemashite! (you have to say this first. It kind of means "nice to meet you")

2.) name (and its through this part that I have come to realize that I don't know what my actual name is... is it Eliza, el-liza, ah-liza? I have no idea... I never really thought about it... different people say it differently...and some people even switch it up (why be boring right?). But apparently, the idea that they are all acceptable is UNacceptable in Japan. I Japanese, these are 3 completly different names... and I'm often asked to tell someone which one is the REAL correct one... I asked my mom which one was the REAL way to say it... and she's not sure which one she had in mind when she named me. She's one of the many who's pronounciation of my name depends on how their feeling towards me. Usually an E-liza means im in trouble. )

3.) ethnicity/where you come from (because Japan pretends to take an interest in where youre from, when really all foreingers are treated equally bad no matter where they come from)

4.) job/position or year in school (and what school) Cuz Japan is all about status.

5.) hobbies ( and in japan a "hobby" can be anything from an actual past time, to something that littereal JUST passes time when youre bored and can't think of anything else to do...I love knowing that the majority of the Japanese's hobbies are watching tv and shopping..)

6.) anything else you wanna throw in, but it's gotta be completely pointless liek the rest of what you just said

7.) Dozou Yoroushiku onegaishimasu! (you have to say this too... its kind of like well...theres not really a traslation for it, littereally it means "please take care of me")

Why do I hate introductions so much? It would be a very different story if this was only used when introducing yourself formally, or to a large crowd for the first time. But instead, self introductions are used any and EVERY time you meet a new person. They're so forced and superficial. A very different from the amerikan way of "getting to know someone" where you would just actually TALK to them...

So for my lab, I have to give a POWERPOINT introduction of myself. Its supposed to last a good 25 minutes... What the heck am I supposed to talk about for 25 minutes? "Hi I'm Liza, I'm from amerika, california more exactly, which I'm sure you can tell by my purple hair and the way I dress and talk. I'm not smart, which you can tell cuz im Blonde AND amerikan, and I have no idea how I got into your lab which is full of amazingly smart people. I have no idea what you talk about when you talk about your projects because I've only had a year of general biology, and I secretly take notes so I can look up what you just said on wikipedia so I can try to understand what you're saying next time... "

(<-- My lab)

I also hate talking about myself. I have this idea that if I were to suddenly tell someone about myself they would think I'm a patholocial liar... I have no idea why I think this. Can't everyone say " Hi I'm allergic to pretty much everything except peanuts, I have liek 3 auto-immune diseases, I have to take 3 pills a day just to live. I once had pnemonia for 10 months cuz I was taking 10 classes in high school, working 36 hours a week, leader of 2 clubs and stopped eating and sleeping for a while. I broke a rib from coughing too hard once. I've broken my arm 7 times. I tore my ACL. I always had at least 15 cats while I was growing up, my record was 21 though. I ran away from home when I was 3 and climbed over 2 brick walls and went 5 blocks down to my grandparents house. I've been hospitalized a number of times, and have 5 differnt specialized doctors for my various health problems. I've never been to mexico even though its 3 hours away from where I lived my entire life. I've only been in snow 3 times in my life despite growing up 30 mins away from the mountains. I play 5 instraments (or used to)." I think thats all pretty normal...I pretty much just used my above 1-6 outline and added pictures for my presentation. And I added "I like making cookies for my friends...so if you like cookies, you should be my friend" in Japanese. I'm not looking forward to this in anyway... but fortunately im schedualed to present during when I have class.... and class is more important isn't it?They also want me to play my guitar at a party we're having later tomorrow night. Sigh... I'm not very good at the guitar...and I would rather not look like a retard trying to play for 50 people. Oh Japan, why do you do this to me?

So this is why I'm up so late on a school night (2 am here, class at 8) Becuase I had to make a presentation about myself.. And now I'm not tired, so I might as well write...

So this weekend was pretty good. Jean and I spent the sunday and monday (which was also a holiday) at the school festival. We got to see some AWESOME bands play (unike the first day when everyone was really really horrible). We even got to mosh a little. Japanese kids are boring.... they were all sitting down... at a rock concert... Jean and I were in front dancing and having fun while they sat there. here are a few photos from the concerts... And a video of a cover of L'Arc~en~ciel's Drivers High. The sound is kinda bad cuz it was too loud for my camera to handle, but they were pretty good. The guy's voice also died during the song, but hey their a hard band to cover, and the main singer's voice is intense, so I don't blame the kid for not getting it perfect.

Actually, the video wouldn't load...soooo nvm...

We also went to an jazz house, and here are some pictures of that, and a small sample...

AND. THIS! "We Are Teh ﾊﾟｰﾃｨｰ!" The most hilarious thing in the world. A bunch of weird guys dressed up in costumes, rapping and singing. They saw Jean and me standing in the crowd and said something in english, they crowd had no idea what they said, but Jean and I started laughing histerically... Seeing this, they continued to pull out probably every english phrase they had every learned (which mostly included shouting "F THIS!!!!") Jean and I died. It was so funny. And no one else understood what was going on. Then the rainbow suit guy came up to us and asked (In japanese) if we spoke japanese. And we answered (in japanese) "no none at all, we dont understand anything that you're saying" This got a nice laugh.

My only biology class that I get to take here is a complete joke. I'm learning tons... just not in class. The text book was optional, but I bought it anyways, and started doing what I do for all my science classes, read the text book and take such good notes, and my note book is basically an abridged version of the book. This book is intenese. Chapters are 90 pages long with size 10 font with no pictures. Takes me about 10 hours to completely read and take notes on a chapter. I've been learning so many interesting things from the book though! For the expection of Dr Morton, Hyman, and Larsen's classes, every other science class I've taken in college has been SO boring... I KNOW the material isn't boring... But most of the teachers present everything so horribly and its not interesting in anyway. I was SO excited at the idea of learning new and interesting things again! But when I got to class we barely touched on anything in detail..and got no where near the interesting things...

The class is designed for kids who don't know english as a first language. The class is structured as if you were trying to teach general biology to a 12 year old. The teacher has no idea what he's talking about, and is obviously not prepared because he doesnt understand his own slides. I don't ever answer when he asks questions in class cuz I feel bad. It's not that the other kids are dumb, they just don't know english. And so since it's really a class for them, I try to let them answer questions. But hardly ever does anyone answer, (and usually the teacher's questions make absolutly no sense) and so he calls on me to answer, or to try to explain something he can't explain very well... or to explain his own slide to him... Its very sad...

Today though... oh man... so like you know, I spent the whole weekend at rock concerts... like I was gonna do homework... So I showed up to class actually ready to learn (becuase I hadn't done ANY of the reading, and had NO idea what we were talking about.) So I sat there and listened and took notes, and tried to avoid eye contact when he asked questions and prayed that someone knew the answer, and well eventually he called on me to give an example of genetic recombination, and unfortunately someone already said the easy one (cross over).

this is how it went down...

Dr Taylor: "Liza, whats another way you get genetic recombination?"

Me: "ye..eah... I...really didn't do any of the reading..."

Dr Taylor: "uhm... ok, but whats another example?"

Me: "...uhm... I really have no idea"

Dr Taylor : *blank stare as he waits for an answer*
Me: *insert any high tech bio words that dont really make sense*

Dr Taylor: *not really understanding what i said* "you mean transposons?"

Me: "Yeeeeahhhhhhh! thats what I mean..."

Man I looked like such an idiot. Haha it was awesome.

Here are some other random photos for you to enjoy

Jean on top of the dirt circle

Magically looking huh?

Leaves

Tsukuba

Well, let me first start out introducing where I live. This...THIS, is Tsukuba Daigaku Hirasuna Shukusha (Tsukuba University Hirasuna Student Dorms). We have no air conditioning, no heating, no hot water, no showers. I have mold growing out of cracks in my walls, my floors are torn up, and my window does not close all the way. It's alright though now that I've gotten used to it... I figure that after living here for a year, the rest of my life in amerika will be so much happier... And rent is only 12,000 yen a month (about 100 dollars). My room is one the right allll the way on the top floor. There is no elevator of course, and the routine hike up to the top has helped get me into better shape. I honestly had to take breaks on my way up at first...the stairs are steep..and its hot...

The doors are supposed to be locked at all times, and you need a special code to get in...but the door broke, and the alarm was constantly going off...so the system was turned off... The policy here at tsukuba seems to be if it breaks... oh well. So I doubt this will be fixed any time soon, if ever.

Every morning I have a 10-15 bike ride to class (depending on the day). That in itself is an adventure. Many big hills, and crowds of people to manage my way through. I arrive to class hot and sweaty everyday. Its awesome.

As you an see, my room is very cluttered. Its not a very large room...yet I have attempted to fit a fridge, dresser, bed, tv (w/stand) bookcase, desk and fold out bed/chair thing, in it. When I first walked in and put down my suitcases, I was terrified...it was so ugly..and small...and smelled... but now its like home, and it doesnt smell so much anymore...

My bed was HORRIBLE. It was like sleeping on the ground. Every morning I woke up with all my joints hurting, and no matter how much i slept (10-12 hours) I would still be exhaused the next morning. I've solved this problem by buying a futon and putting it on top of my mattress. I love sleeping now... :]

These are my friends (Jean, Patrick, Alex, Micheal, and Simon[not pictured]. We all know each other from ICU. Patrick goes to UCR, although we never talked to eachother before (even though we sat next to eachother in Japanese class...). We, as a group, don't get along very well...at all...patrick and jean can't stand eachother, but pretend they do. Alex and Micheal don't get along very well and make no attempt to hide it. Simon is always gone on weekends, so he hasn't had a chance to get invloved in the "UC drama" here at Tsukuba. I've managed to remain neutral, and I get along pretty well with everyone. We hang out at the Kyujuukyu no mise, QQ for short(99 store...basically a japanese version of 99 cent store). QQ is pretty great, we all do most of our grocery shopping there. And we make regular visits to buy ice cream and hang-out out front. Kinda lame, but hey, its Japan.

Supprisingly, theres not really a lack of things to do here in rice field land. I actually prefere it much better than Tokyo. Theres a resonably large mall only 10 mins away by bike. Theres TONS of small and cheap mom'n'pop shops with great food. Theres a rock climbing wal/spa/movie theater with a bowling alley upstairs about 40 mins away by bike (we, as a UC group, make this trip weekly on our bowling excursions). Theres tons of parks, including a small shrine. Very pretty and lots of bugs...

This weekend is a 3 day long festival. My school has been blocked off to traffic (traffic meaning bikes) and theres tons of stands selling food and other small trinkets. There are also a few make-shift concert halls and cafes in some of the buildings. We went to see a band today that was covering some Mr. Children songs (popular japanese band) but they were pretty freaking awful. Cute, but horrible. We left. We also got to see some bad hip hop dancing on a large fancy stage.

Japanese festivals are very flashy..but kind of boring (kind of like Japan itself...). Pretty much, once you've seen one festival (and by see, I mean you've walked around for about 30 mins) you've seen them all.

What's a festival without fireworks? The town over was having a HUGE fireworks show, so we biked the hour to the next time, and sat in a field to watch fireworks. Jean and I ended up walking around during the 2.5 hour show because it was akward sitting with the two other couples we went with (more like we were jelous cuz we didnt have boyfriends... haha). The fireworks were pretty fun. TONS of people though. And delicious food. I love festival food... takoyaki, okanomiyaki, kakigori, karage, crepes...ect... google them all if you dont know what they are, im too lazy to tell you :]

So that was kind of an introduction to my school/town. I know it wasn't really an update on how *I* am. But oh well for you. I'll try to make more frequent posts.... I know I say that alot... And i try alot... But I've been really busy (which I'll tell you all about in a later post! :])

but enjoy some photos finally!

Jean and me with some new Japanese friends. At an izakaiya. Notice my glass of coke. :]

Although Japanese Baskin Robbins doesn't have peanut butter and chocolate, they DO have these awesome seasonal sundays.... Here's the halloween sunday!

This is my lab bench where I work/sleep/study...

Patrick tripped out on coke...

Atheist Jean pretending to pray to what ever god the shinto people pray to

Poor legs...so bruised...

So in Japan, they have different flavor kit kats! New ones for every month and season! Here are a few... some flavors are really good, like green tea and chestnut, but others... kiwi and catalope for example...errhhmmm yeah....

This was randomly in the middle of the park...basically it says watch out for rapists... will do japan, will do

Drunk bowling?

Because I'm the sober one of the group, it's my responsibity to look after the drunk kids and make sure they dont fall off their bikes. Patrick here got away from me for a second..and well yes, he fell off this bike, hurt himself, and we had to hear him complain the whole way home.

And for everyone who asks that I have more pictures of myself...heres one, blurry but whatever

Only in a Japanese park are you not allowed to have fun

Yeah im weird i know.

Owari!

the end!