It is now 16 days until I board a plane to LA, go to orientation then fly off to Japan the next day. It is all happening very soon. I of course am excited, I have such an amazing adventure waiting for me. But I am also a little sad. There are so many people in AZ that I really enjoy spending time with. Of course my family, I love them and they are going to be the ones I call the most for sure. But I'm also going to miss my "long time az friends" Cameron, Tyler, Heather and Rob. I've been in AZ since late 2004 and I think it was like mid 2006 that I really started to be friends with all of them. For a long time they were my only "real" friends and that didn't bother me. They are such wonderful people. But I also have my "con-nichiwa friends". All of the friends I made while working on our Tucson anime convention "con-nichiwa". I've wanted friends that I can just sit back and watch anime with for a really long time and it wasn't until I was about to move to Japan that I started making friends like that. I really hope that I can arrange enough time off next year to be able to visit everyone.
So leaving all of these people is starting to get tougher then I was expecting. Life is like this sometimes and you just have to move forward. It is going to be tough though. Going from having a bunch of friends to having to start up an entire new social life from scratch. I know I can do it, but it will be a little tough.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
JET pre departure orientation
So I drove down to LA this weekend for the JET program pre-departure orientation. It was a little pricy considering getting a hotel and gas cost, but it was well worth it.
I drove down from Tucson with my friend Cameron. I brought my really old portable DVD player and we watched some Simpsons, King of the Hill, and My Name is Earl on the drive. It was nice because those are shows you can enjoy even if you can't see the screen. The driving in LA is insane. There were so many last second turns and mergers with just jammed packed traffic, I honestly feared for my life. I got a hotel a few blocks away from the hotel that the orientation was actually held at.
I had a little bit of trouble actually finding where in the hotel event was but I found a few equally lost JETs and we ended up finding it. The overall orientation was a real eye opener to both the fact that I am really going to Japan very soon and how much of an adult I now am. Fancy hotel, everyone wearing suits and ties, professional atmosphere. This isn't Wal-Mart any more. I learned a lot of good stuff like how to file taxes so I don't have to pay US or Japanese tax for two years, what sort of games and gifts I should prepare, and how to take care of legal paperwork abroad. I also got to talk to a lot of people who are going and who came back form my area, which has helped prepare me mentally.
The orientation was over at 4pm after that I went back to the hotel where Cameron was and we headed towards China town. We originally were planning on going to the California Science museum because it had free admission and both of us wanted to do this trip as cheap as possible. The traffic was just insane getting there because right next door was a huge rave/dance party where like 100,000 people showed up. And all of these kids were wearing quite frankly the slutiest costumes and just anything that they could do to be weird. Me and Cameron both felt it was funny how we wanted to go to the boring museum but there were so many kinds going to this party that we weren't able to.
China town was cool if not a little disappointing. Weren't really that many shops or restaurants. The China town in Kobe was way better. We did eat at a fancy Chinese restaurant, like the ones I see in Chinese movies.
The next day we went to Hollywood and did the tourist thing, that was fun. Just walking up and down the strip. After words we picked up Sam (who is also a JET) and headed home, which since we had three drivers really wasn't that bad of a trip either.
It was a pretty good weekend.
I drove down from Tucson with my friend Cameron. I brought my really old portable DVD player and we watched some Simpsons, King of the Hill, and My Name is Earl on the drive. It was nice because those are shows you can enjoy even if you can't see the screen. The driving in LA is insane. There were so many last second turns and mergers with just jammed packed traffic, I honestly feared for my life. I got a hotel a few blocks away from the hotel that the orientation was actually held at.
I had a little bit of trouble actually finding where in the hotel event was but I found a few equally lost JETs and we ended up finding it. The overall orientation was a real eye opener to both the fact that I am really going to Japan very soon and how much of an adult I now am. Fancy hotel, everyone wearing suits and ties, professional atmosphere. This isn't Wal-Mart any more. I learned a lot of good stuff like how to file taxes so I don't have to pay US or Japanese tax for two years, what sort of games and gifts I should prepare, and how to take care of legal paperwork abroad. I also got to talk to a lot of people who are going and who came back form my area, which has helped prepare me mentally.
The orientation was over at 4pm after that I went back to the hotel where Cameron was and we headed towards China town. We originally were planning on going to the California Science museum because it had free admission and both of us wanted to do this trip as cheap as possible. The traffic was just insane getting there because right next door was a huge rave/dance party where like 100,000 people showed up. And all of these kids were wearing quite frankly the slutiest costumes and just anything that they could do to be weird. Me and Cameron both felt it was funny how we wanted to go to the boring museum but there were so many kinds going to this party that we weren't able to.
China town was cool if not a little disappointing. Weren't really that many shops or restaurants. The China town in Kobe was way better. We did eat at a fancy Chinese restaurant, like the ones I see in Chinese movies.
The next day we went to Hollywood and did the tourist thing, that was fun. Just walking up and down the strip. After words we picked up Sam (who is also a JET) and headed home, which since we had three drivers really wasn't that bad of a trip either.
It was a pretty good weekend.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Getting close to JET
Well it has been 4 months since I last posted a blog and for anyone who didn't know I did get into the JET program and I am going to Kamogawa city in Chiba prefecture. It is a smaller town of 35,000 people but it is only a 2 hour bus ride to Tokyo! So I really can't complain about that one bit. Chiba was my first pick and to actually get it was pretty amazing.
I ended up going back to wal-mart for a few months because I could not get a job anywhere else at all. I mean it got to the point where I was applying to be a pizza delivery guy and I wasn't getting a call back. But it wasn't that bad, there are a lot of things I do not like about the job but over all it wasn't the end of the world. But that is almost over as Friday is my last day again (the third time I thought it was my last day). After that I will have about 5 weeks to prepare for Japan.
I watched a dvd I got in the mail with my JET paper work and it showed what life is like and what to expect in the JET program, I am really excited right now. I just can't believe that I will get to live in Japan, do a fun job, and get paid that well. As a single guy with little debt, I'll be pretty well off. After paying $1000 a month to student loans (for just a few months) and living expenses I'll have more spending money then I did while studying abroad. I'm going to buy a lot of gundam models! Or maybe not, well see. But I am just so grateful to the Lord for blessing me with this and the Japanese people in general. I would be willing to do this job for longer hours with less pay and yet I don't have to.
I really need to start finding more people who live in the area and start making some friends. I really need to put a lot more effort into building a social life over there. I think it is really important to understand how busy people actually are and the whole soto uchi thing. I think you need to make a lot of acquaintances and from there you will make a few good friends. I also need to not limit myself to just finding otaku friends but find things to talk about with everyone.
Not related to JET but I have been building an arcade machine. I am leaving soon so I wont be able to use it that much but I more wanted to build it then to own it. I always think I am so close and then I get hit with another problem, its just one thing after another. The goal of an arcade is to have every single game be easily accessible from one joystick without having to change settings or use a keyboard. Since each single program is different this is next to impossible. Some programs will only work one way and others another way, there seems to be no way to win with them. I really just want to have it done already.
I have been working with a translation group called KAW and we have been translating an anime called senkou no night raid (flash of night raid) and it has been insanely hard to translate. What makes it so hard is that it takes place in 1930s Manchuria where Japan does a lot of political stuff and takes over the country. I have a very loose idea of what happens but not nearly enough. When I translate there are so many people talking about so many complicated things, it drives me insane. I really want to do a simple slice of life anime after this.
We went to Disneyland and six flags last week. We went with my sister's friend's family and they had a bus and all of that stuff. It was kind of a mistake to do it that way because we had no idea where the bus was half the time, we were all dead tired and couldn't get to the hotel until late. Dad likes to really plan stuff out and have a schedule but the group all sort of played it by ear. Jessie wouldn't hang out with us though. She had her friends and she said she would spend the day with us but then would break off and just have fun with them. I kept telling her, you are upsetting dad, he wanted this to be a family day, and she couldn't understand. He never told her she couldn't hang out with her friends but it was more then obvious how he felt. Jessie still has some maturing to do if she really couldn't figure out what she ought to do. But all in all Disney land was fun, I got a little sick on space mountain and I didn't do many rides at six flags but I had fun all around.
I ended up going back to wal-mart for a few months because I could not get a job anywhere else at all. I mean it got to the point where I was applying to be a pizza delivery guy and I wasn't getting a call back. But it wasn't that bad, there are a lot of things I do not like about the job but over all it wasn't the end of the world. But that is almost over as Friday is my last day again (the third time I thought it was my last day). After that I will have about 5 weeks to prepare for Japan.
I watched a dvd I got in the mail with my JET paper work and it showed what life is like and what to expect in the JET program, I am really excited right now. I just can't believe that I will get to live in Japan, do a fun job, and get paid that well. As a single guy with little debt, I'll be pretty well off. After paying $1000 a month to student loans (for just a few months) and living expenses I'll have more spending money then I did while studying abroad. I'm going to buy a lot of gundam models! Or maybe not, well see. But I am just so grateful to the Lord for blessing me with this and the Japanese people in general. I would be willing to do this job for longer hours with less pay and yet I don't have to.
I really need to start finding more people who live in the area and start making some friends. I really need to put a lot more effort into building a social life over there. I think it is really important to understand how busy people actually are and the whole soto uchi thing. I think you need to make a lot of acquaintances and from there you will make a few good friends. I also need to not limit myself to just finding otaku friends but find things to talk about with everyone.
Not related to JET but I have been building an arcade machine. I am leaving soon so I wont be able to use it that much but I more wanted to build it then to own it. I always think I am so close and then I get hit with another problem, its just one thing after another. The goal of an arcade is to have every single game be easily accessible from one joystick without having to change settings or use a keyboard. Since each single program is different this is next to impossible. Some programs will only work one way and others another way, there seems to be no way to win with them. I really just want to have it done already.
I have been working with a translation group called KAW and we have been translating an anime called senkou no night raid (flash of night raid) and it has been insanely hard to translate. What makes it so hard is that it takes place in 1930s Manchuria where Japan does a lot of political stuff and takes over the country. I have a very loose idea of what happens but not nearly enough. When I translate there are so many people talking about so many complicated things, it drives me insane. I really want to do a simple slice of life anime after this.
We went to Disneyland and six flags last week. We went with my sister's friend's family and they had a bus and all of that stuff. It was kind of a mistake to do it that way because we had no idea where the bus was half the time, we were all dead tired and couldn't get to the hotel until late. Dad likes to really plan stuff out and have a schedule but the group all sort of played it by ear. Jessie wouldn't hang out with us though. She had her friends and she said she would spend the day with us but then would break off and just have fun with them. I kept telling her, you are upsetting dad, he wanted this to be a family day, and she couldn't understand. He never told her she couldn't hang out with her friends but it was more then obvious how he felt. Jessie still has some maturing to do if she really couldn't figure out what she ought to do. But all in all Disney land was fun, I got a little sick on space mountain and I didn't do many rides at six flags but I had fun all around.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
JET interview
I just had my JET interview so I am going to talk about that first. So I drove up to Phoenix and got to the location about 45 mins early. I wanted to get there even earlier but there was an accident on the way over. I came in and was greeted by some former JETs and they talked a little bit and I got to ask them some questions. A Japanese man came in and asked for me and started to talk in Japanese, basically just asking how good my Japanese was. I had no problems talking to him in Japanese for a bit and it turns out that he actually teaches at Pima (my old community college) and knew my Japanese teacher there. The other two interviewers were Americans. They first asked me to talk about myself and why I want to do JET and I gave them my whole rehearsed speech about wanting to use JET as a career move and how I feel grateful to Japan for all that I received last year. I forget the order but the lady there asked if I had any teaching experience and I was able to say that I am gaining some through church and volunteering. Church became a big topic during the interview. I was asked how I would react if someone asked about my religion, which I replied I would be happy to talk about religion and would ask about their religious beliefs while being very careful not to sound pushy or preachy. They asked if being in a small town, far away from a church would be a problem, which I replied that I would be willing to do some traveling to get to church. Also when the question about why I chose urban setting on my application came up I said it was so that I could be closer to a church. They asked a lot about my statement of purpose and I was able to explain how I want to do grad school but I need some time to think about what to study and how JET could help me get a scholarship for grad school. They also asked how I would run a class for middle schoolers, I was a little stumped on how to answer that, but I said I would introduce myself and talk about America for a little bit and then try and get the students to talk by asking open ended questions, the lady there said that it would be middle school students so open ended would be over their head but I responded by saying it would be things like “what is your house like?” or “tell me about your family”. I was hoping for a more specific teaching example, but I think what I said worked. Another question was how I would respond to being a part of clubs or hanging out with the school staff after work and I responded that work isn't just 9-5 there is more that goes with it and I would really enjoy doing those things. This was sort of a trick question, overtime and hanging out with co-workers is the norm in Japan. There was also the strength and weakness question.
All in all my recommendations are, do not be nervous, know your statement of purpose really well (that is why they picked you), and be willing to be flexible about anything.
All in all my recommendations are, do not be nervous, know your statement of purpose really well (that is why they picked you), and be willing to be flexible about anything.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
September 20th 2009
Ok well I feel I need to keep writing in this thing because I don't keep a proper journal but nothing really big has happened. School is still good, I finally found the short story I want to translate. It is called black bird (kokucho). I have only read the first few pages but if I can just get some time I should be able to make some real progress with it.
Yesterday we went up to Phoenix to visit grandpa who has been diagnosed with cancer. I feel weird about grandpa dying because I don't really know him besides the bad things my parents say about him , he divorced my grandma who is the sweetest person in the world. And also he's 70 something so he would only have another 10 years at best. And I have a pretty strong belief in the afterlife so I'm just not worried about him. But anyways its a good 2+ hour drive up to Phoenix and there was a temple trip I wanted to go to but instead I went with the family. We visit with grandma for 20 mins then have lunch with grandpa and then we are done. Mom says we are going to visit her mom in order to get out of spending time with Grandpa's new wife and instead we spend all day walking about a stupid outlet mall. My entire day that I really needed to use for homework and studying was waisted with Angie trying to find cute shoes. Like I really want to see my extended family but my mom cares so much more about shopping then she does seeing relatives.
I am really worried about Angie. I thought if she got a boyfriend she would get out of this rut that she is in but that doesn't seem to be the case. I mean she did get a job she did go back to school but she is still so angry at the whole world. And she hasn't gone to church for at least a year. I invite her but she says no. It's not an issue about the doctrine of the church its the people, or rather how Angie views everyone. She thinks that everyone is this perfect Molly Mormon (stereotypical super churchy girl) and they all think they are better then her. But its all her attitude. She is so mean to people when they try and talk to her they get scarred off and then she thinks that they don't like her. I want to help my sister so much. I really love her but I don't know how to get her to just snap out of it. It breaks my heart sometimes.
I think in fact that the three oldest girls all have had situations where they have been offended or felt shunned by other girls at church and that has caused them to not want to go at all. I dunno I just wish there was something I could do.
On more positive notes. I saw that wolverine movie finally, why was there no concern about continuity with the other films? Sabertooth and Stryker are major characters in the other films and the people in this one are so different you would think they were completely different characters with similar names or something. And why is there so much focus on throwing in cameo mutants? Why was the blob in the movie? Are there really blob fans out there who really want him to be worked into the movie for no reason? Or what about deadpool and how he had all sorts of powers that he wasn't supposed to? That makes deadpool fans angry and deadpool fans are the only reason you should put him in the wolverine movie anyways. I don't get it. It was a fun action movie and definitely not as bad as X3.
I did install windows 7 on my pc with no upgrades and it runs amazingly. I don't know how but Microsoft somehow saved windows from the horrors of vista. It runs faster the xp did, boots atleast as fast as xp did, and does so many little things I don't think I could ever go back.
Well I guess thats it.
Yesterday we went up to Phoenix to visit grandpa who has been diagnosed with cancer. I feel weird about grandpa dying because I don't really know him besides the bad things my parents say about him , he divorced my grandma who is the sweetest person in the world. And also he's 70 something so he would only have another 10 years at best. And I have a pretty strong belief in the afterlife so I'm just not worried about him. But anyways its a good 2+ hour drive up to Phoenix and there was a temple trip I wanted to go to but instead I went with the family. We visit with grandma for 20 mins then have lunch with grandpa and then we are done. Mom says we are going to visit her mom in order to get out of spending time with Grandpa's new wife and instead we spend all day walking about a stupid outlet mall. My entire day that I really needed to use for homework and studying was waisted with Angie trying to find cute shoes. Like I really want to see my extended family but my mom cares so much more about shopping then she does seeing relatives.
I am really worried about Angie. I thought if she got a boyfriend she would get out of this rut that she is in but that doesn't seem to be the case. I mean she did get a job she did go back to school but she is still so angry at the whole world. And she hasn't gone to church for at least a year. I invite her but she says no. It's not an issue about the doctrine of the church its the people, or rather how Angie views everyone. She thinks that everyone is this perfect Molly Mormon (stereotypical super churchy girl) and they all think they are better then her. But its all her attitude. She is so mean to people when they try and talk to her they get scarred off and then she thinks that they don't like her. I want to help my sister so much. I really love her but I don't know how to get her to just snap out of it. It breaks my heart sometimes.
I think in fact that the three oldest girls all have had situations where they have been offended or felt shunned by other girls at church and that has caused them to not want to go at all. I dunno I just wish there was something I could do.
On more positive notes. I saw that wolverine movie finally, why was there no concern about continuity with the other films? Sabertooth and Stryker are major characters in the other films and the people in this one are so different you would think they were completely different characters with similar names or something. And why is there so much focus on throwing in cameo mutants? Why was the blob in the movie? Are there really blob fans out there who really want him to be worked into the movie for no reason? Or what about deadpool and how he had all sorts of powers that he wasn't supposed to? That makes deadpool fans angry and deadpool fans are the only reason you should put him in the wolverine movie anyways. I don't get it. It was a fun action movie and definitely not as bad as X3.
I did install windows 7 on my pc with no upgrades and it runs amazingly. I don't know how but Microsoft somehow saved windows from the horrors of vista. It runs faster the xp did, boots atleast as fast as xp did, and does so many little things I don't think I could ever go back.
Well I guess thats it.
Monday, September 7, 2009
School started
Well I guess the big thing is that School finally started. This long boring summer of not doing anything finally came to an end. I am taking Modern east asian history, Advanced practice in Japanese, Japanese civilization and Japanese religion. Besides the advance practice class all of these are 200 level classes so the work load isn't too bad and I have them all on Tuesday Thursday which is good but that means I am at school from 8 am till 7:15 pm. Its a little rough. But I really like my classes. The EAS class is pretty generic and the readings are dull but its mostly review for me. The Japanese language class is exactly what I need because its a tiny focus on spoken practice but a huge focus on translations. The teacher is actually a British guy but he spent years living as a monk in Japan so he knows his stuff. For my other two classes I have the same teacher and he is really cool and just one of those teachers that I click with. I am also taking a church institute class so I get free parking, awesome, and the institute building is a really cool place to just hang out.
Work is kind of sucking because I put 24 hours on my availability and left it pretty open. Normally I would have had no problem getting 20 hours but because they have this stupid scheduling program now I'm getting like 15 hours a week. I need more money I've got a car now. I am really looking forward to graduating and quiting that joke of a company.
So there are three things that I need to get done in my spare time this fall. The first is work on my senior capstone project, which is to translate 25-30 pages of Japanese into English. Since this is my big project I want to translate a short story rather then a chapter out of a book but I am really stumped as to where to start looking for stuff like that. Its really hard to find stuff online in Japanese just because they just don't have the stuff you would expect them to. The second thing I need to do is to put together some resumes and post stuff on like monster.com to start preparing for getting a new job. Because I want to quit before December so I need to get a job lined up. The third thing I need to do is turn in the application stuff for JET. Yeah I've decided I am going to apply for it. It seems like a pretty solid choice. I just need to get letter of recommendations, transcripts for schools, medical papers, etc... Its a lot of work.
Other then that nothing much is going on. Still no girlfriend, no plans to move out, just kind of going with the flow. Because of the cut hours I am starting to realize how little money I really have but I really want to upgrade this desktop computer, its really sucking right now. What I would like to do is install a small solid state hard drive, upgrade the ram a little bit, and throw Windows 7 on it.
Well I have to get back to home work
Work is kind of sucking because I put 24 hours on my availability and left it pretty open. Normally I would have had no problem getting 20 hours but because they have this stupid scheduling program now I'm getting like 15 hours a week. I need more money I've got a car now. I am really looking forward to graduating and quiting that joke of a company.
So there are three things that I need to get done in my spare time this fall. The first is work on my senior capstone project, which is to translate 25-30 pages of Japanese into English. Since this is my big project I want to translate a short story rather then a chapter out of a book but I am really stumped as to where to start looking for stuff like that. Its really hard to find stuff online in Japanese just because they just don't have the stuff you would expect them to. The second thing I need to do is to put together some resumes and post stuff on like monster.com to start preparing for getting a new job. Because I want to quit before December so I need to get a job lined up. The third thing I need to do is turn in the application stuff for JET. Yeah I've decided I am going to apply for it. It seems like a pretty solid choice. I just need to get letter of recommendations, transcripts for schools, medical papers, etc... Its a lot of work.
Other then that nothing much is going on. Still no girlfriend, no plans to move out, just kind of going with the flow. Because of the cut hours I am starting to realize how little money I really have but I really want to upgrade this desktop computer, its really sucking right now. What I would like to do is install a small solid state hard drive, upgrade the ram a little bit, and throw Windows 7 on it.
Well I have to get back to home work
Monday, August 17, 2009
boring but not terrible
Well this summer is almost over and I am really glad about that. I really want to get this last semester finished up, get my degree, and quit walmart. I'm still not really sure what I am going to do about grad school. I want to go, and I am willing to put out the time, effort, and money needed to get a masters degree but I'm not so sure how to go about it. That MEXT scholarship is still my number one plan but it seems like the acceptance rate is lower then I thought and I have to go first as a research student then take the entrance exam in order to become a graduate student. Then there comes the issue of what exactly do I study. I am interested in Japanese history or society or something like that but if I get a degree in that then I am kind of stuck being just a teacher. Not that I wouldn't enjoy being a teacher but I would like more options. If I do something like international relations or international business that gives me more job opportunities but would be far more boring to study. And then what if I don't get the scholarship? Do I go into U of A's tiny Japanese studies grad program? Study abroad through U of A again? Maybe go to U of Hawaii or something.
Tucon was fun but because I didn't wear a costume I felt so out of place (even though I didn't wear normal clothes either) so I really have to make a costume for saboten con this fall but I can't get started on it until I get some fabric so I need to go shopping soon. I am going to go as leon belmont from the ps2 castlevania game.
Guess thats that
Tucon was fun but because I didn't wear a costume I felt so out of place (even though I didn't wear normal clothes either) so I really have to make a costume for saboten con this fall but I can't get started on it until I get some fabric so I need to go shopping soon. I am going to go as leon belmont from the ps2 castlevania game.
Guess thats that
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