Daily Musings of a Gaijin

I don't know where to start. I've been in Japan for three weeks now and things are going fine. A lot of things have already happened. New things, new stuff to see, to do, to ogle at. ;) I wouldn't be able to finish an entire post if I would enumerate every single thing that has happened. Because a lot has really happened. I'm in this new environment I've never really dreamed of. It was never my life goal to live in Japan. The opportunity just sort of came to me one day and I kinda tried it. And so far, I'm having a blast. I can't say this enough. Never in my wildest dreams have I thought of living in Japan. It's sort of surreal, but not really. I'm here learning a lot and settling into the groove of life in Japan. Compound that with sensory overload. A taste of the first world. Technology of the highest class. Plus an awesome natural environment.

people watching on bakayama in school

My only single greatest problem: Eto na...

Everything is so F-ing expensive! I'm lucky enough to receive a decent amount of scholarship, but I have to pay for the dorm - in bulk. Every start of term, I have to pay for the whole 3 or 4 month term which slashes like a third of my total stipend. I know it's kinda silly to complain. My stipend is quite enough though. The only problem is i am shit poverty every start of term. Regular people live off around 1000 Yen everyday. I live off 300 Yen. But despite the monetary setbacks, I am still extremely happy that I have this chance. Normally, I don't think about the blessings I've had, but everything changed when I started life here in Japan. I get to have a lot of time to think and plan and do things I never usually do. It's weird that when the time change comes, that's the time most people realize a lot about their own selves and lives.

Now to the tough part. Classes began two weeks ago. I'm taking Japanese language which is quite a mouthful but very useful and helpful in the end. The writing is what slows me down. Understanding, so so. Speaking, okay. Reading, blah. I'm also taking up a major science course. The funny thing was, I was so accustomed to how things work in the science academic world that I immediately e-mailed my soon to be professor when I was still in the Philippines. You see, it is always courteous to inform before hand possible academicmates or workmates in the science world. That was what I did. I emailed the professor. And he was a gaijin. A foreigner teaching in Japan. So I didn't bother about the cultural barriers as I expected him to know about the ins and outs of academic courtesy. What I didn't expect was his cold treatment towards me. Or that was what i felt from him. He didn't respond to my email. When I was sitting on his class on the first day, he approached me and said some stuff I can't remember but generally, he didn't think I'd be up for his class. It was like he thought my education wasn't right there with him. I'll have him know my academic adviser in Silliman graduated from James Cook University in Australia. My other professors graduated from University of California-Berkeley, University of California- San Diego, Stanford University, etc. and some Philippine universities. This professor graduated from Australia National University so I kinda expected the same general academic atmosphere I'm used to. Sadly, no. I'll just prove to him at the end of the day that I am certainly capable of handling his class, which is shit by the way. He is the worst teacher in the world. Or maybe he just acquired his shitty-ness here in Japan. Because the students generally do not participate in class as they think the teacher is a higher being or something like that. I can't compare him to my previous professors in the Philippines because he is  that bad at teaching. Good thing books exist.

The third class I'm taking got kind of a bit mixed up in everything. I needed at least 9 units for the term so I dropped a class I thought would be taught in English and replaced it with Introduction to Development Studies. I am so glad I'm taking this class. The professor is also a gaijin so he's cool. And I have classmates from as far as Congo and Zimbabwe and Thailand. What I like about this class is that there are a lot of foreign students either doing their masters studies or transfer students or exchange student like me. It makes the atmosphere clearly international. And leave it to the foreign students to start a dynamic class discussion. ;)

I think I need a new post..:)