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Written on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

It has been 2 weeks since the day I arrived here in Soka, and there is already so much to write down here that I could literally be sitting here for hours just frantically typing away. I’ve been sitting here at the local bucks for the last 15 minutes, sipping on my iced latte, trying to thing of some sort of logical way to break this post up into segments that make sense. Probably would have been easier if I updated day by day. I guess I have to start doing that, but then I hate when these things just turn into my daily routine: I woke up this morning, brushed my teeth, changed, went to school, blah blah blah. I’m still thinking about what is relevant to discuss here, what others will want to read, and what I will want to re-read in the future.

First off, you might have noticed that I am at Starbucks again. Despite having been employed in their company for nearly 2 years (barista pride), I am not addicted to coffee, I just find it difficult to study at home. Also, I’ve been going to another cafe for the last couple of days which is very nice called St. Marc Cafe, and it is much easier on the wallet. Today is my 2nd time in here in the last 2 weeks, and what I noticed immediately is that good looking girls clearly prefer the Bucks over St. Marc Cafe. I wonder why that is? But I suppose I already know the answer. Starbucks, despite being a Tim Hortons in denial (Dunkin’ Donuts for you American readers), gives the refined, classy image that young urban professionals enjoy. It gives them a feeling of being more accomplished in life by just holding the cup, let alone drinking from it. Sorry, I realize this has nothing to do with Japan. I’m allowed to rant, its my blog!

So, classes have not started yet for me. All we have gone through is the orientation and placement tests. I wasn’t too concerned about the placement test, until I saw it and said “wtf mate?” because the thing looked like a freakin’ newspaper article…. oh wait it WAS 2 newspaper articles. In the top left corner of the page something along the lines of “Japanese language test: Advanced Class” in Japanese of course. I gave the thing my best shot, but wasn’t really expecting much. As it turns out there are 4 levels of classes: beginner, intermediate, advanced 1, and advanced 2. I somehow managed a spot in advanced 1 along with a german fellow by the name of Fabian, and a Korean girl named Chu. In advanced 2 are two koreans and Lisa. The rest of the Chinese, American and German students fell into beginner and intermediate respectively. As it turned out, only four people including myself got the newspaper article tests, the other 3 are the onces in advanced 2, and I ended up in advanced 1. Everyone else got a test on summer festivals or something. The material for the class looks interesting and very useful, so I’m looking forward to classes tomorrow. Of course, I’m a bit nervous as well.

As I’ve been saying, so much has changed already in my life since I’ve arrived here. Some things I’d love to talk about, and others I’d just rather keep to myself. I feel it is important to develop yourself as a person, and the best way to do that is to see what you alone are made of. Having someone to depend on is nice, and that is always something I have… but sometimes, you just gotta do shit on your own. ’nuff said.

In other news, I really want to go to Karaoke. I’ve had plans to go like 3 times now, and everytime they have been cancelled! This is starting to get frustrating! Also, I think the Germans are taking me clubbing in Roppongi on friday night. Those who know me, know I don’t enjoy clubbing…. at all. So it should be interesting. Definitely update about that later, if I don’t pussy out last minute.