Start of Classes and Random Thoughts

Posted on April 14, 2013 by pricemv

I’ve now been in Japan for about two and a half weeks. There’s been a lot of good experiences, a little bit of bad, and a lot of randomness.

The first full week here included orientation after orientation, as well as a very large amount of paperwork. To everyone who complains about government bureaucracy in America, I have to say to try living as a foreigner in Japan. I lost track of how many forms I had to fill out in total, but as an example, some of the forms I had to fill out (and I’m still not done):

Foreigner registration card
Foreign resident registration
Health care
Commuter train pass
Bank account
Dormitory subsidy
About 8 more for the school specifically
Etc.

Oh, and all of these forms are in Japanese.

After the massive amount of orientations/forms/testing, I was able to register for my classes. Some of them are required to be taken in Japanese, while others are available in English. What I decided on taking were:

International Economics
Intercultural Communication
International Communication
Globalization and Emerging Countries
Theory and Practice of Debate
Global Business
Japanese Culture and Society
Japanese Studies
Japanese Language A, B, C, and D.

This put me at a total of 6 classes in Japanese, and 6 classes in English. My schedule is subject to change as the first week of classes is a trial period which you can add or drop classes afterward. The class that I’m enjoying the most is actually Global Business. The class is on Saturdays and the teacher’s main job is actually as the Chief Economist for the European Union in Japan. His classes have been extremely interesting and it’s nice to be able to hear from an Irish guy for a nice change of pace in this country.

The other exchange students at my dorm have been great and we all became friends very fast. The girls and guys have completely different dorms in different parts of the city so the girls have all become friends with each other and us guys have become friends with each other as well. We have five guys from America (Portland, Salem, Florida, and 2 from Seattle), one from Australia, one from Mexico, and one from Germany. There are other exchange students that don’t live in the dorms as well.

One of the more interesting details of Japanese school life is the intense competition of clubs and circles as they try to get students to join. Clubs take more of a time commitment and tend to be along the lines of sports or music, whereas circles are more casual and tend to fit into categories like cultural exchange or camping. I’ve joined one circle so far, and we will be having an all you can eat and all you can drink meetup this coming Friday

(A tiny fraction of the club recruitment on campus)

A few things that have surprised me about this country even after all my research:

You really do need to know Japanese to have a good time here, or at least have a friend who speaks Japanese and doesn’t mind hanging out with you almost every day. I had been told that in Tokyo nearly everyone speaks English to some degree. This may or may not be true, but it certainly doesn’t mean that they are going to use their knowledge. They may be too insecure to actually try using it, or they may simply not want to use it on their home turf. Whatever the reason, I have witnessed very very few Japanese people using English even when dealing with English speaking foreigners. In addition, menus for eating out use a lot of kanji, so even someone who can read Japanese at a very basic level (me!) frequently can’t read many of the menu items. There’s a lot of pointing at the pictures and saying “this, please”. All of the other exchange students have at least 2 more years of Japanese experience than me, and some have 5+ more years of experience, so sometimes while sitting in class I find myself thinking “wow, I am an idiot!” I will definitely have to study harder than everyone else for my Japanese classes.

Tokyo is EXPENSIVE. I know, I know, I should have expected this, with everyone telling me that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. The magnitude of how expensive everything is definitely surprised me though. For starters, the portion sizing for nearly everything is super small. You might be paying the same price here for a coke as you would back in the US, but you’re only getting 1/3^rd of the amount. Going out for beers is definitely expensive, with the exception of the wonderful place we found that had 40 yen beers (1 yen is about equal to 1 penny right now). However, even that place required a seating fee and a food order to be allowed to stay. Every activity you might want to do costs money. Appliances cost a LOT of money. Taking the train everywhere costs money. Fruit tends to be very expensive. I’ve resorted to cooking eggs a lot in the dorm, but butter is also expensive and I haven’t been able to find non-stick spray as of yet. Luckily breakfast and dinner are free for exchange students at the dorm, so I’m not completely broke already.

(buying a monkey… also very expensive)

To help broker the expenses of lunch, I got a (very) part time job on campus. I am a chat leader at the Aoyama Gakuin chat room. The chat room is a place where Japanese students can come to practice their English in small groups (there are also different chat sessions for Chinese, Korean, and Japanese practicing). For the first two weeks I have 5 chat sessions that I will be leading, four of which are for college/junior college students, and one of which is with elementary school kids. The session I had so far was immediately after orientation and I had a blast, so I’m looking forward to each of these sessions.

I’ve done some exploring around Tokyo as well. I’ll talk more about that next week, but here’s a picture to whet your appetites.

Emerging From my Bubble

Posted on April 13, 2013 by pricemv

This last weekend I finally got to do a little exploring! It was such a beautiful day on Saturday that I took advantage of the somewhat sunny day and went to the beach. I went to Killiney beach and although it was not hot it was a clear day.

Clear day on Killiney beach!

I was amazed to see surfers in the water because I was barely warm bundled up let alone being in the freezing water in only a suit! I walked along the pebbled beach collecting stones and simply enjoying the scenery. It was a peaceful way to begin my day.

After I was ready to move on I went to a neighboring village (Sandycove) and explored the many shops. One shop in particular ended up being my favorite because it was full of interesting knick-knacks and local handmade jewelry. I also ate at a local café, which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of although it had the word moon in it. The food was delicious! The bread was homemade and fresh same with the soup. Definitely have to go to that café again!

On the way back home I made one more stop in Dun Laoghaire, which I had debated about all day. I had already been to Dun Laoghaire and at this point was getting tired so I almost didn’t stop, but I am sure glad that I did! Dun Laoghaire ended up being my favorite place that I went to that day. The reason being is a local musician had set up shop at a place called the Pavilion, which is right next to the water. He was playing the electrical guitar and was quite good!

The street musician doing what he does best…

Look at the puppet dance!

The atmosphere was relaxed and to top it off just before leaving the town I got to see another musician this one being a woman on the flute with a dancing puppet. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day. The rest of the week went by mostly uneventfully. I have started to develop my schedule of waking up in the morning getting ready for work and so on. The days have started to go by relatively fast, especially now at work. I have started getting more work load and projects, which makes me busier allowing the time to past faster. I am starting to really enjoy my job and have already learned quite a bit. I did go out Wednesday night with a few people to a pub. It was an interesting experience, because the group consisted of several people from Spain, Brazil, and Italy.

What an amazingly diverse group!

It was fascinating to talk with all of them and just get a feel for each culture. If I had to choose one thing to take away from this week it would be embracing my emergence from my bubble. Tonight I was talking with my host mom and I was telling her before this trip I hadn’t travelled much and my ignorance of even the basic things were astounding. For example there being different plug-ins all around the world. It is not necessarily significant information, but what it represents is significant. My untraveled self has been living in a bubble where, I realized, I view the world from. Meaning I have assumed the rest of the world is similar to what I know. This has continuously been highlighted these last two weeks with each new piece of knowledge that becomes known. This became especially evident Wednesday night I found myself surrounded by several different cultures. I am forever thankful I choose to embark on this journey, because I want to shed my ignorance and hopefully grow in the process.

Morocco (Part 3)

Posted on April 12, 2013 by pricemv

Early Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes to our awesome host family and prepared to leave Rabat. Before beginning the journey into the Rif Mountains, we took a quick look around a beautiful Arabic mausoleum. The current King’s father and grandfather’s remains reside here.

Life in urban Morocco is very different from life in the rural countryside. The passage from the city into the rural areas was dramatic- we had left a first-world country for that of a third-world developing nation. Poverty remains largely a rural phenomenon too: almost one Moroccan out of four is poor in rural areas compared to one out of ten in urban areas. Although the rural population represents 46% of the total population, 66% of the poor live in rural areas.

Deep in the countryside, we took a short hike through a mountain village to eat lunch with a local family. The views were breathtaking. Once there, we were greeted by an elderly mother and daughter with couscous and tea. With the help of a translator who accompanied us, we had a candid and honest conversation with the women about education, the simplicity of life, and economic challenges of rural areas in Morocco. Without the presence of a man in the home, the women openly spoke of the ills of arranged marriage and the traditional/sexist expectations and roles of women in the household. The mother had lived in the village for the majority of her life- a village without electricity until 2006.

Talking with the women was a moving experience. Despite the language barrier, they were so sweet and cheerful. They had hosted lunches for American students on the Morocco Exchange trip before and said we were all so beautiful; the mother later hugged me so tight, it was one of the most genuine embraces I’ve ever had. I almost started to tear up. I’ll alway remember that. A grandma is a grandma across the world.

It’s difficult for me to describe the emotions I experienced driving through the villages and eating with the family. I have never been to a developing nation and witnessed first-hand the stark differences between my life and theirs. It prompted me to reconsider my values and priorities- the things that I take for granted. Why am I so fortunate? What things really matter in my life? How can I help?

But at the end of the day when we are stripped of our material things, we are all people. We feel, we love, we hope- we all seek the same intangible things of life. With the recent passing of my father, a wave of raw emotions and realizations surfaced while in Morocco, more so than I expected. Life is short and I want to live a life I’m proud of. I want to continue traveling the world and live continuing exploring the outskirts of my comfort zone. I want to learn, learn, learn- soak up every encounter and allow the people & the places of the world affect me.

After the lunch and a short drive, we arrived in the gorgeous town of Chefchaouen situated at the foot of the Rif Mountains; Chefchaouen literally translates to “look at the peaks” in Arabic. It is an enchanting little place with fresh mountain air and a tranquil ambiance. The well-preserved medina is a 15th century relic from the Muslim civilization of Andalusia (southern Spain).

The picturesque medina, set against the dramatic backdrop of the Rif Mountains, is filled with white-washed homes with distinctive, powder-blue accents, and the call to prayer rings out of several mosques around the town in chorus. Streets weave throughout the town lined with friendly and welcoming artisans and shop owners. Chefchaouen is a great place to shop- especially for woven rugs and blankets of bright colors. If only I had the luggage space to bring some home. Next time..

Morocco (Part 2)

Posted on April 12, 2013 by pricemv

On Friday, we woke up early and crossed the river from Rabat to the neighboring town of Salé. There we visited a new non-profit community center/socio-cultural space dedicated to preparing young people for employment. The center focuses on the training and qualification of youth in Tabriquet neighborhoods, providing support and mentoring in finding employment and promoting volunteering and volunteerism among youth in the city.

On the way through Sale, we passed by one of two shanty-towns we would see during the trip. The story of Morocco’s shanty-towns begins in the early 20th century, when poor migrants flocked from the countryside to cities expanding under French colonial rule. Most never intended to stay, but the slums have remained: along railway lines, around many towns and scattered throughout the suburbs. Some residents have shops nearby, and many hawk cigarettes, shine shoes and scrabble for odd day jobs. With most families earning around 2,000 Moroccan dirhams a month, they’re living in terrible conditions. In very visible places, a mere stone’s throw from people in nice apartments. It’s difficult to even comprehend such a life. The government is working to eradicate these shanty-towns and urban slums by relocating residents into temporary housing. However, many residents complain the temporary housing is often just as bad feel the government ought to help provide better, safer, lasting housing opportunities.

After our conversation with the local students, we headed to Chellah to visit the Roman ruins. Chellah is considered to be the oldest known human settlement along the banks of the Oued Bou Regreg (Bou Regreg River). The site is perched dramatically above the fertile river plain of the estuarine portion of Oued Bou Regreg, two kilometres from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean. The site is thought to have been originally a colony of Phoenician and Carthaginian exploration as early as the third century BC, but the earliest recognisable architecture dates from Roman occupation circa 40 AD. In any case, the site is one of the earliest clearly identifiable settlements of man in Morocco. The gardens spread throughout the area were a refreshing site from Barcelona’s city streets. The area is beautifully landscaped with hundreds of flowers coming into bloom during springtime and the result of this is fresh air and the most amazing variety of scents.

Exploring Rabat

Morocco (Part 1)

Posted on April 12, 2013 by pricemv

Bright and early Thursday morning, my friend Taylor and I headed to the Barcelona airport. There we would meet up with 11 friends and begin a weekend of a lifetime; destination: Morocco! We took a two hour flight to Malaga, a city along the coast of Southern Spain. From there, we drove about 2hours to Tarifa, Spain and boarded a ferry across the Straight of Gibraltar to the African continent- to Tangier, Morocco!

After the quick walk through the market, we made our way towards the DARNA Center for Girls- “darna” meaning “home.” At the center, girls and women are given the opportunity to reintegrate into the mainstream of Morocccan society through stable learning environments, skills training programs, and career-building initiatives. In January 2004, the center opened a community restaurant and shop, where items produced by women in DARNA are sold. We ate at the restaurant for lunch and chatted with local Tangier university students.

After the lunch and discussion, we toured the center; the center houses classrooms for tutoring illiterate women of all ages and also has sewing stations (both old school and new machines) as means to help women generate a source of income. The shop offers all the textile products created by the women including handmade cloths, decor items, and accessories. I supported the cause and found some very cute things that made for awesome souvenirs!

It was a cool experience to chat with peers about their Islamic society. They openly shared their thoughts on their religion, the Moroccan education system, and answered our questions about what daily life encompassed for youth in a Muslim country. These students in particular were very devoted to their faith and seemed more conservative/traditional than other kids our age we would meet later in the trip. Very interesting trying to empathize with them and sincerely grasp their very different belief system.

While en route to Asilah, a town about 3o minutes south of Tangier, we made a quick pitstop to ride camels. Touristy? Yeah. Comfortable? Debateable. Fun? Totally.

Asilah, meaning “authentic” in Arabic, is a peaceful and beautiful town along the Atlantic Coast. It dates back to 1500 B.C., when the Phoenicians used it as a base for trade. We strolled through the medina (“old city”) section of the town. Asilah has Mediterranean-influenced buildings, including whitewashed houses with blue accents on walls and doors. The array of houses decorated with paintings highlights the island’s reputation as an artists’ hangout. It hosts annual music and arts festivals, including a mural-painting festival. The best paintings remain on the Medina walls for the following years.

From Asilah, we drove two hours south to the capital of Morocco, Rabat. My friends Kim, Taylor, and I would spend the next 2 nights of our trip with a wonderful host family here. The 25-year old son of the family, Fahd (pronounced “Fed”) spoke English fluently, which we would come to find out was thanks to his affinity/obsession for American movies and videogames. Pretty funny. The mm of the family spoke no English, unfortunately only Arabic and French, but was still so sweet. Our favorite was the dad. The dad of the family spoke English fairly well, as in his hay day, was a player on the Moroccan national rugby team and picked up bits & pieces of languages throughout his travels with the team. He was very welcoming and funny. There was also a year-long American exchange student from New York living with the family as well, Jake. Oh, and I can’t forget Lilou. Lilou was the cute and curious little house cat who made our home-stay feel even more like home!

We ate most of our (AMAZING) meals on the trip with the family and really felt like we were part of it. We ate in front of the tv and made jokes; even with cultural and linguistic differences, meal time really felt like home even though we were miles from the States. I had heard Moroccans were renowned for their hospitality, and I’m here to confirm that fact for you. It was an absolutely awesome experience I would recommend for anyone and I believe we gained so much more living with locals rather than staying in a hotel.

And So It Begins…

Posted on April 11, 2013 by pricemv

I have completed the first week of my internship. The first thing I had to learn was how to get to work! Last week I decided to do a trial run where I went to work to meet everyone, which had the added benefit of figuring out how to even get to the place. It was a good thing I did because I got lost. I needed to get to the DART, which I did after going a round-a-about way due to a missed turn.

Here comes the DART! I ride this to and from work everyday.

Once I got into Dalkey I couldn’t find Max Media. I ended up calling the number that was given to me and ironically I was only across the street. I just didn’t know it. You have to go through what is called the “Courtyard” then go up some stairs to get to the office. I couldn’t find it because it was set back out of the way.

The infamous “Courtyard”.

I met everyone and was able to make it back to the DART station without any mishaps. Well unfortunately once I got off on my stop I realized I didn’t know how to get back. Normally I am pretty good at retracing my steps, but due to my round-about-way of getting to the DART originally it left me slightly confused. I ended up walking around searching for anything familiar for at least two hours. I later learned the walk should have only taken me ten minutes! I figured it out. You live and you learn. Thankfully, I did this before I started work so I was not on any time schedule. The first day of work I made it there no problem. The office was quiet all this week because two people are on vacation and one is out sick. This leaves only three people, besides myself, in the office! I really am enjoying what I am doing and was given a project to start on the first day. I am mostly handling social media projects with facebook and twitter. How many jobs do you get to spend on facebook all day? Not many! It is rewarding to work on a project that you get an immediate response to by the public. Especially, when people are sharing something they feel passionate about with you, it draws you into their interest. I have also had to do a lot of research for posts and I have found myself getting sucked into some of the research and this is on topics that don’t normally draw my attention. Overall, what I will take away from this week is getting lost is not a bad thing , in fact, sometimes you need to get lost to know where you are at. I am now able to navigate around Monkstown, due to my earlier escapade, fairly successfully.

Monkstown where I wondered for what seemed like forever!

I have learned that it is rewarding to draw people together that share an interest and watch them interact. The most important thing that I will be able to take away from this week is even when you are doing a task you don’t like put your all into it because it may surprise you how much you end up enjoying it.

Arrival

Posted on April 11, 2013 by pricemv

My flight plan took me to Amsterdam before I actually arrived in Ireland. In Amsterdam the airport was chaotic. Picture a large mass of people swarming around made up of all different nationalities. Just from walking two minutes I heard at least three different languages. My biggest concern was finding my terminal. I managed to find it without any problems, although it was on the other side of the airport. This allowed me to walk through the entire airport where, to my amusement, there was a shop named simply “Tobacco, Liquor, Chocolates”. My layover ended up being 5 hours due to snow storms in Ireland. It was snow, in fact, that greeted me upon my arrival.

Snow..snow..snow!

Once I was off the plan, through customs, and had collected my luggage I needed to figure out how to get on the right bus. Luckily the people in the airport were really friendly, probably having dealt with plenty of lost travelers. I was directed to the right location where I could await the air coach. Once on the air coach it allowed me my first glimpse of Dublin and neighboring towns. I admit to a holding slight misconceptions about places outside Dublin. I knew where I was staying was relatively small in comparison to Dublin and wrongly assumed that it would be farmland or fields of green with a town of course. That assumption was very wrong. While the location where I live is small in comparison to Dublin, that does not mean that it is small. I guess size is relative and when you live in a town consisting of only a college really for the last two years small to you is really small. The streets are narrow and the setup of the streets is completely different. The streets are made up of a lot of one ways and round-a-bouts.

One of the many round-a-abouts.

It was easy for me to get turned around especially since street signs are not as popular here. I will admit my poor sense of direction did not help my case. I am just thankful that the people are extremely friendly and were always willing to stop and help direct me. While my misconceptions have been laid to rest it does not mean that I am disappointed with the reality. Ireland is so alive with people. It is hard to put into words what my first look at Ireland was like. How do you describe something that is completely intangible. There is a different feel in the atmosphere here, one that may have been heightened by my excitement, but I don’t think so. I looked around and even just my first casual glance caught sight of the remains of a castle. The castle was situated within the town and seemed to blend into the surroundings, because the town itself appeared to be so rich with history. Maybe that was the cause of the in explainable feeling upon first arrival. All I know is I look forward to fully exploring this beautiful country!

Bustling streets of Dun Laoghaire!

Preconceived Notions About Ireland

Posted on April 11, 2013 by pricemv

When I picture Ireland I picture castle remains and rolling green hills. I know not all Ireland is like that, but from pictures that is what they portray.I view Ireland’s culture as being traditional and people oriented. I have always heard how friendly the people are and it is one of the things I am looking forward to: is meeting the Irish! I am a mixture of emotions. I am excited that I have the opportunity to explore a new culture, but I am also apprehensive. This trip is completely outside my comfort zone. I come from a small town and my traveling experience is very small. I am now going to a completely foreign place where I essentially know no one. My excitement far outweighs my nervousness. Part of this experience is to separate me from the familiar. By pushing myself outside my comfort zone I am allowing myself to grow as a person, which is one of my goals I want to achieve by the end of this trip.

Arrival in Germany

Posted on April 10, 2013 by pricemv

My arrival in Stuttgart, Germany was much like I expected. Navigating any airport these days is fairly easy. Most signs are international symbols, in addition I was able to read the German signs and there was usually an English sign right next to it so there was basically no excuse for getting lost. A very interesting element of my arrival that I didn’t expect was the chatter from the passengers as we got off. Some of it was in German of course, but most of it was in Danish as we had just come from Copenhagen.

The Airport itself was like any American airport anywhere with the exception of the German signs. I didn’t encounter any unusual smells like I did during my arrival in Korea years ago. In just about every way the arrival was much less of a shock to my senses and much less confusing than my first trip to Korea in 1975.

Not long before my departure my wife learned that old friends of ours were living in Germany. He is a Colonel in the US Air Force and I knew that he had been stationed in Germany, but I thought his tour was over and he had returned to the states. It turned out that not only was he still in Germany but was living in Stuttgart! He and his wife picked me up at the Airport. I’m not certain of course, but I don’t think too many study abroad students get picked up at the airport by Air Force officers. They drove me straight to Tubingen and gave me a quick tour of the town, including the castle at the top of the hill in the old part of the town. Then they took me to lunch which was wonderful, but I found that I wasn’t able to finish eating it. My friend pointed out to me “Of course you can’t finish it, its the middle of the night for you, not lunch time!” The jet lag thing hadn’t really caught up with me but it did soon after.

My friends then took me to the dormitory where I checked in. We exchanged phone numbers and they said good by and I went to bed and Crashed for a couple of hours until it was time for a get together dinner with the program director, students, and staff.

In my rush to meet up with my old friends I didn’t take any pictures at the airport on arrival. I completely forgot about that. I did have them take a picture of me at the castle just before lunch, so I’m including that picture.

It was a really long, but a good day

I love taking pictures!

Posted on April 7, 2013 by pricemv

This week I decided not to write much, but rather show you all pictures of things that I have done/come my way. They are in no particular order. Hopefully this gives you all a sense of my time in Argentina thus far (ending week 3 on Wednesday, April 10th)…

Mayor of Rosario

Traveled to Santa Fe (Capital of the Providence of Santa Fe)

Fed and I (Team Yellow) got 25 surveys filled out at El Paseo de la Diversidad. The surveys were about HIV/AIDS and health related to folks ages 15-30.