japanese bureaucracy
So what's happened since my last entry? When I look back, all I remember is wind, orcan like storms and papers.
Choosing our subjects for the upcoming year was incredibly frustrating. We received two sheets, one for 前期 (first half) and one for 後期 (last half). As opposed to the system we have in Germany, in Japan you have to choose your courses for a whole year in advance. We could take anything from withing the "language and culture" department, but sometimes the information given on the brochures we were handed differed from what we could find online, making it all very confusing. And then we had to hand in extra registration sheets for language courses, which we were informed of just two hours or so before the deadline. In the end I guess we spend several hours on something that could have been handled much quicker if our assigned teacher had actually assisted us instead of always saying "google this later" or "you'd best ask someone".
We also had some snow yesterday and the whole day was just very, very stormy. And that's an understatement. Some train lines were actually stopped because of the weather and the time of the new student's ceremony was moved also. And of course I ended up catching a cold. Honestly, I hope the weather will pick up sooner rather than later. Like, yesterday.
Aside from all the trouble we had choosing our courses, walking home through campus today was sort of fun. There were a ton of Japanese students gathered around handing our flyers and advertising their circles and clubs. Some of them just turned their back to us as soon as we drew close. Haha. They're so not used to exchange students around here. Especially not caucasian ones. Aside from us three Germans, there's only five Korean students and two girls from China. While we live in an apartment building 20-30 minutes off campus, our Asian friends get to stay in a dorm right on campus. I used to think it was sort of racist, but today I found out that they have a curfew there of 9PM after which they can't access their dorms anymore. Now I'm happily paying about twice as much in rent for my apartment.
Oh, and for my courses I ended up picking English Theme Writing, English Communication, French Communication, Japanese I, Japanese II, Intercultural Communication, and two courses labeled as Japanese Affairs which were mandatory. And I'm also helping out with German classes. So I managed to dodge all the really difficult stuff where a lot of kanji knowledge would be required.
I met the American sensei teaching Theme Writing and Intercultural Communication today. Quirky. But in a very fun way. I'm looking forward to his lectures. In cases like this it's nice to stick out and have other Gaijin come up to talk to you. I also met a Japanese English teacher who surprised me with how good she was at the language. Love it when that happens. I now feel like maybe I might just be able to survive my year here.
Tomorrow maybe I'll try to open up a Japanese bank account and do my "Alien registration". Wish me luck.
...
So I did my alien registration, and I've got a bank account and a membership in the "national health insurance" now. I did not want the last one, since I'm already paying for an international health insurance, but it seemed there was no way around it. At least that's what our completely useless guidance teacher said. I'm so happy I'm rid of that woman now. So useless. All she ever did was stand around and watch. Whenever we had any real questions here reply would be to ask someone else. Ugh. Even the people at the bank were more helpful. Anyway, I'm now paying for three health insurances. I'm titanium. Come at me, bro.
I'll write about my lessons on the weekend, for now, have some random pictures.
It says kaze! And it's right outside my apartment,too.
This is right outside my door. Last week when it was snowing, I felt it was too cold to just go over to Alex's apartment because the 'hallway' is outside, haha.
Japan. Where the CUTE is everywhere.
Like here:
What's also everywhere.... look at the skirt...
Choosing our subjects for the upcoming year was incredibly frustrating. We received two sheets, one for 前期 (first half) and one for 後期 (last half). As opposed to the system we have in Germany, in Japan you have to choose your courses for a whole year in advance. We could take anything from withing the "language and culture" department, but sometimes the information given on the brochures we were handed differed from what we could find online, making it all very confusing. And then we had to hand in extra registration sheets for language courses, which we were informed of just two hours or so before the deadline. In the end I guess we spend several hours on something that could have been handled much quicker if our assigned teacher had actually assisted us instead of always saying "google this later" or "you'd best ask someone".
We also had some snow yesterday and the whole day was just very, very stormy. And that's an understatement. Some train lines were actually stopped because of the weather and the time of the new student's ceremony was moved also. And of course I ended up catching a cold. Honestly, I hope the weather will pick up sooner rather than later. Like, yesterday.
Aside from all the trouble we had choosing our courses, walking home through campus today was sort of fun. There were a ton of Japanese students gathered around handing our flyers and advertising their circles and clubs. Some of them just turned their back to us as soon as we drew close. Haha. They're so not used to exchange students around here. Especially not caucasian ones. Aside from us three Germans, there's only five Korean students and two girls from China. While we live in an apartment building 20-30 minutes off campus, our Asian friends get to stay in a dorm right on campus. I used to think it was sort of racist, but today I found out that they have a curfew there of 9PM after which they can't access their dorms anymore. Now I'm happily paying about twice as much in rent for my apartment.
Oh, and for my courses I ended up picking English Theme Writing, English Communication, French Communication, Japanese I, Japanese II, Intercultural Communication, and two courses labeled as Japanese Affairs which were mandatory. And I'm also helping out with German classes. So I managed to dodge all the really difficult stuff where a lot of kanji knowledge would be required.
I met the American sensei teaching Theme Writing and Intercultural Communication today. Quirky. But in a very fun way. I'm looking forward to his lectures. In cases like this it's nice to stick out and have other Gaijin come up to talk to you. I also met a Japanese English teacher who surprised me with how good she was at the language. Love it when that happens. I now feel like maybe I might just be able to survive my year here.
Tomorrow maybe I'll try to open up a Japanese bank account and do my "Alien registration". Wish me luck.
...
So I did my alien registration, and I've got a bank account and a membership in the "national health insurance" now. I did not want the last one, since I'm already paying for an international health insurance, but it seemed there was no way around it. At least that's what our completely useless guidance teacher said. I'm so happy I'm rid of that woman now. So useless. All she ever did was stand around and watch. Whenever we had any real questions here reply would be to ask someone else. Ugh. Even the people at the bank were more helpful. Anyway, I'm now paying for three health insurances. I'm titanium. Come at me, bro.
I'll write about my lessons on the weekend, for now, have some random pictures.
It says kaze! And it's right outside my apartment,too.
This is right outside my door. Last week when it was snowing, I felt it was too cold to just go over to Alex's apartment because the 'hallway' is outside, haha.
Japan. Where the CUTE is everywhere.
Like here:
What's also everywhere.... look at the skirt...