A Japanese and Chinese Major

Archive for June, 2008

Japan is a pretty liberal country when it comes to drinking.  You have to be 20 to drink legally, and the rule is lightly enforced.  I do remember a time though when my Japanese friend said that he was chased by cops in a park because he was drunk and 15.  Anyways, if you’re not causing any trouble, you should be alright.

One of the cool things about Japan and some other countries is that you can drink in the streets.  This was something that I was happy to experience while I was there.  But recently I find out that walking while drinking is rude, and that is something that I remember doing very specifically.

Too bad I didn’t know that at the time.  I’m not sure that it is rude to do in Korea too, but I would bet that it is.  Oh well, now I know.  And now you know too.

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I think that the South Korean beef protests are a little bit silly. From what I’ve read from numerous articles on BBC and what I’ve heard by Korean officials, US beef is not the real reason why the people are protesting. The protesting is happening because people want to come together, to feel like they are one and on the same team. Instead of being unhappy with beef, they’re unhappy with their current government and president.

I’m unhappy to see that the protests have turned violent. Since I’m going to be in Seoul within a month and working right at the heart of where the protests are taking place, I’m beginning to fear for my safety. Of course, I will do my best to avoid the protests as best as possible, but I’m not ruling out the possibility that I could be harassed. Seeing that the protests have now turned violent only solidifies my feelings that I may experience a form of harassment.

Although I do not approve, I will avoid the protests and respect their right to protest. Being an American and in their country, I don’t have any other choice.

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Yesterday was the first day of Comfest. Sean came back home from visiting his family in Kentucky and him, Julie and I drank and snacked on a few chips before walking over. I saw Jenny M and her boyfriend while walking towards the beer tent. We also ran into and hung out with Jason F and his girl friend that I forget her name. I didn’t expect to drink as much there as I did. We needed a refill and when we went to get our tokens to get the beer we saw Charlie there. He said come hang out with us next to the nude art stand and so we did. While sitting there we started to feel a little drunk. A really drunk couple came over to talk to us, the guy was completely wasted out of his mind mumbling something, and his pretty hot girlfriend flashed us and lifted up her skirt.

Then we were walking around and heading towards going to the bars right next to the park and we ran into Kristen and her one Asian friend. They invited us to go to this bar dance party they were going to and we said yeah. When we first got there, there was no one there. We waited a half hour or so and after a while there were a bunch of people. I guess Sean felt uncomfortable about dancing so he left. I eventually drank enough to settle my fears of dancing and went out and danced with Kristen and her friend. They were pretty much trying to dance with one guy the whole time, a kid in red that was a pretty smooth dancer. When they left to go somewhere I started dancing with some girl in a black and white dress.

After that we all wanted some food, I Taco Bell and they Flying Pizza. I didn’t want any pizza so I went to Cane’s and brought it over to Flying Pizza to eat it with them. After that they dropped me off and that was pretty much the night.

It was a really fun day.

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I’ll be living and working in Korea for a year starting August 1st. I don’t know any Korean, I expect to start learning it and relying on my girlfriend to help me survive. I was thinking I should make an additional blog to add pictures of Korea and my experience teaching English.

This experience I believe will definitely be much more different than my experience traveling to Japan. One of the main things is that I will not know the language at all, compared with Japanese, where I could make basic sentences and requests. I will be completely submerged in a society that I do not understand. That’s a bit frightening. Another difference is that I do not have a strong desire to learn the language and fit into the culture as I did with Japan. This means that I will be happy to hang out with fellow Americans and English-speaking foreigners, and hang out at foreign bars and places, without feeling like I shouldn’t be there because that’s not where the natives go.

Compared to Japan, I’m not going to try to prove that an American can become fluent in an Asian language and blend completely into Asian society. I’m just going to go to enjoy myself in a foreign land and make some money to help pay off my credit card debt.

I am hoping that I will not be too lonely. I am relying on my girlfriend, Xbox 360, and the potential friends I can make of the English teachers to get me by. I also hope that I stay safe from the mobs of silly people that protest US beef.

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Wow.  My last paper of college, undergraduate anyways.  I’m done.  It was about slavery.

So it comes to this.  This is where my four-year long journey has taken me.  This is where all those nights of staying up and studying, going out and partying, have got me.  I’ve come full circle.  I remember the feeling of joy and relief I felt my last day of High School, how the minutes seemed to stretch forever before the final bell went off.

You know, throughout all of college, I never felt there was an end.  I went to the classes, did the homework, and went on.  Signed up for classes, did the homework, and went on.  Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on.  Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on.  Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on.  Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on.  That’s alot isn’t?  Let me just do this fun thing where I have a list of the amount of times I actually did it for every quarter throughout college:

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – BG Freshman Year

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – BG Freshman Year

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – Terra Summer Math

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Soph

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Soph

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Soph

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – SPEAC Summer Classes

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Jun

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Jun

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Sen

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Sen

Signed up for classes, did the homework, then went on. – OSU Sen

And phew that’s it.

It still hasn’t hit me though, that I’m done with everything.  Even now I feel really anxious and feel like I got some really big things still left to do.  It feels kinda like I forgot to do some paper like junior or sophomore quarter and now I’m in trouble for it.  But I’m not.

The only thing I’ve know my whole life is school.  I don’t know how to do anything else.  What, do things and get paid?  But saying that you’re going to school sounds so much more sophisticated than working.

I gave Sean the analogy of playing a video game.  Here I am, at the end of the video game.  But it’s just me.  There’s no boss.  No big bowser trying to come and kill me and I have to do everything in my power to barely defeat him.  Nothing, Nada. Zip.  I just get to the end of the level and it says hey, you win.

Wow.  I am now an adult now.  Before, I never wanted to get a job because the only jobs I was able to get was either working at Wendy’s, Arby’s, or a frickin summer campgrounds.  But now I can actually work where I want.  And not only can I can, but I have to.  Mom isn’t going to be paying the bills anymore.  That’s what growing up really means.  It means that if you don’t work – you go homeless.

Well this is a big step for my life.  This is the part where I start working the rest of my life till I die.  I always viewed it like that, and so far it’s coming true.  You go to school, school ends you get a job, you work till retirement, you’re in retirement then you die.  Congratulations myself, I’m 33% there!

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