A Japanese and Chinese Major

Archive for July, 2008

Well today was the day I’ve been waiting and planning for for a long time, my Korean visa interview.  I woke up around 7:30 to write out the driving directions to my next hotel and to shower and pack everything up.  Actually pretty much first thing I did was pack the pizza and pop I ordered the night before into my backpack and brought it out to the car.  Even though it was early in the morning the streets were still busy with people.  When I exited the hotel I stood at the front of the entrance momentarily to look around and re-orient myself to see where I was at, while two cute jogger girls bumped into me and said, “oh, sorry!” while they giggled.  Another odd-surprise, the Red Roof lobby was dripping and soaking wet for some reason, looking like a whole part of the ceiling caved in.  It was odd because the earthquake yesterday caused the water piping above the lobby ceiling to break at a Californian airport and that looked eerily similar.  I kept having to remind myself that it couldn’t have been the earthquake in California that caused it.

Well I wore my new bright red button shirt and gray golf pants to the interview.  The building was really really close to my hotel, just a block or two away.  The building was huge, golden, and pretty, you couldn’t miss it what with the huge NBC logo and all.  I walked by a couple of Koreans in office uniform, a girl and a guy sitting outside for a break and I knew I was in the right place.  There were really expensive cars and valets at the front door, I think even a limo.  The first floor was bare, nothing but a office clerk and a security guard in the back, and everything made of marble which made it look really cool.  I asked her, “ok first is there a bathroom in the building?” and she answered robotically as if she had said it a thousand times “this is a public/commercial/? building blah blah… there is no restrooms” then I was like “OK where is the Korean consulate?” and she was like “27 floor take the second set of elevators to your left you can have the something something use the key something if you like”, and I was like OK.

Well I get into the elevator with an American and a Korean guy and we wait while it goes up.  I didn’t have to press the floor button because we were all going the same place.  Inside the elevator was a perfectly clear mirror and I saw that my collar was a little crooked because of the huge weight of my bookbag pulling my shirt back.  I tried to fix it a little without the two others noticing but they were, so I just stopped and said, ah oh well no biggie.

When I went into the office there were about 8 or so Americans there.  On the right there were about four windows, one for visas, etc. and on the left were three tan leather couches arranged in a corner and facing the outside window.  From what I had read from the forums, I was expecting the waiting place to be gated like an old western-style saloon with swinging doors or something like that, but it was just those couches over in the corner in the same room.   I was really surprised at how many Americans were there, I guess I wasn’t expecting the place to be that busy.  I had to wait in line for two people, one of the girls was a bit dressed up and with her father, which to me shows that she isn’t independent and might not be able to handle a life by herself without the help of her parents in Korea, and also it’s embarrassing.  I think it also shows that she has never done anything considerable by herself before or took risks, because if she had then she wouldn’t have been there with her father.  Also I had to wait for a chunkier girl to turn in the checklist I guess she didn’t know she had to fill out.  When it was my turn at the window I had my red folder whipped out and all ready to turn my documents in.  She first asked for the visa application, which I gave her and she asked me to fill in the visa confirmation number which I overlooked, luckily I thought ahead and wrote it down on a post it note and stuck it in the folder.  Then she asked for the checklist, my passport, and yes, yes, she did want the scan-copy of my diploma.  Phew, good thing I followed through and made my boss give me a copy.

I paid her the money, asked if I wanted multiple entry if I should do that in Korea she said yes yes all quick like and told me to take a seat and wait.  So I went and sat at the couch and looked outside while I overheard two girls waiting talking.  They talked about owing loans, how it sucks that it costs money to wire transfer, etc.  The one girl said she was from state that I don’t remember now, someplace really unimportant and the girl across from me, the pudgier one said she went to a small school that not many people know of, John Carroll, and that she lives in Cleveland.  Now although I’m from Ohio too and know of the school, I’m not the one that takes that opportunity to join the conversation.  That’s because I know once I say that, I’m stuck in a whole nonsense drab of smalltalk.  So I just keep looking out the window.  A guy came up to us at sat down and said “so, you guys going to teach in korea?”, and they were like yeah, you? And he was like, “Yeah my sister is, I’m waiting on her…” and I don’t really remember how the rest of that went so it wasn’t anything great.

When the girl on the left of me was called for the interview that girl across from me kept talking, and the guy that was sitting to the right of her wasn’t responding.  I was wondering if maybe they knew each other or not.  When her name was called, I got to see both of them and they indeed were brother and sister because of their orange hair.  So the guy sitting next to her was her brother.  Now that I think about it while writing this, there were mostly women applying for a visa and one guy besides me applying.  I didn’t really realize that there were that many women applying and it caught me by surprise.  It was only later tonight while I was reading the esl forums that my assumptions were proved correct, a poster admitted that the forum mainly consisted of women.

Well the girl called me and I walked into the room.  The room turned out to be a huge secretary room made of marble and one seat, it was amazingly beautiful.  I was wondering how the interview was going to work, was she going to sit in the seat and ask me questions?  She soon opened the door to an adjoining room, and sitting there was the man behind curtain, a middle aged and very professional looking Korean man in a suit and tie and waiting at a round table.  I was both surprised to see that I was tricked that he would be there and also happy to see that it would be a real interview where I could speak a little about Korea.  Oh and another thing I forgot to mention.  While I was waiting out in the lobby with others a girl just got done with her interview and came out and told the other girl still waiting for hers what they asked about.  I was like oh my gosh you people are fucking stupid.  She was like, “oh they asked you what school you went to… what your major is… what do you know about korea…” and I’m like, are you serious?  You really need help answering what school you went to or what your major is?  I could only imagine that it was tactics like that which enabled them to barely pass the joke schools of wherever they attended college.  It actually made me a bit nervous for no reason because they were nervous.  Anyways…

I think the interview while I sat down reminded me of the interview for Japan.  I thought the lady that brought me in was going to sit down too which would have only reinforced this feeling, but she left.  So he asks me a couple questions.  I don’t think I really answered them directly, I kind of danced around them and said what I had already prepared before I came in.  He asked what I know about Korea, I answered that what I know comes alot from the Korean friends I knew at school, he said yeah, like continue, and closed his eyes and looked tired of that answer, so I continued.  I was like I’m an international studies major, I have an interest in other cultures, I like Korean food, and I like Korean art.  While I was talking about that I asked him, “Did the celadon exhibit come through here?” and I paused, and he was looking straight ahead but off somewhere, and he shook his head a bit as he broke out of his daydreaming or whatever it was and he was like “huh?”, I think it’s the case that he isn’t used to being the one that answers the questions.  So I said, “Are you familiar with the celadon exhibit?” And he said no, it looked like he never heard of it, and then I proceeded to say what I planned to before I came in. “Oh, well it was displayed at KORUS house in DC and that’s some of the artwork I’m interested in.”  While I’m saying that he looks like he’s thinking off again, and I think he words KORUS house to himself but maybe he didn’t and that’s just what I’d like to imagine.  I don’t think he was planning to hear that.  Last question was the easiest, where do you see yourself in five to ten years, and I told him.

When asked what I studied specifically, I was trying to think of the word for United Nations but all I could come up with was NATO.  So he was like, explain to me some current NATO operations.  And hearing that, I thought fuck I don’t remember any specific thing, because I wasn’t interested in it, but just keep talking and don’t stop, just say anything.  So I first started thinking about saying, well it’s going to get a new president, the French president Sarkozy, then I thought no wait that’s the EU, fuck, so I was glad I was quick to figure that out.  Then I tried to think of specific operation names or countries, and I couldn’t think of any specific, so I decided to be as general as possible.  Remember this whole time I was still thinking that NATO was the UN, these are the things that happen when people are put under pressure.  So I said something to the effect of “Well in earlier operations, the organization was focused primarily on peacekeepng and doing so with little military force.  Now what’s going on is it’s more and more turning more militiristic, and using military force to keep peace, so that’s something that is controversial about it, but overall I think it’s a good organization”.  And he seemed puzzled, confused, and content with the question and that was it, besides saying that I’m leaving Aug. 6th and he said that I could just come pick it up Friday after 3 and with that I was happy.  I stood up, shook his hand, and fumbled with my shoes and bag while I left.

It was only while I was walking back that I realized my faux pas mixing the UN with NATO and I felt like an idiot.  To my good fortune, I looked NATO up later online and what I said was so general that it was still luckily true.  But I had so much adrenaline and to think about after the interview that I soon found myself at the farthest I’ve gone at the magnificent mile.

I had a few hours to go before 3 to check-in at my hotel so I walked around a bit and because I was starting to sweat I decided to get a Jamba Juice at a lower-level plaza I saw before.  I got the drink and sat outside to listen to the jazz band playing, for about an hour or so, it was still really hot out, I was really bored and not liking being out in the open.  When they stopped playing I went into Jamba Juice for about 45 minutes and just zoned out and looked at the driving directions.

When it was about 2:30 I left and got into the car.  The driving was a bit more difficult than the day before.  The driving to this hotel was really a bitch, a couple of hold-ups and one close call hitting someone turning lanes, but everything worked out alright and I found the place.  I was happy to be in a room and I danced by myself while listening to AOL radio.  I also did some research on the Internet and found out that there’s some sacrifices I’m going to have to make in Korea that I’m really going to miss.  Tomorrow I see Nate.  Well that’s about it.

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The morning started pretty bad because I was all ready except for one thing: I didn’t have a car.  I kept trying to get ahold of mom for an hour to find out where she was, turns out she was at the marina.  I can’t believe she would be that stupid to go and lounge in front of the pool when she knew that I had to use the car and drive here today.  What did she think, that I was going to drive at night? Just stupid.

Drive was pretty long, but bearable.  I spent alot of time switching radio channels, it didn’t seem like there was anything good on.  Luckily this time around I was able to handle the express loop, and was able to find my exit.  When I got into Chicago, man was it packed with people walking all around with colorful outfits.  It was really cool to drive downtown a little bit, and I even had only minor lane-turning-finding troubles.

I didn’t have much trouble finding the place, but I had to drive around the block to get into the self-park garage. I am right in the heart of downtown!  On Ontario St., one street away from Michigan, it’s like you couldn’t get a better spot.  When I parked the car I swiped my cc and was kinda confused that I didn’t take a ticket, and I had to ask a guy in the lobby who explained it to me very un-enthusiastically.

Even though I was tired from driving, I wanted to walk around a bit.  So that’s what I did.  In doing so I got a bit sweaty, and realized that I want to lose 5 to 10 pounds or so, but other than that it was pretty cool.  Lots of people around and buzzing business.  There was a constant line at the Apple store, I don’t know for what reason though.  After walking around a little while I came back to the room and took a shower.  Since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, I was pretty hungry.  I looked up places where I could just order pizza by the slice on the Internet, and someone said that Gino’s sells by the slice.  So I walked down to Gino’s, took about ten minutes, and walked in.  Didn’t look like I could just order one and stick around, I would have to wait in the long line if I wanted any.  So I ordered a medium cheese for pickup, and the girl working there said it would be an hour and I said OK.  I didn’t know of anyplace I could hang out for an hour, so I started heading back to my room.  On the way back I decided that I didn’t really want to walk all around downtown Chicago holding a big pizza box, so I would drive and pick it up.  Then I thought about the hassle with the traffic, and maybe having to pay to remove it from the parking garage and park it again.  So when I got to my room I called the pizza place and asked them to deliver it to me.  They said that although I’m in a different Gino’s restaurant zone they could deliver it and it would be there at 8:50.  Well 8:50 rolls around and nothing.  A lot of the time I was nervous and thinking that maybe I should call room service and tell them that a pizza was coming for me, but I ended up not doing that.  Instead I called the pizza company, and the guy was talking all scared like I was gonna yell at him seemed like he was under a lot of pressure and he said he would give me free pop, and that he didn’t have any drivers left and they were already all out and that he sees my pizza and it’s sitting there all warm and good still.  He ended with “ok here comes the guy now” and that was it.

When the guy came, around 10, he was a greasy Chinese guy around my age, definitely not American.  And his English was a little shotty.  He asked for the total and I said that I already paid for it, and he was like “oh, ok”, and I tried to explain to him that I also had to pay for delivery, and he was like no, don’t worry about it, just tip”.  So I was like, oh well ok, and I gave him $5.  I wasn’t sure if $5 was a good enough tip in Chicago but he noticeably got happy when I gave it to him and thanked me so I think that was good enough.

So, the pizza was good.  I could only eat two slices, so I got lots left over that I will save for breakfest and put in the car tomorrow before checkout, hehe.  I was also really glad I decided not to go out and bring back a drink, or buy pop from the pizza place, because I ended up getting it for free.

Jonathan called and thanked me for the wedding gifts while I was waiting for the pizza, that was nice of him.

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Take a look at these really cool rice field crops turned to art in Japan.  They even include a picture of Mona Lisa in rice field form.

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While attending Ohio State University as a Japanese major, I spent four years discovering what books work and what are a waste of time. This is a no-nonsense guide to provide you with the best books and study materials to learn Japanese by yourself.

Japanese Core Language / Must Have:
The Japanese Spoken Language (JSL) Series by Eleanor Harz Jordan and Mari Noda

This is the official textbook that was used in my OSU Japanese classes and is used in many other universities such as Cornell, Yale, etc. I actually had the privilege to attend some classes that was instructed by the author of the book herself, Mari Noda.

Pros:
Probably the only Japanese books you would need

Cons:
Not much vocabulary, focuses more on grammar.

How To Use:

Each section includes conversations that you memorize, and by doing so you learn proper Japanese. Learn a new phrase each day, and go over the listening and speaking drills that go with it. The question and answer supplement is optional.

Free Japanese Audio:

All of the book’s conversations and audio drills are available free online at The Ohio State Language Lab. Try it out and listen to a few files. Even if you don’t buy the books, this is still a great resource; but the audio files were specifically made for use with the book so you would learn better having both.

Books That Are More Fun Than Helpful:

Kanji Pict-O-Graphix by Michael Rowley

Although the pictures are really fun and interesting to look at, the memorizing technique the book uses is a bit off. Many graphical interpretations of the kanji are very complicated, and some don’t even look like the kanji at all. It may be good for learning how certain kanji and radicals originated, but don’t expect to learn how to read Japanese from this book.

Japanese For Busy People by AJALT

This book has great grammar tips, but JSL covers it all and with greater detail. The nice thing about this book is the vocabulary it offers.

Conclusion:

If you’re serious about learning Japanese, the three JSL books are a must and really the only ones you need. You can have more fun reading some other books like Japanese for Busy People or Kanji Pict-o-Graphix, but don’t expect to gain fluency.

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Now this is pretty funny. It looks like the guys printing out the billboards in China didn’t know any English to verify the translation. You would think that a red flag would be raised once the same translation started to show up for every single word.

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Don’t let the looks fool you. These beat-up and paint splattered jeans go for a cool $285 dollars. Why so much for a pair of jeans you ask? Because they were woven on 100-year-old Japanese mills. Duh

BTW, here is the place where you can get real Japanese Jeans.

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It seems these days a lot of people want to go to Japan, especially young people. When I say young I mean anywhere around the ages of 12 to 25. I figure it must be because of all that anime they’re feeding kids with over here.

Nevertheless, there are some certain things to consider before going to Japan and potential situations to be realized. The following may not apply to all, but it applies to the majority. Let’s assume the majority is 15, male, and middle-class American.

You probably know little to no Japanese. Sure you’ve picked a few phrases and words here and there from tv, but if you were to sit down at a Japanese cafe and try to eavesdrop on a conversation you couldn’t do it. I know this sounds silly, but consider actually learning Japanese before going to Japan.

Something that also must be realized as well is that although cultural immersion is an excellent method for language learning, it is not a substitute for hard work and studies. I get the feeling that a lot of people think that when they come to Japan they will automatically learn Japanese, like they will absorb the language from standing on the soil. If you’re not going to take the time to study kanjis here, you’re going to have to take the time to study them there. So again, learn Japanese before you go~!

The Majority: “I don’t care, I want to go now!”

If you want to go to Japan without knowing the language, that’s fine too. You’ll survive, and probably have a good time. I would recommend going with a friend though, especially for lengthy travels. Because when you find yourself in a land that you can’t understand and amongst people you can’t communicate with, it can get lonely pretty fast.

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One of my friends has a Japanese stalker that has been bothering her for about two years now. His efforts to contact her are unrelenting. He emails her everyday, declaring how me he loves her and needs her, but she just ignores the messages as spam. Last year he even said that he bought a plane ticket to the United States just to see her, scaring her enough to call the cops.

Recently he has been contacting her friends, and threatening to kill himself unless she pays attention to him. With the suicide rate being so high in Japan I wouldn’t doubt that he is speaking the truth.

She says this all started when she briefly met him at a party. Since then he hasn’t been able to take no for a no. Honestly, with billions of other people in the world, is it that hard to meet someone else? Especially when you don’t even know the girl in the first place.

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Some Japanese verbs are more useful than others. You are likely to use and hear these verbs frequently, so it is important that you learn and understand these before extending your studies.

• tabemasu – eat
• nomimasu – drink
• ikimasu – go
• kimasu – come
• dekimasu – to complete; to be able to do; be possible
• wakarimasu – understand
• tukurimasu – make; construct
• simasu – do
• tigaimasu – be different; be wrong
• kaimasu – to buy

Note: These verbs are in the polite form because they end with masu , so they are safe to use with strangers and adults.

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