Sunday proved rather uneventful as far as a weekend is concerned. It was spent by many, recovering from the drunken endeavors of the night before and trying not to procrastinate the pile of homework and preparation work for the next day. Monday, however, had its own up's and downs as the first day of classes quickly came upon us.
Classes begin at 8:50 in the morning Japan time, which is the earliest I've ever had a class in my entire college career. Not to say that this is a problem, but with the time it normally takes for one to get over problems and such with jet lag, it's not surprising that waking up at this time would prove rather difficult for most if not all the students here. We were required to complete a long list of work in order to prepare for the three hours of class time that day in which we would be reviewing several chapters from the beginning level textbook. Having already completed this book sometime before and being overly familiar with it I was not keen to study which made forcing myself to do so Sunday evening a rather difficult task. But I had easily prepared enough for Monday's class as I did my part in participation.
After class there was another round of orientation scheduled for us to attend, so we ate a quick lunch before heading out the door to meet back in the big room where I couldn't have fathomed they'd possibly have any more information to tell us. We discussed things like club activities and internships both of which I have signed up to do. As well as various other information I'd heard before and thusly I quit paying attention. One the orientation crap was finally over we had another hour or so before those of us who had signed up to were taken on a tour of the mall/shopping plaza nearby called Viva City. Our tour guides took us on a bike ride over to the train station in the city and from there we made a quick hop skip and a jump over to another part of the city via train to where the giant shopping center was located.
Three levels of insanity with the upper most level containing a large karaoke place, as well as a bowling ally. The middle, a labyrinth of crane games and whirring games and machines to capture the eye and boggle the mind. A fantasy land set among the various clothing, music, and general shops through out the rest of the building. The bottom a trap to one's sense of smell as it's filled with restaurant after restaurant a feast for the eyes and the taste buds alike. It was an amusement park for the wallet that I was only capable of experiencing for 40 minutes as my tour guide set a meeting time to go back as he had to get home due to prior arrangements. After that a quick trip to the grocery store to end the night with a mound of homework for the next day.
That night brought the first full night of sleep since my arrival in Japan. Although I still woke in the morning feeling as if I'd been run over by a large semi truck, possibly worse than the days when I hadn't slept nearly as much, but I went to class and sat through 3 hours of sincere boredom. It only took a day of review for my frustration levels to rise as I noticed more and more of my classmates were not on the same page and were learning old material rather than reviewing said materials. Material that was supposed to have been learned in the first book, material which I could recite without a second thought as to right or wrong. I calmed knowing that the review process was to come to an end after the following week and continued with the lesson. Classes were followed up with a fire drill in which the local fire department paid us a visit in order to explain what to do if there's a fire in the dorm building and how to use the fire extinguishers properly. Things I was pretty sure we had already familiarized ourselves with in Elementary school, but perhaps Japanese fire extinguishers were different?... Or not so much. But we did get to play around with an over sized super soaker for a bit as they let us practice with extinguishers filled with water so that we be properly prepared in case of a small apartment fire. As if anyone experiencing such a thing is going to stay calm enough to remember that, but my concerns laid not in fires but what I was going to make for lunch that day instead. After a short nap and some lunch it was time for a visit to the dollar store for some supplies. Thus ending the beginning of my week as now all that's left is to finish another mound of prep work for tomorrow's "review."
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