They Prayed for Me

As a follow up to my earlier blog Lord Give Me a Sign I agreed to meet with Rie, the woman I met at the student center, and visit her church. I was admittedly apprehensive about the situation to begin with because I had heard from several of my Japanese friends to be careful because lots of special interest religious groups (read: cults) attempt to recruit from colleges and universities. Keeping all that in mind, we arranged to meet at a restaurant near my school called Saizeria (which has the closest thing to hot wings fried hard ATL style that I have found around here - and they're pretty good!). I arrived early, as I usually do, and grabbed a table. Rie told me that she wanted me to meet her pastor so I thought the plan was for she and I to chat for a while and then later he would join us. To my surprise, when she showed up she told me that we weren't going to stay at Saizeria, we were going to visit her church which is around the block. Ok.... So we get on our bikes and ride to the "church".

The church is a house. It's a western style Japanese home and when we walked in it was full of people! It became clear to me that Rie had told them I was coming. I was ushered into a room that in a normal house would be a kitchen but in the "church" it was a reception area. There was a desk, (where some woman sat writing, smiling to herself and stealing looks at me a little too often) a round table that was very low to the ground so we had to sit on the floor (where there were two men sitting) and a kitchenette (where about 3 woman were preparing something). They served me tea and freshly cut pears while making the usual "get to know you" small talk and asking me questions about how long I've lived in Japan, why I am in Tsukuba etc. Rie told me that she comes to church every day. There are about 60 members in total and the majority of them are between 20 and 35 years old. They play soccer together 3 times a week at 5am and after practice is over they come to church to pray for an hour before going to work. The days that they don't have practice, they come to church to pray for 2 hours instead. She has been attending that church for almost 2 years now and has never missed one day of prayer or church. Hmmm...

After several minutes of discussing my spiritual walk with Rie and congregation she told me that while we were waiting for the pastor to arrive she wanted to show me the rest of the church. I picked up my bag (that I insisted I keep with me, in case I had to break out) and followed her into the next room which in a normal home would be the living room. She said that room is where they have bible study and prayer meetings. Then we went into an adjacent room which was the fully sound proofed choir room. It almost looked like a make shift recording studio with egg crate looking things on the walls and was equipped with very expensive standing piano.

There were two women in the room, one playing the piano and another singing. She asked me if I wanted to join them in singing and I politely declined but told her I would be happy to listen. At first that was okay with her but then she kept insisted I sing at least one song with them. Keep in mind that none of these people speak English and the songs therefore are not in English either. That didn't matter to her. She assured me that I would only truly be able to "feel the spirit" if I praised Him with my voice. I acknowledged her comment but still didn't feel like singing and that seemed to irritate her. She asked me what was wrong and I told her I was just listening and that I didn't want to sing. She told me she thought I would be delighted to sing hymns with them because they were gospel songs, didn't I like gospel? Of course I love gospel but none of these songs were the gospel songs I knew. She thumbed through her hymnal until she found a song that was in English that she was sure I knew and asked the pianist to play it. I didn't know the song and still didn't sing. She didn't like that and I didn't like the pressure so after that song was over I told her that I really must be going soon as I hadn't eaten (Remember, I thought we were staying at Saizeria and I had my mind set on some hot wings!) and had a lot of studying to do that night. She told me they wanted to end the rehearsal in prayer so the 4 of us held hands and the pianist prayed. I actually don't remember what she said because in my own head I was saying my own silent prayer "Lord, bless me and keep me" over and over again.

As we exited the choir room and went back to the prayer/bible study room she told me her pastor finally arrived. Rie, the pianist and I sat and waited as for him to join us. He came in and made his introductions and now I was the one doing the staring because this man couldn't have been a day over 32. That made me even more suspicious. The head pastor of the church was 32? And after further discussion I found out that he hadn't even finished seminary yet. Something just wasn't right.

He was in awe of me. He stared at me as though I were not actually sitting in front of his face with his mouth gaped open. You know how you stare at a picture in a magazine of something so strange so beautiful so odd it can't be real? That's how this man was looking at me. I was not comfortable in this "church" and needed to make my exit quick, fast and in a hurry. Rie told me that she knew I had to go but she really wanted to pray with me (again?!). She said she felt like God had brought us together and it was meant for us to meet the way we did. Her heart rejoiced and God rejoiced when we met and she knew that it was right for me to be in her church at that time.

Now normally, I don't like for people I don't know to pray over/for me. It's just not something I'm comfortable with. I don't know about you all, but I grew up in the AME church and my mother, an AME Reverend, has always taught us there are two things you do not allow people to do when it comes to prayer: #1. Don't ever allow anyone lay their hands on you (in prayer or otherwise) #2. Don't ever allow people you don't know pray over you. I have always taken both of those things to heart.

So as I said, normally I would have told her, "No" but the zeal at which she gushed over our meeting allowed me to allow her to have her moment. I was also so uncomfortable by the staring and insistence that I participate in their praise and worship at this point that I would have done just about anything to get out of there. I let her say her prayer but I would not allow them to lay their hands on me. For those who don't know what I mean when I say "lay hands", it is when the person saying the prayer touches the person the prayer is being directed towards (more info here). She went on and on thanking God for me and our meeting (3 or 4x), she asked that my school work be blessed (I agreed with an Amen! for that), she asked God to lead me to join their church (crickets) and to join their soccer team (yes, she did) and asked Him to open my heart to a closer relationship to Him. When the prayer was over the 3 of them just sat there with this after glow and a smile on their faces like they had just finished some amazing sex or something?! Ya'll I'm tellin' you...it was WEIRD. I broke the silence by standing up, grabbing my things, and making my way to the door.

Once outside the "church" I took a deep breath and said my own prayer of Thanks while hurrying to my bike so I could get the heck out of there. I'm sure that this group of 20-35 year old, staring, 5 am soccer playing, gospel music singing folks are fine enough people but at the end of the day praising God in a language that is not your mother tongue is STRANGE. I can't really describe it any other way...it just didn't feel right and I won't be going back.

Lost in Translation

This afternoon when I walked into the first year MBA student lounge (which is basically a large study room with a study space for each student) one of my classmates was at his desk. He looked like he was studying pretty hard but I wanted to say hello so I asked him what he was working on he told me that he was studying "boki". Boki...boki? I kept saying it to myself but it wasn't ringing any bells and my classmate wasn't sure how to say it in English so I quickly pulled out my electronic dictionary to look it up. (Note: Having an electronic dictionary around here is like having a cell phone. If you don't have one, you are looked at as though you just stepped out of the dark ages. I carried a paper dictionary around with me for the first 4 months I was here until I could afford a good e-dictionary and I swear my classmates looked at me like I head 3 heads!)
I begin looking for "boki" in my dictionary and thus began my "lost in translation" moment!

Now, he said "boki ぼき" but he could have been saying "booki ぼうき" or "bokki ぼっき" and from the way he was pronouncing it, to me it sounded like "bokki ぼっき" so that's what I type in the dictionary and when my search results came up I immediately started chuckling and trying my best to hide my embarrassment! I told him that I was laughing because I couldn't find the right word and gave him the dictionary to see if he could find it. When he took the dictionary from me he typed in "boki ぼき" which written in Kanji is 簿記 and means bookkeeping. What I was looking up was "bokki ぼっき" which written in Kanji is 勃起 and means erection! Oooops! I thanked him for teaching me a new word and excused myself to my own study area.

It was a simple mistake (for a non-native Japanese speaker) but that tickled me for the rest of the afternoon. Today my vocabulary was increased by two very important terms, bookkeeping 簿記 and erection 勃起. Thank you 電子辞書! (electronic dictionary)

Sleepy Situation

Here in Tsukuba, we have a mailing list that is targeted at the foreigner population. Usually the posts are from people who are looking to adverstise anything from events to moving sales. Today a very peculiar message came across the list I felt inclined to share. For privacy purposes I will not include the name of the group or message author. Other than the removal of the names, the message is posted in its original form.
Note: The author of this message is not a native English speaker.
------------------------------
Dear All,

One of our lab mates is having problem of sleepy for the last weeks. When he starts experiment, reading or writing, he sleeps, can not keep his eves open. So he is not progressing in research. He wants to ask [mailing list] members if there is any way to stop this type of sleepy situation. He will be thankful for your advice.

Thank you.
------------------------------

Sounds to me like the lab mate needs an new specialty; unless any of you know another cure for boredom?!

Lord Give Me a Sign

I have been procrastinating about getting my bike tire fixed and riding around on a semi-flat rear tire for almost a week now and today I finally decided to do something about it. I took my bike to a nearby bike shop for some TLC and they told me it would be about 30 minutes before they would be finished so I told them I'd come back. The bike shop is near the International Student Center so I decided to camp out there for a half hour or so until the bike was ready.

As I was walking up the steps toward the center I saw 3 Korean students I know so I waved and said hello. They waved back and I continued into the building. As I got inside, I heard some behind me say "Sumimasen" (excuse me) so I turned around thinking I'd dropped something and standing there was a petite Japanese girl. She asked me if I knew her because I waved at her and I told her that I was actually waving at someone else. She apologized and continued carrying on a conversation asking where I was from and why I was in Japan.
I chatted with her for a while and found out her name was Rei and that she graduated from my University in the Art department and is now working on campus at the library. We talked about what we do on the weekend and she told me she plays sports on Saturday and goes to church on Sundays. To save you from all the details of our conversation, one topic lead to another and she invited me to attend church with her. I think she could sense my hesitation and said that it might be nice if I came to the church during the week to meet the leader of the church and have a discussion with him. I'm very skeptical about these types of things so I said I would think about it, exchanged information with her and told her that I would be in touch. She told me that she believes that God brought us to each other and that she really hoped that I would give her church a chance. I told her again I'd think about it and we went our separate ways.

When I got home I thought about the fact that I have lived in Japan for 4 years and not once have I attended church here. I think I will at least meet with her and her pastor for a talk.

I'll keep you posted...

Blogs Archives: 23rd, 24th & 25th Bday Postings

This post is dedicated to birthday blogs written over the past 7 years. I hope you enjoy (re) reading as much as I have!

My 23rd Birthday
http://fareastside.blogspot.com/2002/09/well-today-is-day-ive-recieved-few.html
Note: I still use the \(^o^)/ emoticon to this day and LOVE it.

http://fareastside.blogspot.com/2002/09/wow-never-would-have-expected-it-but-i.html
Apology: Sorry about the "chinky eyed" remark. Yikes.

My 24th Birthday
http://fareastside.blogspot.com/2003/09/i-was-sitting-at-lunch-today-next-to.html
Note: I've noticed how much blogging style has changed. I used to end each one with a prayer. I think that was during my Iyala Van Zant stage.

My 25th Birthday
http://fareastside.blogspot.com/2004/09/omedeto-in-10-mins-it-will-be-my-25th.html
Note: There is a certain energy about me at 25 that makes me smile!

http://fareastside.blogspot.com/2004/09/vacation-of-all-vacations.html
Note: This post is a recap of my 25th birthday present to me. A solo trip to Europe: England and Spain!

About Me
http://fareastside.blogspot.com/2005/06/about-me-i-wrote-this-description-for.html
Note: This last throw back is something I wrote 5 or so years ago for the "About Me" section on Friendster. Nothing has changed.

色々This and That

授業中話をやめって。うるさいから！(Stop talking during class. It's disruptive!) That's how my class began today.

My ERP teacher, Sato-Sensei was trying to give instructions about and no one could hear him because the gaggle in the center of the room wouldn't shut their traps. Sato-Sensei seems to be a pretty strict guy, made it known on the first day that he has no time for lateness or late assignments, but I was definitely shocked to hear him raise his voice and call them out like that. I just love it when folks say what's on their minds around here. Believe me. It's RARE. For that, Sato-Sensei is my Hero this week.

Anyway, in this same class Sato-Sensei was walking us through an example module that was based on a US Calendar which happened to be displaying the month of February and 2/21 was grayed out as an inactive date, meaning nothing could be processed this day. He explains to us that since the software works in real-time, black-out dates occur on national holidays and that its important to pay attention to the calendar of the country where we are working...blah blah blah. All of a sudden he looks directly at me and asks, "What holiday is that anyway? Why do you Americans have a holiday on that day?"

It caught me completely off guard BUT I knew the answer :-) What's funny is, I told him that I believe the 3rd Monday in February is President's day but had to hurry up and double check myself on google! Not like I would have corrected myself in class (being the only American I could tell them anything!) but still, I wanted to know the answer. Lucky me, I was right.

So my schedule is finally solidifying and here's the roll:

My Schedule

Mon - Macroeconomics & Financial Accounting

Tues- ERP & e-Globe Mgmt

Wed - Japanese Kanji and Vocabulary

Thurs - Project Management
Friday - Japanese Speaking

*Sat/Sun - Business Strategy

The worst thing about my schedule this semester is that I have a seminar on SOME weekends. It's sporadic too, this weekend its on Sunday. Next week, its Saturday. The week after that its both Saturday AND Sunday! *sigh* The bright side is, its only for 6 weeks (the semester is 10 weeks) so when its over 10/31 I'll have my weekends back for the month of November.

BTW...It's my birthday on Thursday 9/10 and my PM class was canceled because the teacher has an off-campus meeting. HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Have you seen her?

This post is dedicated to the homie I lost along the way, BKA my cellphone.



Cool Peeps: Check.

Good Music: Check.

Good Drinks: Check.

Lost Article: Check.

Looks like I had a pretty darn good night.

Where there's smoke...

I have been having a HELL of a time adjusting to the new time zone. A 13 hour time difference is no JOKE and I've only been able to sleep for 3-4 hours at a time since Sunday when I arrived. Part of the problem is I have been taking mid day naps when I can't take the fatigue anymore. I know! I know! It's making it worse but I really wanted to lay down.

So I decided to stop the afternoon naps and get this jet lag thing under control. After I woke from my Tuesday nap at 1am Wednesday :) I didn't go back to sleep until Wednesday evening at 8pm. It was a LOOONG day, but I managed to sleep 8 full hours and I probably would have slept longer but the fire alarm in our dorm went off at 4am! The sound wasn't like fire alarms at home. It sounded like a pretty loud alarm clock but nothing that would make me leave the building thinking I was in danger. The sound didn't last long but I was still curious about what was going on so I went out in the hall and looked down the stairwell (which is in front of my room) and it was full of smoke! Then I looked down the hall and saw this:


Apparently, my next door neighbor sleeps with her door propped open?! Now, Japan is pretty safe and certainly I have heard of people who sleep with their doors unlocked but PROPPED OPEN? What you can't see because of that bag is a wooden block that's in the door jam keeping it open. We live in an co-ed dorm. The floors are same sex but there are men on the 1st and 4th floors and the locking system for the building is broken so ANYONE can walk. I just don't ever see myself being comfortable enough to sleep with my door open like that. No way.

It turns out that someone was trying to cook something (at 3:30am?!...one reason my door stays closed and locked) and it burned up pretty bad. I personally think someone came in drunk, turned on a pot to cook something and forgot about it and went to bed. The smoke eventually cleared and everyone went back to sleep. Except me. I'm up now...might as well start my day!

Two more classes today Simulation and Optimization and Project Management. Not sure what to expect from either but I will soon find out!

Just lost one.

I have no idea why "You might win some, but you just lost one" has been so prevalent on my twitter and facebook feeds the past few days but I guess a lot of people have been feeling this way. Now it's my turn.

Tuesday, when Sumita Sensei shut down the chatty chicks I felt like I won a teeny tiny battle. Unfortunately, it was also during this class that I found out that one of my classmates was leaving the program. There are about 64 of us total in the MBA program and we are a pretty diverse group. We come from Japan, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Mozambique, the USA and Canada. Yup, Canada has a strike through it because our classmate and my former group member has decided to leave the program and go back home.

I wasn't completely shocked by this because he and I, have had conversations surrounding our dissatisfaction with the program from the first week of classes in April of this year. Heck, my main objective this summer was to think thoroughly about that very topic. So, I wasn't caught completely off guard by the announcement but I was nonetheless very saddened by it.

To be completely honest, when he told us he was leaving I had a brief moment of envy, that was followed (a minute or two later) by a voice of reassurance that I am doing the right thing and that was comforting. I am terribly sad to see him go. The only other native English speaker in the program, very cool guy with a very level head - which came in handy when I lost my patience :) . I didn't really have a chance to get to know him very well but I did enjoy working with him in groups (and that says A LOT)!

Wishing you the best of luck LJ!!! You will be missed.

And so it begins. Again.

The first day of the Fall semester went pretty well. Tuesdays I have two classes and each lecture is 2.5 hrs long with a 10-15 minute break in the middle, depending on how the instructor feels that day. I thought that would kill me since my jet lag is so bad this time around, but I was fine all day. I'm pretty sure my miso soup and karage lunch helped.
My first class of the day was Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP. This is a required course taught completely in Japanese including the handout and syllabus (with very little English in parts. I am always amused by what they choose write in English BTW). The interesting thing about this class is that we will be learning about SAP software & ERP which is timely considering my summer internship in Atlanta was with an SAP Consulting Firm called Whitaker-Taylor. Too bad for me I didn't actually learn the software this summer, as my project centered around market research for the company's international expansion. We will be allowed to write our reports and homework in English and the software itself has an English option so I'm covered there. Thank you, Jesus.

My second course of the day is e-Globe Management. This class is taught by my MBA adviser Mr. Ushio Sumita. Students (and other faculty might I add) have mixed reviews about him and say that he is abrasive (which may be true) and has his favorites (which is probably true too) but he and I have gotten along quite well since Day 1. He is very smart, but the kind of smart that is impatient with things that are illogical to him, which I understand. I like the fact that he is direct and shoots straight from the hip. That is a very rare quality to find in Japanese people. Take today's class for example....WAIT, before I go there you need a little background info.

One of my main pet peeves with my classmates is the fact that they just don't shut up in class. I have a hard enough time staying focused, listening and taking notes in class as it is, but they (mostly the Chinese female students) talk CONSTANTLY during class. I don't mean a whisper to a neighbor here and there. I mean full out conversations that last for 5-10 minutes! I might issue out a "Shhhh!" occasionally during lecture BUT #1. I feel like it is completely asinine to have to "Shhh!" a room full of graduate students and #2. It should be the job of the instructor to set the tone for what is and is not acceptable in class.

So back to my example. During the lecture today Sumita sensei hears some girls talking and mid-sentence says "話しやめて"　[stop talking]. They stop for a while, and start in again. This time he warns, "お喋りするなら、そと行けよ！"　[If you wanna talk go outside!] Now that might not seem like much to you, but for a person who has had to sit through lectures and hush people and even during a presentation had to give the class the evil eye and say "Excuse me, please hold your conversation until after my presentation is finished." [YES! I actually had to do that], this was a major victory! I was so happy that I could hardly contain my delight.

I have no idea why other teachers deal with the talking. I know they don't like it, but they do very little or nothing to control it. Except for Sumita Sensei. Today, he was my hero.

Caged Bird

The anxiety and feelings of being alone have set in much faster than I anticipated. I've only been gone two days and the caged bird feelings are creeping in. I lived so much of my life "offline" this summer that coming back to Japan and getting my company from the computer and my friends who are on the other of the connection at a distance is getting to me.

With the start of classes I won't have so much free time to sit and think and be homesick and this weekend should be fun. My one day pity party rule restricts me from holding on to the looming sadness...so I'll listen to this song a few more times before bed and by morning I hope to have a different tune.

Catching Up

It has been more than 2 months since my last blog post and as you can imagine I have a lot to catch you up on. Looking back, my last blog was a rant about #sweatyprofessor but I never described how the rest of the semester finished so let's start there.

My academic semester wrapped up pretty well. I did very well in 3 of my classes (Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Business Game) well in 1 (Data Analysis – This is #sweatyprofessor’s class), and not so well in 1 (Microeconomics). I’m actually glad that I didn’t take too many classes the first term like other classmates of mine because this style of teaching/learning was a major adjustment in itself. I plan to take a heavier load this semester (which if you are keeping count is semester 2/6 ) now that I am more familiar with what to expect.

Two days after classes and exams were over, I bid farewell to my classmates and Tsukuba and headed home to the States for what I knew would be a very important summer. At the end of first term I was pretty dissatisfied with my MBA program and not really feeling Japan all that much either. I decided that this summer I was going to seriously contemplate what was best for me in the long run: Stay in Japan and continue the program or cut my losses and return to the US to find work.

In addition to making decisions about my future, I was terribly homesick for family, friends and the comforts of life in the US! I was ready to relax and appreciate what I had been missing out on for the previous 8 months.

Prior to leaving Japan for the summer, I secured an internship doing market research for a friend’s firm but wasn’t exactly sure how I would fill the rest of my summer or help add funds to my bank account but I was determined that even with little funds, it would all work out.

July 2nd I returned home! Over the two months that was my summer vacation, I was able to see many of my close friends and actually make a few new ones. The summer was everything I hoped for. I DROVE A CAR! Slept in a KING SIZED BED. Ate good, drank good. Had a fabulous Pre-30th Birthday party! Laughed, danced, sun-bathed and had awesome conversation. My two months in Atlanta was refreshing and spirit renewing. People at home take so many things for granted, but I don’t say that to be accusatory. I mention it because I understand how easy it is to do and the thought of returning to Japan to my dorm room and my bike helps me to appreciate the luxuries of home.

So now, I'm back in Japan and classes start tomorrow. I guess you can tell what I decided to do. My numerous conversations with loved ones and quite honestly perfect strangers reassured me that I am doing the best thing for my future by sticking it out and getting my MBA at Tsukuba University. Now I am back, severely jet-lagged and constantly hungry! Part of the reason for the hunger is that I came back during a typhoon and grocery shopping on a bike in pouring rain and gusty wind is not only less than ideal, its very difficult to do. Tomorrow should be great weather, as the day after typhoons usually are, so I will do some grocery shopping then.

Raise your glass with me to Semester #2 and hoping that none of my teachers have problems controlling their bodily functions. Kampai! (Cheers)

Good Riddance #Sweatyprofessor

I'm sorry. I just cannot resist writing this blog while I'm supposed to be pretending to be listening to this man bore me to pieces. Every week for 10 weeks now I sit for 3 hours listening to #sweatyp lecture and turn students who are normally pretty attentive into sleeping zombies. I mean folks sleep in the front row, read books and magazines, do other homework right in his face, read blogs & twitter (that would be me) and just down right daydream. As I said before, it sucks even more because this is a basic class and those of us without a strong math background are going to be in trouble down the line because of it.

How in the world do you teach statistics or basic data analysis by only lecturing?! We were never given a syllabus. We were assigned to buy a $70 text book that he has not assigned one page of reading from. We don't know what are grades from the midterm we took on week 5 and have no idea what the answers to 2 out of 3 of the homework assignments he gave. Where the world did this man learn to teach?! Argh! Maybe its me, but if 50% of my class wasn't paying attention in class or sleep that would prompt me to do a little self-reflection.

I have 4 minutes left to endure (which he will probably prolong bc he still has 10 slides left) and I promise to have a celebratory toast to the fact that I will never have to sit through this particular form of torture again.

Lesson learned.

Let me begin this blog by referencing a status message I posted on Facebook last week:

"International-E thinks that teachers that make you act out skits in a group as part of your grade in Business School should be lined up in front of a teenage firing squad and splattered with rotten eggs. And on THAT note, I'm going to bed."

As you can probably tell from the tone of that status, I was a bit frustrated with the progress and confused about purpose of a group project I was working on for my Leadership class. Each of the 7 groups in the class were tasked with the assignment of developing our own original skits to be performed in front of our peers. Using the generic theme "leadership" we had to develop some type of dramatic performance. Although not as creative as some of the other themes, my team G5 had a very well thought out plot with many points that related to the overall theme. In the end, I was proud of what we put together and considering that the performance was entirely given in Japanese and our group contained the 3 people with the lowest level of Japanese ability in the class (me included), we did damn good. But after watching all of the skits today I was definitely left feeling like somewhere along the way we missed a memo.

Out of the top three teams (which unfortunately didn't include G5) two of those teams had man/man action. No, its not as graphic as I'm making it sound but they had men who cross-dressed as women, playing characters that were in love with men. The few pictures here are from one group that had everyone in stitches. As you can kind of see from the background, they used Titanic as their theme and it was really funny. Especially when the raft sank and the guy playing "Rose" was yelling "Jack...JACK!" You definitely had to be there.

Until today had no idea cross-dressing would have such a positive effect on how my classmates and teachers would receive the presentations. And just as I typed that sentence it came to me...Japanese dramatic arts such as Kabuki and Noh were traditionally performed by all male casts. Thinking about this even further I believe Noh is still performed by totally male casts. Maybe this is where the Japanese fascination with cross-dressing and hints of homosexuality being extremely entertaining comes from? Either way, my group, well those of us who aren't Japanese, had no idea.

So let me close this blog by leaving you with today's Facebook status update:

"International-E learned an important cultural lesson today. In order to do well in any type of group performances in Japan (specifically my Leadership class) you have to have at least one man in the group dress like a woman and pretend to be in love with a man. It's the only way to win. I REPEAT: Forget content. Add a cross-dresser and some same sex loving. Lesson learned."

Sumooooooo! お相撲！

I absolutely and truly LOVE Sumo. I went to my very first Sumo tournament May 2003 when I was living in Yamanashi working as an English teacher. A friend and I decided that we wanted to go check it out so we took train up to Tokyo and decided to make a day out of it (and for the record, I've been attending tournaments the same way since).

The first matches begin at 8:30am. These are the times that the really small amateur kids get their time in the dohyo (ring). We decided we didn't need to be there quite that early so we arrived around 10:30 - 11. For that first two hours, Hazel and I sat and studied the English guide they provided for us at the door and I've been hooked ever since.

During the first 3 years I lived in Japan I developed some favorites. Of the non-Japanese wrestlers my top 4 are Asashoryu (Yokozuna, Grand Champion) , Ama (who at the time was just a regular Maegashira wrestler, has now moved up to Ozeki and changed his named to Harumafuji), Hakuho (he was also a regular Maegashira wrestler when I left and is now a Yokozuna!), and Kokkai (Maegashira from the country of Georgia, kind of an underdog as a non-Japanese/non-Asian but I like his style)

Of the Japanese wrestlers my favorites are Kaio (Ozeki, 1 rank below Yokozuna), Chiotaikai (also an Ozeki), Takamisakari, Iwakiyama and Aminishiki (who are all three regular Maegashira)

There are 6 tournaments across Japan each year and the May and September basho are held in Tokyo. I try my best to go each time its here and I plan to get some REALLY good seats for this September basho as my 30th birthday happens during the tournament!

For anyone who is really interested in learning more about the sport watch this quick video from the May basho I attended where Asashoryu fought Aminishiki and then check out this site.

Just in Case You Were Wondering (Part 2)

Basic Data Analysis: This class is my LEAST favorite. I even have a nickname for this instructor of this class. I call him #sweatyprofessor. (btw: the hash mark is just a tag I use for when i talk about him on twitter) According to the syllabus this class is supposed to be taught in English but on the first day of class he asked the class which language they preferred he teach in and they said Japanese (duh! didn't he see that coming?) so the class is now taught in Japanese and English. Only, instead of translating what he says in Japanese into English, he continues his thoughts in English! So instead of just the English speaking students being lost, we are all looking at each other crazy. 10 weeks of classes, we took a midterm about week 6 which we still haven't gotten back and the last day of instruction is this coming Thursday. We've done 3 homework assignments and only received answers for the first one. He doesn't show up for office assignment appointments that HE schedules. He doesn't respond to emails. And on top of all the performance issues, he comes to class completely drenched in sweat each and every class! I'm certain there is some type of body temperature issue going on and I probably shouldn't talk about him but its VERY distracting.

I've been to his office hours twice and I email him just about every week asking about the homework answers and our test but no luck. Did I mention that he's American and a Stanford U graduate? What sucks the most is this is a basic course which means everything builds from here. Even if I somehow manage to make it out of this one alive, I'm not so sure that will be the case for the classes that follow.

Organizational Behavior: From day 1, I loved this class. Although this instructor is Japanese and he asked the class the same question #sweatyprofessor asked on the first day regarding the classes language of preference. This class also said in the syllabus that it would be taught in English with Japanese in parts, but instead of going along with the classes wishes, he teaches primarily in English as the syllabus stated. My undergrad degree was in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication so the material we cover in this class is right up my alley. It also helps that he seems to favor me because I'm American or maybe its because I sit up front and ask lots of questions. Either way, I really enjoy this class and of course out of all of my classes, going into finals week I'm doing the best in this one.

Microeconomics: This is the class that I believe is going to be the most useful of the 5 courses I'm taking now. The things that we are learning here will definitely help me in the future and its a difficult class, but I like it. The teacher is cool, its clear he knows this subject well, he knows how to teach and he actually shows up to his office for office hours (unlike #sweatyprofessor) and makes himself available to students. Going into finals, this is the class that I'm worried about the most because I didn't do very well on the midterm. Most classes are graded on a curve so hopefully not too many people do exceedingly well and throw the curve off! Ha! I shouldn't say that...but I kinda mean it.

So, after 9 weeks of classes, that's what I have to say. Oh and a very important thing, that I knew I was going to hate about Business School - I really don't like group work. I'm in groups for three of my classes and as a whole I only like 1 of the 3. But hey, 1 is better than none, right?

Well, back to memorizing my lines for a useless skit we have to do for our Leadership class. TTFN.

Just in Case You Were Wondering

I am officially past the half way mark of my first semester of Business School. I wrapped up my last 2 mid-terms last week and now I'm focused on my final presentation, reports and exams. Time has definitely flown by! We have two more weeks of instruction and then the dreaded finals week. It's all lovely though because I'm trying my HARDEST to get out of Japan for the summer...so test week, bring it on! Anyway, since I've been extra slack on blogging, I figured I'd devote this post to my opinions about the classes I'm taking.

One thing I love about my classes this term is my schedule. I don't have any classes before 12:15 and no classes on Tuesdays. Life is good...so here goes:

Business Game: When I first started this class, I thought it would be really interesting and expected to learn a lot. That's not exactly what's happening. Something different about this system of Japanese education is you don't get any feedback. I've turned in a report for this class every week since the beginning of the semester and haven't received one graded assignment back. The only grades you actually get are for tests, only in this class the 2 "tests" we have are based on our company's performance in this virtual game. Ok wait, let me explain this a little better.

In this class we are broken up into 12 teams. Each team is appointed a company president who we are in theory supposed to follow his lead. Only the lead part...yeah, that's not really happening either. You might as well call us the Blind Boys of Alabama only there's 4 of us and I'm the only Negro. It is a true case of the blind leading the blind. Throughout the semester, we play 2 games. One of them is running a virtual bakery and the other is shipping cooling units to some remote island. There are business decisions that you have to make and the goal of each game is to attain the largest profit surplus. The company with the highest profit surplus gets A's. The rest of the class? Well, he hasn't been very specific about how he plans to grade the rest of the class.

Before each "test" get the game scenario that gives general info about P&L, B/S, operating costs and marketing costs but what my team is seriously lacking each time is a real business strategy, and let's not even mention our communication issues. What frustrates me the most is not my president's lack of leadership ability but the teacher's failure to instruct. What is the purpose of playing a game 4 times (2 for grades) without any feedback about what we are doing wrong so we can improve?

Worried about my grades and progress in the class, I visited the teacher's office hours to get some clarification and feedback and do you know what he told me? He said "In my class, the point is not to teach. It is to get you to think. And Smile. OH! You must remember to smile." So I sat there in his smokey office, (yes the teachers are allowed to smoke indoors) and smiled and thought to myself, "This damn, thinking and smiling better get me an A, that's all I know."
I have yet been able to find the logic or purpose of a class that does not instruct or correct mistakes. Isn't this the time to make and correct mistakes?!

I say a special prayer for my grade in this class every week.

Leadership: My teacher for this class is really cool. Like, so cool that actually want to go to his house and have dinner with him and his wife and talk about his life and travels. He's an older Japanese dude who went to HBS (Harvard Business School), hitched-hiked around America for 6 months as a college student. I believe he said he did a semester or a year at Berkley during the 70's so he was loving America at the time. He's written and published several books about leadership, management and one called "The Successful Businessman Meditates" which I think is fascinating. The class itself is cool too. This is the one where my group is called G5 and we got the best marks on our presentation a while back. We are forced to think a lot about our life, goals, future, abilities, skills and qualifications as well as define why we believe certain qualities of leaders are important etc.

I believe this class is a little more beneficial for some of the other people (read: younger people) in the class because I've been through courses or seminars that have challenged me with those same questions before. I definitely enjoy this class but honestly some days it feels like a semester long Myers-Briggs test.

I'm taking 3 more classes but I'll stop here for the night and have faith in me, k? It won't be quite as long until you see the next blog.

Next Up: Data Analysis (SNORE), Organizational Behavior (MY FAV!) and Microeconomic (Say What?!)

Guess who's Bizack?!

Sorry about that ya'll. No excuses. I spend PLENTY of time on Twitter and Facebook so I definitely could take some time to update this blog....MY BAD.

Last we left off, I was ticked off by THE MAN. (THE MAN: Folks in administration who shut your girl down when all a sista' was trying to do was educate herself.) You will be pleased to know that I did not embarrass myself or my country by showing my true displeasure but I did attempt to attend classes and was pretty much turned around at the door. THE MAN must have had an idea I was coming back because the teacher knew right away that I wasn't enrolled and told me I couldn't just sit in. Whatev!

I was definitley upset because being able to take language classes this semester would have been a great benefit to me considering 4/5 lectures are given in Japanese but decided to just move on and do my best. Honestly, if I were to dwell on the frustration I have with the bureaucracy BS that surround daily operations in this country I would be an angry soul. I have a personal rule. I allow myself to be pissed off/sad/upset about something for one day, and then I have to let it go......so F (forget) THE MAN.

Break a freakin' rule already!

Today I'm blogging with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Now before I get into explaining why, I'm going to admit that I had a part, actually a large part in what I'm about to complain about, but I'm still pissed and here's why.

In addition to the 5 core classes I'm taking in the MBA curriculum, I intended to take 2 Japanese language classes through the International Center, one Speaking class and one Kanji class. In addition to having different start/finish dates from my grad school courses, the classes at the IC also have a different set of enrollment procedures. To enroll in the Japanese classes, there is a set 5-days block where students register to say they are interested in taking classes. This isn't signing up for classes, this is just going and entering your name in the computer and for all intents and purposes expressing interest. Next you have to attend a 30-minute orientation at which if you are not present, you will not be able to register for classes. This orientation is set and they make it very clear their are no exceptions. If you cannot attend, you will not be able to study at the IC during that term. At the orientation, students receive a registration form which must be completed, signed by the students advisor, and returned to the office within a week. Got all that?

Okay, so I went to the pre-orientation sign up. No problem. I attended the orientation as well, got my form, gave the form to my advisor and received the form back Wednesday afternoon during my last class of the day (3:15-6pm). The registration from was due in the office by 5pm Thursday. Yesterday (Thursday) after class I came home and started unpacking my bookbag and realized that I forgot to turn my registration form in to the office!! Thursday is my longest day of classes and somehow didn't make a note to myself that I needed to return this form and well...I forgot. I know then that I'm going to have to do some serious begging, persuading because these folks don't take kindly to breaking the rules.

Today, after my gift from God Microeconomics class (I'm trying to be optimistic here) I went to the International Center office and was told that they could not accept my form. She said a student came in 15 minutes after 5pm yesterday and the Department head turned them away. And here's where I vent.


Really I don't understand why they can't bend the rules when it's for a good cause. Don't these folks understand that I'm begging to study Japanese, because I NEED TO STUDY JAPANESE IF I'M GOING TO GRADUATE FROM THIS MBA PROGRAM. I'm not doing it for their amusement! I've been here for 6 months and my grades in the Japanese language program have been spectaular. My attendance has been pretty darn good too. I may have missed 1 day of classes in 6 months which happened to be Christmas Eve (well, that is after I missed the first two weeks of school when Jody passed). Even when I did miss the first 2 weeks of the 6 week intensive language program, I came back BUST MY BEHIND and got straight A's in 5 classes. SEE!

So here's what I've decided to do: Go to class anyway and keep going until the teachers put me out. And then once they put me out, they'll have to kick me out again because I'm going to keep going. I don't care if I don't get grades on my record for the International Center. I need these classes so that I continue to increase my Japanese speaking and reading ability. It's the only way I'm going to be able to graduate from this program, and I'm not exaggerating. All of my class lectures, with the exception of Organizational Behavior, are given in Japanese and continuing my language study is fundamental to my success.

I messed up. I missed the deadline. It's my fault. Punish me some other way, but don't restrict me from studying just for the sake of rules. I understand the rules are in places to keep things in order. Japanese folks STRIVE or rules and orderliness as to I (somtimes) but exceptions to rules exist for a reason. Break a dang rule already people!

Lucky Me!

I lucked up on this very cool concert today after my last class. I was going to get my bike so I could head home when I heard music playing and saw a crowd in the Cafe so I went up for a closer look. It turns out that one of the most popular and, in my opinion, most talent clubs on campus, The Shamisen club.

I just so happened to have my fabulous new camera with me as well and got a few good videos of the performance. Check it out!

Just in case anyone is interested here's a little wiki info about the shamisen. This next video is a little bit longer but features music you probably have heard before, 2 shamisen solos, a drum solo and some "entertaining" dancing/clapping at the end. Enjoy!

G5 in the House!

Today I had my first group presentation of my MBA program. For our leadership class our assignment was to decide as a group what we thought were the qualities a leader should possess are and present them to the rest of the class. Initially it didn't seem like it should be a very difficult thing to do but when you factor in the group dynamics it was quite challenging. Being 7 people from 5 very different countries (China, Japan, Canada, Mozambique, America) I thought it would be a good idea to called our group G5, you know like Group of 5? Since we have all these other summits and things like G20 and G8, I thought G5 would fit right in! Well, our group's diversity proved too be both a strength and a weakness. One of the Chinese women in the group speaks only Japanese and Chinese. One of the guys in the group speaks mainly English and his native tongue is Portuguese. The remaining folks speak a mixture of English and Japanese but because there was no one language that all 7 of us spoke, there were at least two languages being spoken at all times! Needless to say, we put in a good bit of work to come to some common ground.



We didn't know this going into the assignment but our teacher made us rank the presentations based on three things: #1. content, #2. presentation and #3. group cohesiveness and out of the 7 groups in the class, G5 was ranked the highest!

I definitely felt good to start the term off with respect from our professor and our classmates. Now if we can just keep this momentum going....

Stop walking up in my room, Dang!

So, the good news first. I MOVED! If you remember, when I first moved to Tsukuba I was living in this jail cell. It is/was all that you see here. A room with a sink. (Sink not pictured here) Yes, it was as narrow as it looks.



Now, I'm feeling like the Weezy Jefferson! I have my own private shower and toilet, my room is a bit bigger and I even have a tiny balcony! I'm very happy with my new space although it is still pretty small, but the accommodations are 100% better than the last place. So anyway, here is my new crib spot.

Ok, so lemme tell you about how twice in two days random folks have just walked up in my room!

The first time it happened, it was my first night here after moving in and I was putting away my things when my door flings open. I look up and there's some Japanese chick standing there holding the door open, looking in my room. So I'm looking back at her and then as I start to walk toward the door she slams the door without saying anything. Of course I'm curious and a little pissed by this so I continue toward the door and go out into the hall. Keep in mind during the whole interaction she has not said a word. I open the door and she's still standing in the hallway looking bewildered so I'm like "Yes?" She says she was looking for a friend and opened the wrong door by accident.

Ya' know, I'm reasonable...that type of stuff happens. But you open my door, stand there looking silly and then don't say ANYTHING at all? Not sorry, or excuse me or anything? So I say, "I understand, next time don't just walk in without saying anything or knowing where you're going" and I went back into my room.

The next morning, I had just come back from the kitchen making breakfast and put down my food when I hear two raps and the door opens! I'm like damn, its 9am. I could still be in bed or naked or both! This time, its a delivery person with a package for me. Apparently this is very common in Japan. If they knock and no one answers right away, they will try the door. This happened to me before when I lived out in the country but I thought it was just because I knew everyone who lived in the town and the mailman knew me. Well I have learned that they do it in the city too!

I'm just saying Mr. Delivery man...I'll do my best to keep my door locked but on the off chance it isn't locked and you walk up in here on something...well that's your own fault.

Spring Break 09: Thailand

I have returned to wintry Japan from the fantastic weather, spectacular views and relaxing in beautiful Thailand. My original plan was to go home to the US for a few weeks during my break between the end of the semester and the start of my MBA program but the flights were FAR too expensive. It would have cost me about $1,200 for the round trip plane ticket alone, as opposed to $500 round trip from here to Thailand. So, being the fiscally responsible person I am trying to be, I decided that Thailand was the best value!

My travel mates were 3 wonderful women who are 3rd year law students in Temple's study abroad program. 10 days in Thailand. 4 grown women. NO DRAMA! I loved every minute of it. Well...except for the extreme sunburn...but other than that, Love. Love.

1 regret: I didn't have an underwater camera to take photos of my snorkling adventures.

1 tragedy: Lost my iTouch. Somewhere during our speed boat adventures and yes it is a tragedy. I had become very attached to that gadget. It was actually my favorite one and now its gone and that makes me sincerely somber.

1 thing I'll probably never do again: Bikram Yoga. Being a yoga newbie and wanting to get in some physical activity while I was on vacation I decided that I would try to find a yoga class in Thailand. 2 of the ladies were interested as well so we decided to look for a studio in Koh Samui. There happened to be a newly opened Bikram Yoga studio right next door to the place we ate breakfast everyday so we decided to go there. FOLK. Bikram is NOT a game. 90 minutes of sauna like heat on top of balances and stretching and lemme just say...its not for me. I got sick about 30 minutes into the work out and had to go get some air and bring my body heat back down to a normal level. BUT being the trooper I am, I went back in and finished the second half of class. I'm glad I went back in because I don't like not finishing what I start, but I'm pretty sure I won't do that again.

1 thing I just didn't understand: During one of our many travel days, we met a ladyboy named Martha. His fingernails were sharp as Genghis Khan and it was NOT hard to tell he was a ladyboy, but folks...my question is: MARTHA? I mean, I've never really thought about what I'd call myself if I were a boy, because I have absolutely no desire to become a boy, but I'm pretty sure that if I did I wouldn't choose a name like Albert or anything old-timey like that. Anyway, it just puzzled me.

1 thing I could have done without: If I never Akon "Beautiful" again, it will be too soon. I feel like that's the ONLY song Thai DJ's/club/bar owners know how to play. It was awesome the first time we heard it at the first bar we went to on the beach, but it followed us...to every bar...on every beach. Enough already with Akon. If they would have thrown in a little Bey or some Kanye in there they might have seen 4 American spring breakers dancing on the bar or something!

I could go on and on about this trip, but quitting while I'm ahead is something I'm working on so let me just say, it was the perfect vacation for relaxing and refreshing my mind and body before this challenge (B-School) that is in front of me.

Here are about 1/5 of the photos from my vacation:


And for a more in depth account of our travels, check out my friend/travel buddy's blog for :

Thailand Part I

Thailand Part II

Thailand Part III

I'm really here.

I almost can't believe that in two weeks, I will have been back in Japan for 5 months. I mean, I can but I can't.

Tomorrow is the last day of class for the intensive Japanese language program I have been in for the past 5 months. I have my final exams next Wednesday through Friday and then SPRING BREAK!!!! As I said before, they are on a trimester system here in Tsukuba so spring break comes just before the end of the school year. Graduation is March 28th but March 6th is the last day of exams. So we have 3 weeks off. I really wanted to go home for a refresher but that looks like its going to be out of my reach financially so I'm thinking about taking a smaller trip somewhere much closer to Japan.

Calling a few travel agents today so hopefully they can find something WARM and within my budget. I may even be going on this trip alone so I'll need to be someplace safe for a lone female traveler...which is where I believe the problem may come in.

I passed!

After all the worrying, test taking and praying...I passed the entrance exam!!! I went to the board today outside the Administration Office to see if my number was there and to my delight it was. I'm in! B-School starts in April. YAYYYYYYY!

True Story

I have a part time job teaching an English language class and today I heard a story that almost made me pee on myself.

After the lesson was over, I hung out for drinks with my students who are all co-workers at the same company. While we were talking one of the students told me he had something he wanted to get off his chest. He said (in Japanese), "I don't mean to offend you, so if I do, I'm sorry but (in English) You're a heart breaker!"

So everyone kinda looks at me, to see if I was going to get upset. I actually chuckled, said "Aww, Thank You". I told them that the phrase is a compliment, something nice you say to someone you like, but not something you would usually say to your teacher. I told them I wasn't upset at all. Relieved, the student decided he wanted to tell the story of how he learned this phrase.

He continues: "You wanna know how I know that term? Well, I was in Indonesia and this New Half* comes up to me at a bar and snuggles on my arm. (At this point dude grabs the dude sitting beside him and snuggles up to him then looks around the room for dramatic affect and to be sure everyone is paying attention) So she snuggles on my arm and looks me in the eye and says to me in English "You're a heartbreaker." I told her I didn't know what that meant, so she explained it to me.

(*Translation: New Half -also commonly called Ladyboys- is the Japanese word for tranny men. Usually these New Halfs are performers but very often they are prostitutes as well. Don't google the term at work!)

At this point, I'm in stitches and he must think that I think he's making it up, so he goes "True Story! True Story!" and everyone is chuckling but not really laughing.

Does anyone else not think a "straight" Japanese man, who just moments earlier was talking about his wife and two kids, snuggled up with a tranny hooker in Indonesia who is looking him in the eyes hitting on him is friggin' hilarious? I mean could YOU imagine sitting in a room of your co-workers telling that story? No one else seemed to find it quite as humorous as I did but as Steve Harvey said on the Kangs "You can kiss my a$$ that's funny!" .

And Now We Wait...

So, Day 2 was actually a bit more nerve-racking than Day 1. Since there were so many applicants this year we were told to prepare for a 15 minute interview. In the past, they have asked applicants 3 sets of questions:
#1. Why B-School? Why Japan? Why Tsukuba?
#2. What topic would you like to research? Describe your plan in detail.
#3. Questions directly related to the previous day's test and portions that were answered incorrectly were targeted.

Cool. This is in my mind when my number is called and I head into the interview room. I walk in and see as panel of three professors, two men and a woman, seated before me to conduct my interview. I say "Hello" to which the response is "Right, so we need to check your name and test ID number. Read it for us, in Japanese"

(Inside voice: Nice way to start an interview, make me feel right at home why don't you folks?)

I read my name and number, they check it against the picture they have of me on my application and finally they tell me to sit down. Originally, I was also told by my tutor and advisor that the interview would be in English. Now, I can speak Japanese of course but I sound much smarter in my own language. I'm working on my Japanese daily but when given the choice between being interviewed for Graduate School in a language I've spoken all my life or one I've studied (sporadically at times) for about 7 years...I chose the former.

Anyway, the interview begins and as I suspected, they want to proceed in Japanese. I told them that I preferred to answer in English and they said that was fine but they would ask me the questions in Japanese. (Inside voice: Okkkay) As expected the first question they asked was the "Why B-School, Why Japan" to which I feel I answered well. Next they asked me what I wanted to do once I finished school. No problem there either. Then they told me that my classes would primarily be in Japanese and asked how comfortable I was with that. I told them I was able to understand everything they had asked me thus far and would continue my Japanese studies throughout my time in Japan in hopes of attaining true fluency. (Inside voice: Excellent! We're on a roll!)

And that my friends was where interview ended. They said a polite thank you and asked me to send the next person in. I was baffled. They didn't ask me about my research plan or anything about the test and I was out of there in less than 8 minutes! I literally walked down the hall away from the interview room feeling like I had a cartoon bubble over my head with like 9 question marks in it. Like, "What????"

So, I called my tutor and spoke to a few other people in my research lab and everyone's reaction was mixed. I wanted a drink. I explained to my Japanese friends that an interview that ends abruptly and quickly in the States is definitely not a good sign, but I was assured (and I used that word very lightly) that here it could go either way. We talked about it until I was tired of talking about it and we drank and talked about the strange and seemingly odd way in which the Japanese do things.

The best part is, that experience is over and I have the future to look forward to. That test night I allowed myself to moan and be uncertain and ho-hum but the next day I celebrated moving past that milestone. Feb. 17th the results will be posted so until then I'll just hope for the best.

Entrance Exam Day 1

Okay. So today I took the first and second part of my entrance exam for business school here at Tsukuba U. The entire process consist of 3 parts. Foreign Language Exam, Course Specific Exam and an interview. First of all, the Foreign Language Exam is an English Exam. God only KNOWS why an applicant from America has to take an English exam...but I'm trying to get in, so I'm not bucking the system and I need all the points I can get. They gave us 90 minutes for the English exam I was done in 50 minutes. So when I was finished (I was the only non-asian taking the test and finished first) I raised my hand so I could turn in my exam and packed my back to get out of there since we had a 2 hour break for lunch between exams.

When I first handed him my test and started to get up, he gave me this look like I was doing something wrong. So, as not to disturb the other test takers I whispered "Is everything OK?". He was like you can't leave. I looked at the clock and there was still about 35 minutes left in the allotted test time. So I say, "What? Why not? I'm finished" He told me to hold on, went to the front of the class and did the japanese group think thing with the other 2 proctors in the class and came back and said it was alright for me to leave. I get up and quietly make my way to the door, when a hall monitor (yes yall, they have hall monitors outside each classroom door and people at the stairwells and door exits!) stops me and asks me if the proctor of my room said it was okay for me to leave. I told her yes and went on my way. Then got stopped by another hall monitor who JUST saw the other lady stop me and ask me if I had permission to leave and I told her yes and asked her if it was normal for people to say until the end of the allotted test time even when they were finished and she said YES! I really don't get the Japanese process. that's just dumb.

So I went to lunch and talked with a friend from Serbia who was taking the Physics Master Course entrance exam and didn't have such an easy foreign language test and thanked my lucky stars mine had gone so well.

The second part of the test was very similar to one of the sample test questions that I had written up earlier in the week so again it seems as though I lucked up. The only problem is a got a little long winded on the first essay question and wasn't able to wrap up my arguement on the 2nd essay as well as I had hoped.

The best part is that it is now behind me. Tomorrow I have my face-to-face interview with some professors in the business school where I have 5 imnutes to present my research plan and state my case for attending school here. Then they will have 10 minutes to drill me with all types of questions. I feel like I'm as ready as I can be! Wish me LUCK!

Tuesday night, we party!!!