The Medical Check-Up.

So, every student entering OU has to do a medical check-up upon entering University. I wasn't sure what it would entail, and I was becoming nervous because 1) DO NOT LIKE HOSPITALS and 2) DO NOT LIKE BEING NAKED IN FRONT OF STRANGERS and usually medical check-ups involve all of the above. They also gave us this thing called a Pee Pole with directions to pee into it the morning of the exam. Yes. Carry your urine around with you all day. No, not going to happen. They don't tell us what the urine is for, though I imagine it's for a drug test. Or perhaps pregnancy test. Or perhaps both. That's a big difference between the U.S. and Japan. My urine might just be refuse waste, but it's my urine and you can't have it without telling me what you're going to do with it. In the U.S., I would have to sign a form consenting to whatever kind of test they were going to do on it. Here, they took my pee and I have no idea why. Anyway, I carried the (empty) Pee Pole with me to campus this morning and then utilized the device right before heading to the medical center. So yes, for five minutes, I had pee in my pocket. Love it.

M & K went also, which was good because I really needed the moral support. They had us fill out a pretty standard questionnaire (family medical history, personal medical history, any problems you want to discuss, etc.) Didn't ask if I was pregnant or lactating, though, which is standard in the U.S. We turned in our forms and they gave us a card. The card we would carry on our persons through the various examinations, and the doctors would insert it into the machine before running anything. All the outcomes of each examination are logged on that card. So, we turned in our pee pole, our questionnaire, and got our cards. On the sheet that we received during oritentation (the one that informed us we had to take a medical exam), it read that during the medical exam we would have to be completely naked. This had me in a tizzy, but in the end, nothing could be further from the truth. They said we could wear a plain t-shirt during the chest x-ray (no logos or print on the shirt) and in fact, if you didn't have such a shirt, they provided one for you. That was the most intrusive part of the entire check-up, and it wasn't intrusive at all.

Anyway, we were herded to a line to enter a tent which was connected to an RV where our chest x-rays would be taking place. We entered the tent (boys in one, girls in another) and were able to remove our bras under our shirts. They took our bags and such, and then one by one, we took off our shoes, slipped into 'house slippers' and went into the bus. The doctor showed me how to stand for the x-ray, I was completely clothed - t-shirt, jeans, everything, totally comfortable. He took the x-ray then there was some confusion. It's no secret that I'm a big girl, and apparently their machine was not built for folks like me, so they moved me to a different bus with different machinery. This was fine except during, they had me wait and I had no idea why I was waiting. Was there something wrong? Did the x-ray have bad results? Did my pee test have weird results? I took some medicine this morning for my cough that one of the Korean girls gave me, and it was in modern medicine packaging so I was sure it was fine, but still. What's wrong?! Finally they took me to the other bus (after letting me put my overshirt back on - I had worn a white undershirt specifically for the x-ray today) and there they brought someone who spoke English who explained to me that actually, the machinery in the second bus was very old and so they wanted me to come back on a different day to do the chest x-ray inside the medical building on-campus, where the machinery was much newer. Whatever.

After that it was height and weight, then blood pressure, and vision test. They told me that everything was good; my urine test was good, my vision was good, my blood pressure was good, etc. So now I have a clean bill of health, well save for the x-ray, which I'll come back for on another day. In the end, the check-up was absolutely no big deal and I feel a little silly for worrying about it. Still, I am in a different country and culture and one can never be sure what a "medical check-up" will entail until you've actually done it.

For now I am going back to campus because I feel like crap. Maybe I should have told them I have a cold. I would kill for some Chloraseptic spray right now, my throat hurts. Waaaaaah :(

The first day of school:

(This post was written on 4/12/2011 after a very long day)

I learn something new every day in Japan. Today, for example, I learned that Tuesdays are going to suck. Not because of anything related to Japan, but because of my class schedule. I am taking 7 classes spread out over three days. Monday and Wednesday are clear. Tuesday is four classes, with a break between for lunch. I am on campus from about 8am until after 6pm. It's just totally draining. And uh, actually, Thursdays are going to be just as bad. The decent thing about the Japanese classes, though, is that all of them but my Japanese Language course only meet once a week for 90 minutes. Most classes I've attended in the U.S. meet 2-3 times a week for 90 minutes or more depending on the course. And then on top of that, many have an hour long lab that meets once a week, also. So I will be spending less time in an actual class room, which will make it easier (I think).

This should net me 12 hours, because the classes here are only worth 2 credits each except for the Japanese language class, which is worth 4. However, I have already taken this level of Japanese, but I feel I need a refresher course. My kanji is positively atrocious, and I am really out of practice. Even after spending a week in Japan, I have such little interaction that is unique with Japanese speakers that I haven't really improved much. I hope that I can interact more within the class which will then encourage me to interact more outside of the class. Anyway, so the Japanese Language course doesn't count so that leaves six classes at two hours a piece and voila - twelve hours.

Anyway, this is my schedule:

Monday

12:15p - 1:15p

"Home Room" (GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!)

Tuesday

TIME	COURSE
8:50a - 10:20a	Japanese Language 200 Level
10:50a - 12:00p	Philosophical Thinking & Japanese traditions
2:40p - 4:10p	Topics in Japanese Law
4:20p - 5:50p	Japan's Relations with Asian Countries after the Second World War

Thursday

TIME	COURSE
8:50a - 10:20a	Japanese Language 200 Level
10:50a - 12:00p	Osaka in Modern Japanese Literature
2:40p - 4:10p	Introduction to Japanese Legal/Political System
4:20p - 5:50p	Topics in Comparative Law

Friday

8:50a - 10:20a

Japanese Language 200 Level

Tuesdays and Thursdays are SO LONG and it irritates me to no end that I have to go to campus Monday for the "home room" class and NOTHING ELSE and that my Japanese class meets on Friday - all of the other Japanese classes (including another level 200 class) meets on Tue/Wed/Thurs. I mean, I would still have to go to campus on Wednesday for just one class, but it wouldn't cut into three day weekends. Bleh. I wish I had more control over my schedule. This is normal though, because I am getting so close to graduating. You start to run out of classes that are offered that actually count, because not all classes are offered each semester.

AGGGH! GET YOUR DAMN TEA POT! Someone's teapot is screeching that it's done and it's just on the outskirts of my subconscious, such that I didn't consciously notice it until it was already driving my subconscious crazy. Can't you use the stupid microwave to heat your water? Ugh, okay, it's finally stopped. It was going on for at least two minutes and it's like nails on a chalkboard to me. I feel kind of bad though because just now I went down the hall to move it off the burner only to be intercepted by a girl literally running to the kitchen to take it off. So now I feel like a jerk. I spend most of the time feeling like a jerk, for various reasons. Oh well. C'est la vie, no?

Anyway, my Japanese teacher seems to be pretty cool. He's funny; he asked us which track we were in (1 or 2) and when someone said "track 1" he said "No! No 'track,' -- "TURAKKU!'" haha. He also said Americans all call him Otari, even though his name is Ootari (I think the way to write it for us would be Ōtari). He said "Otari" in a faux American accent. "Otari, Otari, Meestar Otari!" Then, "But you have no choice. That's like here, the Japanese can't hear your name, so say it in katakana, even if it's disgusting!" My name in Katakana is "ジェニフアー" which is like "Jyenifua." So yeah, it's pretty 'disgusting', heh.

He also said his son failed all twelve of the entrance exams to University and they were like 12,000 Yen each (over $120 USD), so "Now I'm broke!" He just seems pretty down-to-earth and easy to relate to. He also speaks in Japanese most of the time in class. He said, "Eigo ga kirai!" ("I hate English!"), so it's good listening practice. I get the gist of most of what he's saying, though much of it is through context clues. And lord have mercy, my kanji needs help. I wish there was a course dedicated just to kanji, like if you learned 25 a week or something in a class, at the end of fifteen weeks you'd know 375. Wait, that's like nothing, nevermind. You need to know like 2,000 Kanji to get anywhere. Bleh.

I was worried that the style of teaching here would be so markedly different than what I'm accustomed to so I was relieved to discover that my Topics in Japanese Law class is taught by a westerner (an Aussie with wild hair, at that). He said it would be less lecture style and more seminar style. I will totally eat my words later I'm sure, but I was relieved when he handed out a nice, thick packet of reading assignments and told us we had a research paper due at the end of the semester. It made me feel right at home. People were complaining, which I thought was strange, because the paper only has to be ten pages - DOUBLE SPACED. Come on guys, that's like nothing. Literally. Like nothing. If you can't crank out five pages on a topic, how can you even begin to claim that you've researched it?

The other classes I think are more Japanese-style, being taught by Japanese lecturers. Most of them use attendance for 50% of our grade, and then at the end of the class we'll have one exam or one paper. That is some seriously scary shit, don't mind my french, because you have one shot at not failing and if you mess it up, there is no recovery. I remember teachers in the U.S. talking about this superiour style of learning in other countries where there's no "hand-holding," and it's much tougher and we should be grateful that we are in the U.S. type of system (or at least not in graduate school, hah), but I don't really feel like it's hand-holdy, at the undergraduate level, to test more than once in the entire semester. I don't expect a professor to tell me if I'm falling behind, but the tests allow me to know myself if I'm staying on top of things. Plus, it's impossible to tell how a professor will test until you've taken one of their tests! I've had classes where I bombed the first test but then I knew the testing style, and did well in the remainder of the class. So, I don't know, I guess I like tests more than I thought. At least most of the classes will have papers at the end and I seriously rock at writing papers :)

After school, we went to CoCos for dinner which is like a Denny's except it doesn't suck. I'm not intentionally seeking out western-style food, but the other recommendation was Italian and I have yet to be able to bring myself to eat Italian food in Japan. I mean, we passed by an Italian restaurant and looked over the menu, but it all just looked awful to me. I am sure it tastes good - it has to taste good, right? But things here are different in ways you just don't expect. Prime example - K ordered an ice cream sundae after our dinner at CoCos. It was supposed to be a brownie ice cream parfait. It was served in a tall sundae glass, with banana slices, whipped topping and really rich brownie pieces. It looked like it had more brownie bits in the bottom, but they turned out to be coffee gelatin. Think of like, a really strong espresso shot, that's what it was. Espresso shot flavoured gelatin. K almost lost her lunch, heh. I didn't think it was so bad, but I've been drinking coffee pretty regularly for a while now and I get the impression that most of the coffee that K drinks is frappuccino-style. I had a bit of it but it wasn't anything that special; it's just not what you'd expect, not in the bottom of a sundae, not anywhere. Coffee gelatin, really.

Speaking of eating non-Japanese food in Japan, we are seriously considering going to Umeda because we heard tell of an actual MEXICAN restaurant there. I feel in a way like it won't be as good as what we're used to. I think that even if it was spot-on and delicious, it just wouldn't feel like home. We'd be psyching ourselves out to not like it as much. Still, I'm sure the Japanese have put their own spin on Mexican food and I'm interested in seeing what it is. There's also a group going out this Friday to an American-style bar (I'm not really sure what that entails, but I'm going to find out) and sometime after the 16th, I am going to a Takarazuka show, come hell or high water. They look so glamorous and interesting, I just have to go! I've been wanting to see one since I found out they exist, and I likely won't get a chance to do it again anytime soon if I don't do it this trip.

I also want to go to Senri-Chuo because I'm told they have a Hankouya there. A hankou (the "ya" at the end makes it a store; I.E. "sakana" means fish, "sakanaya" is a fish store; "hon" means book, "honya" is a book store. Pretty simple...) is a rubber stamp that usually has a person's family name on it (family names are in Kanji, so they are usually only 2 kanji -- very short). In Japan, you don't sign your name. You don't have a personal signature. Instead, you have a hankou with your family name on it and you stamp it in all the places that we put signatures. Now, I'm gaijin, so they let me use my signature, but I have to sign it exactly the same way every time, and I'm worried that could be problematic. Furthermore, I think it'd be a great souvenir. Now, my name in Katakana is kind of a mess. Even my family name becomes "モヤス" (Moyasu), which I don't really like. Plus, it's three characters. But I had an idea (that I think is pretty clever, actually). My first name, of course, is Jennifer. Jennifer comes from Guinevere, which is Celtic for "white wave." So, I think I will get a hankou with the kanji for "white wave" on it, and that will be my signature. I think it's going to be great to have one.

Well, I am out of things to talk about. Throughout the day I keep thinking "Oh, I should blog about that!" but by the end of the night I can barely remember half of it. It's for the best, though, it's 10:30PM here now and I am ready for sleep. Such an Obaasan (old lady)!