Classes and Baseball!

Time for yet another update from yours truly, the insane japanophile.

This week we took a placement test to see where we fit into the Konan University Japanese class system. In America, I am a third year student out of a book called Japanese the Spoken Language, which evidently no other schools use. Therefore, the test came into play. It was a two day affair, with listening, reading, writing and vocal portions. I tested into C-level, out of A-E (A being basic, E being extremely advanced and mostly for those who know Kanji to an abnormal degree). C level is rather...well, let's just say I learned all the grammar and most of the vocab but don't know the Kanji to save my life. 興味？？日付変更線？？？？？？ Just what are these little guys trying to say. I am seriously considering moving up to D class, just because this current one is too easy for a study abroad, however I may want to get tutoring in C-level kanji, to make sure I can keep up with the readings. I just can't handle 50 of these guys a day, it's a little excessive.

My other classes are pretty awesome. I am taking Japanese History with a Russian woman straight out of James Bond, and Japanese Linguistics with a self-loathing Japanese man. Interesting, huh? My other class is called Joint Seminar, which is where I can practice my Japanese debating popular issues with other Japanese students! Today I worked with Naoko and Sawa, and they were really cool, though they couldn't really speak English...Therefore, Japanese all the way! Thomas (the non-English speaking Frenchman) said that I speak Japanese very well, why am I not in E class? Simple: I can talk to my peers, but when it comes to teachers that is a big HELL NO.

I bought a phone. It is awesome. Very very awesome. Period. End side note and moving on to BASEBALL.

For those who don't know, YES Japan has baseball, and YES, they enjoy watching it on TV (unlike most Americans who find it boring with too many commercials). However, the real fun comes in at the ballparks. Jason was fortunate enough to score us some tickets to the sold out match between the Hanshin Tigers and the Hiroshima Cubs (I think they were the cubs, I didn't care though. I was rooting for the Tigers). I went with Jason, Thomas and the 2 Korean girls that also live at Jason's host family's place.

Walking into the stadium, I was overwhelmed but the mass of yellow and black, in addition to the vast amounts of food that the stadium was offering. I ate gyoza and a mango crepe, both of which were delicious. Jason somehow found a KFC, and woofed down a 4 piece basket. The others got yakisoba. The beer of choice of the stadium appeared to be Asahi Super Dry, which I am not a huge fan of but when in Rome, drink like them. Which is not much because they have absolutely no tolderance for alcohol. Asahi Super Dry is....well, dry. As the name implies.

A little backstory on the Hanshin Tigers: They are not the best, but they have a very strong fan following. When the win, the sports bars in Osaka and Kobe offer beer rounds at 10 yen a pint. Yes. 10 YEN, less than 10 American cents!! However, tonight the team lost and many a sports pub goer found themselves reaching for the more expensive brews. There was a point in the festivities, right before 7th inning, where everyone in the stadium began to blow up these very strangely shaped balloons. To my surprise, Yuna handed a pack of these odd items to Jason, Thomas and myself, and said to release them when the girl on the bigscreen said so. That is to say, once the commercials on the big screen stopped playing. COMMERCIALS. In a stadium with posters and marketing ploys everywhere. It was too much, me thinks, but I digress.

I began to blow my little balloon friend up, and then realized what the shape reminded me of: A condom. I will not censor this because everyone agreed. Eventually, the whole stadium was full of people waving these condoms, and children were jumping all over the ones that had a Tiger on the uppermost part. I sat there waving my orange one awkwardly, for I had no where else to put it but in my lap, which lead to some very interesting comments from the gaijin I was hanging out with, but not from the Japanese who seem to not have thought that inflating a condom could be a great joke. College humor. It never fails. See: Louis Archilla and his Rilakuma Condoms.

Looking out over the sea of condoms from Condomania (it's a real store, I have been to 3 branches in order to get a good laugh and by interesting gifts for my more twisted friends), I finally saw the girl pop up on the screen to start the countdown. The balloons were released, and it was one of the more epic moments of my life.

Getting home was an event, for the Limited Express trains were so crowded that people were literally shoved on by conductors, much like the morning rush hour in Tokyo. To me, it was not so bad, but to the others, it was the most wretched thing imaginable. I am also sure my butt made contact with a little Japanese child's face, however I blame the parents for that because I was pushed like a ragdoll to and fro with no control over my feet and their direction. Luckily, Uozaki was the third stop and that is where my host family's house is located. I walked home, still sweating from the heat of the train. My host mother laughed at the sweat pouring from my body, but then again she doesn't go to baseball games and avoids using trains, so sweat is an unknown thing, apparently.

Tomorrow I will finally go to Umeda!! I am so excited, really. Yodobashi Camera is the most amazing electronic store chain in the world, I could spend hours there floating about, and I think I will. Jason said he will come with me, and so did Zoe and Christy. I only hope to find them in the monsterous black hole known as Umeda Station...Until then, signing off.