名古屋に着いた時から今まで、僕が名古屋の生活に慣れてきました。それで、最近の自分について面白い観察を教えたいと思います。
※メロンパンを初めて食べたのがきっかけで、コンビニパンが大好きになりました。この頃食べすぎるかもしれません。あ、太ってはいけません！0-0 （自分に「明日走ろうかな。。。」）
※地下鉄で、空いている席はいっぱいあるのに、僕は気がつかず必ず立ちます。なんでそうするかわかりません。 （＞＜）
※生物学を勉強したいです。日本語を学ぶのはいいですが、生物学も心の中に大切にします。生物学の考え方と勉強し方は日本語のと違いますね。どこかの生物学クラスに入ったら、クラスがよく楽しめると思います。それで、近くの名古屋大学でボランティアとして、遺伝学ラボラトリーで働く事をしたいです。
※日本の店が大好きになりました。思ったとおりに、日本のファッションと美学は一般的にとてもかっこいいと思います。でも、店の綺麗さで感動しています。
※僕の日本語がよわいです！！ よく間違えてしまいますから、ちょっと恥ずかしいですが、色々な友達も知らない人も我慢してくれますから、嬉しいです！そして、いい先生の授業に入れてよかったですね！頑張ります！
※もっと倹しくなってきました。日本は、食べ物が高いですから毎日気をつけます。自分で料理するようになっています。そういえば、初めて自分で大好きな鍋を作りました！やっぱり簡単な日本料理が出来るかもしれませんね！
※探検するのが大好きです。お金をかからないし、写真がたくさん取れます。この頃、天気はよく曇りです。そして、多くの名古屋の建物が綺麗だと言えませんが、なかなかよく見たら、ここでしか見つけられない綺麗な事はいっぱいあるとすぐ気がつきます。冬なのに、あるところで花が咲いています。近所の人たちの庭は小さいですが、はっきりよく世話をされています。混んでいる場所で、色々な日本語の発音し方を聞いて、面白い表現も聞くのを楽しみます。高いおかの上から、キラキラな山も港が全部で見えます。雨の日にも、宣伝の反射は美しいです。
自分で歩いている時に、「アメリカにいる友達と家族と先生がここに来たら、日本についてどう思うかな？好きかな？」とよく考えています。国にいるみなさんが会いに来てほしいです！色々な日本の事を教えたいですが、ブログであまり意味が強くないと思います。でも、この写真を見たら、わかるかもしれませんね。では、寒い天気で気をつけてくださいね！じゃ、またね。
Good evening from Nagoya. I have recently started classes at Nanzan University, and school is more interesting and fun than I had imagined! So far classes are all going well. My teachers and classmates are interesting people and generally very nice. I am in Japanese classes all morning each day, and afterwards on some days I study Japanese foreign policy, economics, and calligraphy. I am also starting a semester-long independent research project on traditional Japanese aesthetic and how it shapes modern design here. So I am very thrilled about all of that. Also, Nanzan is much, MUCH smaller than the classes I am used to taking at UNC (some with over 200 people). My biggest class here at Nanzan is only 25 students. It's a huge change for me. But even so, I am really enjoying my studies and all of the participation opportunity I could ever wish for!
Anyways, since my arrival I have noticed some amusing changes about myself lately as I adapt to life on the far eastern side...
• I love the bread here. Of all foods to choose from here, I am set on convenience-store bread, especially melon bread (which contains no melon but is shaped like one.) It's inexpensive, flaky, yeast-y, mildly sweet, soft, and surprisingly high-quality (like most food here). The local melon bread industry may have gotten a revenue boost from me in my first few days here, but now I'm (trying) to maintain my Melon-bread Consumption Average to about one per week... so that I don't start looking like a melon bread.
• In the subways, even when there are plenty of free seats, I just stand the whole way without noticing until my legs hurt. I don't know why I do that. Maybe my book is too interesting.
•I miss studying biology, a lot. The type of thinking and mental discipline required by biology is simply different from that needed for Japanese. I love Japanese, but biology is my major, and I really treasure it. I'm blessed that I was able to choose a major that I really love. Somedays I think about climbing through a window into some other school's biology class and just listening in. It would probably be fun. Anyhow, I have contacted the nearby Nagoya University to see if I could possibly take up a volunteer position in their lab. We'll see what I hear back from them about that slim chance!
•I like walking through Japanese shops, big and small. I always liked Japanese aesthetics, but I have been impressed with the subtlety and originality in which stores display various goods here. In less flowery language, I am a chronic window shopper. Probably my favorite store so far is the stationary store above Nagoya train station - pictures to come.
•My Japanese is weak. But I can get by through life here without English... at the mercy of patient strangers and friends who help me along and must try hard not to laugh at my grammatical follies. Thankfully my Japanese class is wonderful, so I look forward to trying hard in that one!
•I have become very economical these days, because things are pricey here, especially food! For instance, I am getting started with cooking most meals at home. I was happy to successfully make my first Korean hotpot the other day! Maybe I can cook a little Asian cuisine after all!
•I like to explore a lot because a) it's free and b) I can take pictures when I explore. I also enjoy my long-distance running forays into the nearby neighborhoods, which are explorations themselves. In these winter days, the skies are often grey and the wind is cold. Also, I can't exactly say that most of Nagoya's industrial-style buildings are beautiful. Plenty of them are just ugly. But that doesn't matter to me so much at all, because when I look closer I can see that there is beauty all around. I can see winter flowers blooming in secret parks, and the precious little potted gardens fill my neighborhood's quiet nooks and crannies with greenery. Even on rainy days, the brilliant signs and billboards reflect off the shining pavement to make a sparkling watercolor.
•Finally, when I am walking alone, I find myself imagining what it would be like if all the special people I knew at home were here with me in Japan and what they would think of this country. Would they like it? I don't know. There are so many things about Japan that I want to show you, but it's a bit challenging for me to do so in a blog. I am hoping that the photos I have added will help fill in the gaps.
Talk to you later! Take care in the cold weather.
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