So classes officially started this week. Had my first lecture on Tuesday with Prof Clammer on Contemporary Urban Society of Japan. It's pretty cool this guy is British but he teaches in Japan. He says he's part of a research team that works for the UN. The classes here are only once a week but they're like 3 hours long!! Then after class I went to a Tea Ceremony at the Millennium House on the Kanda campus. We all got to try to make the tea. You have to mix the tea and the hot water really fast using only your forefinger and your thumb. We also ate these sweets with it which were shaped like sakura and lily flowers. There are certain things that you have to do during the tea ceremony (depending on the type of school you go to) and becoming a tea master takes a really long time. Usually most tea masters are over 50 years old.

Then on Wednesday I went to my Field Placement Interview which is on the Yamanote Line. The commute is about an hour and it totally sucks. I really really don't like public transportation. I had to leave my dormitory around 10:30 am to get to the closest station. Then I had to transfer twice. I met up with one of the IES staff members Yamamoto-san so that she could take me to the interview location. A lot of the streets in Japan don't have any names and most people will tell you how to get to a certain location by using stores... Anyway while I was riding the train to get to Shin-Okubo where my interview was, I was feeling progressively warmer. By the time the interview finished I was burning up. I had to go back to where the IES center was so that another staff member could take me to the clinic. My temperature was 38.9 C.. which is equivalent to 102 F. At first they thought I had influenza.. which would have been HORRIBLE, but I didn't so it was all good. I was just given a bunch of pills to take.

Today I stayed home to recuperate and missed my first day of Japanese class. =P Hope it goes away by tonight!! Need to go to class tomorrow. ...

So classes officially started this week. Had my first lecture on Tuesday with Prof Clammer on Contemporary Urban Society of Japan. It's pretty cool this guy is British but he teaches in Japan. He says he's part of a research team that works for the UN. The classes here are only once a week but they're like 3 hours long!! Then after class I went to a Tea Ceremony at the Millennium House on the Kanda campus. We all got to try to make the tea. You have to mix the tea and the hot water really fast using only your forefinger and your thumb. We also ate these sweets with it which were shaped like sakura and lily flowers. There are certain things that you have to do during the tea ceremony (depending on the type of school you go to) and becoming a tea master takes a really long time. Usually most tea masters are over 50 years old.

Then on Wednesday I went to my Field Placement Interview which is on the Yamanote Line. The commute is about an hour and it totally sucks. I really really don't like public transportation. I had to leave my dormitory around 10:30 am to get to the closest station. Then I had to transfer twice. I met up with one of the IES staff members Yamamoto-san so that she could take me to the interview location. A lot of the streets in Japan don't have any names and most people will tell you how to get to a certain location by using stores... Anyway while I was riding the train to get to Shin-Okubo where my interview was, I was feeling progressively warmer. By the time the interview finished I was burning up. I had to go back to where the IES center was so that another staff member could take me to the clinic. My temperature was 38.9 C.. which is equivalent to 102 F. At first they thought I had influenza.. which would have been HORRIBLE, but I didn't so it was all good. I was just given a bunch of pills to take.

Today I stayed home to recuperate and missed my first day of Japanese class. =P Hope it goes away by tonight!! Need to go to class tomorrow. ...