"Think I'm Just Too White and Nerdy"

Yes, Weird Al Yankovic is amazing. Always has been, probably always will be.


Anyways, to continue my 'syllabus free' dilemma from yesterday.

I decided to count up how many units and individual lessons there were in my Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1. There are 4 units total, from things like basics to shopping. There are 4 core lessons at about 30 minutes each, then a selection of 5-15 minute lessons on grammar, speaking, reading, etc.

It ends up being 41 lessons in each of the 4 units.

I decided I could handle 10 lessons a week, since the majority are fairly short and would probably only total a few hours a week.

I got super nerdy when I sat down to write a pseudo-syllabus. Picture dates and lessons written up on a Word document. Yes, I'm that kind of nerd.

Anyways, I thought it must be some kind of sign that the schedule I followed will finish on Saturday October 29th, just one short day before my birthday! Coincidence? Maybe, but I figured it was a good end point and dove right in. Now all I have to do is print up my nerdy syllabus (even my husband laughed when he found out what I was doing, then we spent a good chunk of time comparing nerdy tendencies and making fun of each other). Then get crackin' on my Japanese skillz! It's far past time I learned more than the basic "hello" "goodbye" "excuse me" and "thank you".

I'm putting off the literature dilemma for a while longer while I focus on Rosetta Stone. I figured if I piled too much on at once I'd be more likely to dump it all off my plate.

Off to work on my Japanese!

Hitting the Books...Not

It's been about 6 months since I graduated with my B.A. in English. (Trust me, I just paid the first payment on my student loans.) It's been wonderful not stressing out about the exams, papers, and projects due each month. It's been nice taking my time reading what books I choose and at what pace I prefer. I don't miss the long commute of my last university, an hour each way, or the long nights of burying my head in a book so I'd be prepared for discussion the next day.





I do miss the discussion though. And the challenge. And the ability to look at a book and see it a different way than someone else, then prove my point using words or letters on a page. Obviously learning doesn't end the moment you leave the classroom, especially for someone who enjoys learning everything she can about the world.

I finished school with gaps in my literature experience. I'm fairly well read in British literature through the Victorian Era and American literature up to WWI. But after that, everything's fairly unknown. The obvious solution is to continue reading "the classics" on my own until I'm comfortable with my knowledge of American and British literature. (I'm not even going to get started on World Literature, although those were some of my favorites in college. It's a little more of an overwhelming topic to cover.)





But I've found one big problem in my quest to fill in the gaps of my education: there's no syllabus after graduation. Meaning even though I intend to read that classic book, there's nothing stopping me from picking up the fluff love story right next to it and putting it off for another day. It's not like I have an exam or paper to prepare for; there's nothing stopping me from putting it off. And put it off I have. I was unemployed for 4 months, unless you call 'housewife' a job (which I don't), and could have easily read through a good chunk of literature. I did read a good amount, but it was all romantic fluff and murder suspense.

So my knowledge of literature has not grown much since I graduated. I'd really like to change that situation at some point.




There's also another subject I've neglected to study as I had intended to when I moved to Japan. I'll let you guess. Now, if you were moving to another country, where you've never been and are relatively unfamiliar with, what's the first thing you'd want to do? Study the language? Yeah, probably.





My wonderful parents gifted me with Rosetta Stone for Japanese Level 1, knowing I'd want to learn some of the language of the country I'd be living in. I eagerly dove into the first couple lessons, excited about my new adventure. Then I put it aside to finish my degree and get myself moved over here. Then...it sat. And sat. I pulled it out once with all the intentions of using it daily while I was being a boring housewife, but that lasted all of a day or two. Why?!? I have this great tool to learn some of the language all around me and I let it sit.

What's the problem? Oh yeah, no syllabus, no structure, no exam staring me down.





I haven't figured out a solution to my problem, I'm just sharing.

I'm toying with the idea of being a total nerd and making out a self-imposed "syllabus" complete with some kind of reward at the end of the list. But I'd need to find a suitable reward to motivate me, and find a reason not to give in to all my excuses "I'm too tired from work, it's not like I'm getting GRADED here."

I'm thinking it over. I'm thinking being a nerd and giving myself some structure would be the solution to my problem, if I can find the determination to stick with it. (Maybe I should add working out into that syllabus, since my motivation has been failing me in that department as well!) I'm also thinking some reflective or persuasive writing could help, since the discussion and paper writing is what I miss most about studying literature. I suppose I could share that here, which would hold me accountable somewhat, but it'd be pretty boring unless you've read the material. Hm.

I'll let you know when I've decided what to do. Maybe posting my self-imposed structure all over the world wide web will make me feel like I need to do it. Maybe.

I know before I begin my quest to fill in the gaps of my literature, I need to figure out what authors and works should be included in each era. I have some anthologies on hand and some professors available by email that would make quick work of that though. One decision I'm still debating is whether I want to study one time period at a time, in a similar fashion to a course. Like when I took Victorian Literature and studied the authors, works, history, culture, and emerging science of the period all in one big chunk. Or if it'd be more entertaining to jump around a bit, say read one contemporary American novel, then jump back in time to a British novel from the 1900's, then to another time period, etc. This dilemma probably doesn't interest anyone but me, but it is something I'm still trying to work out before I decide to invent some type of syllabus for myself.




Clearly I have some thinking and planning to do. Luckily organizing is a favorite past time of mine...

Something's Not Quite Right...

Life in Japan isn't all that different from life in America, especially when living on a U.S. Military base. In my day to day life, I still communicate in English, use debit cards and American currency, go to work and talk with American children going to school and learning English, Math, Science, etc. My husband and I live in a very Americanized apartment building, with little identifying it as a Japanese built apartment complex. We cook on American appliances and do our laundry in full-sized American dryers. We sleep on our American furniture that we shipped over here when we moved. If you wanted to, you could forget for a few hours or even a few days that you didn't actually live in the states.

Until you want to go somewhere other than the BX or Commissary of course, and have to exchange some of that American money for yen. Or drive to work and get in the car on the right side instead of the left, and then drive on the left side of the road. Oh, and recognize the Japanese road signs. And if you drive off base, you leave a lot of that American safe bubble behind. Quite a few Japanese do speak English and there are a lot of places that cater to American business right outside the gate, but things are different.

I thought I'd try to share a little more detail about what's different over here. Everyone can guess the obvious language barriers and quick math needed to convert American money to yen and back again, but there are obviously a lot of little things that add up to make the overseas experience unique.

Today I'm going to show you how that unique experience plays out on my computer!

If I have deleted my browsing history or stumble upon a new site, it will often identify my location (Japan) and guestimate who I am and what I speak/read from there. So I stumble upon a lot of sites in Japanese.

Even familiar ones...



Like Google..





(I have to click a "Google in English" option, and then the computer remembers my preference until I delete my history and have to do it again.)


I also experience it when I decide to do some online window shopping. Like at American Eagle...



Who very nicely identifies my location and uses my local currency of yen. (Again, there's an option to change your location, which takes some guessing since everything's written in Japanese, and it will save your preference.)


Blogger never communicates with me in English unless I'm signed in...



Most of the time I can't even figure out what it's asking or telling me because its default communication seems to be Japanese, which I cannot understand. Even when I'm logged in I still get some Japanese, which confuses and frustrates me!


Facebook is my favorite...mainly the sponsored ads section. Sometimes I get ads written in English but focused in Japan. I see one pretty frequently about hiring a personal trainer in Tokyo. Sometimes they're in Japanese and I'm lost.







So my internet experience is often finding Japanese writing and prices in yen and then searching for something that looks like it will change everything back to English. It provides a little entertainment or frustration depending on my mood and reason for being on the internet.

Luckily, this little quirk doesn't really affect my life much. Because the internet is so huge now, almost every site has the option to change languages and even currencies. Most stores are willing to ship to APO addresses, and stores like Amazon offer the same shipping costs and ship consistently quickly all the way over here.

I should provide more detail about shopping in another post, but obviously shopping is limited to the BX and Japanese stores. Online shopping has become a favorite of mine, and Amazon is particularly dangerous because it does ship so quickly and at an affordable cost. And it stocks nearly everything a person could ever want. And I find a lot of things I want, need, or never knew I needed until Amazon helped me find them. But I'll save my love for Amazon for another post too.