Volleyball and Chinese are the only "regular" classes that I am taking along with Japanese students (due to my low proficiency). Otherwise, I am taking Japanese language courses, Economics courses, and Architectural Design with fellow international exchange students.
Japanese girls appeared to me as the scariest creatures when I first stepped into the class. It was quite intimidating, seeing cliques throughout the gym. Not to mention, I had to personally meet with the gym teacher before enrolling in the class.
First off, I had to do a self introduction in front of 50+ people. Fortunately, I have become quite custom to it. I must have done dozens of self introductions in classes, welcome parties, or casual conversations. In the end, it wasn't as horrible as I have imagined it to be. Like my Chinese class, I know what is going on; thereafter, it is much easier to comprehend without knowing what they are saying all the time.
The first day was extremely fun, frustrating, and intimidating. It was frustrating, because when a ball comes at me, I don't think in Japanese. Therefore, I would utter, "free" or "I got it!" I'd end up mumbling the end of a word or sentence. Because I have to speak Japanese entirely, there have been a few interesting stories. It's actually quite foolish of me. In fact, to the class, I am either really stupid or really... lost.
Story #1:
On the first day, as if it was not intimidating enough, I had to struggle through the directions to little games that we played. At one time, we were playing, "cat and mice." In Japanese, the words are "neko" (cat) and "nezumi" (mouse). Boy, "nezumi" became my vocabulary of the week. I don't think I will ever forget the word after what had happened.
Basically, (now that I know what was going on) we had two teams: the cats and the mices. I was one of the mice. I asked for interpretation, but by the second time, I gave up and said "wakatta" which means, "I understand." I figured, I'll survive when I look at what everyone else is doing. Boy, I was so wrong! For example, if the teacher was to call "cats," the cats would tag the mices who were standing on the other side of a line, 5 feet away. Notice that both "neko" and "nezumi" starts with the sound "ne". When Japanese is not your first or second language, you're screwed! Big time!
Anyway, not only was I tagged every time by this evil-looking girl, I couldn't tag anyone. In addition, I'm the last person to run to the other side (to catch the "cats"). So, I was stupid AND slow! In fact, at the last round, I ran to the person who was supposed to catch me! Doh!
Story #2
Each week, we would have a new team. Every time we have a new team, we would be given 5 minutes to do quick self introductions. Typically, you would tell them your full name, what year you are in, and what faculty you are in.
Before our scrimmages, we played games (again)! I never liked the idea of games after my first day. This time, it was easier to comprehend; we simply had to pass the ball around in a circle. The moment you pass it to another group member, you would have to call their name.
Before we started, we were in a circle, and everyone was reviewing their names. I was the last one to say my name, and everyone laughed. I lauged under pressure. I thought, perhaps, it is because my name is so different from everyone else's.
I managed to remember 3 names. There was "Hachi" who was on the left of me, "ichi" who was across from me, and "Nana" who was diagonal to me. I remembered "Nana," because there was a girl in the volleyball club who has the same name.
By the end of the class, I figured out why everyone laughed. Apparently, we weren't reviewing our names, we were counting in numbers around the circle. "Ichi", "hachi", and "nana" were 1, 8, and 7. Instead of calling their names, we had to call each other by numbers. I would have been "kyuu" (9), but instead, I said my name. *sigh*
Story #3
One day, while everyone was putting away the net, scoreboard, balls, etc., I found myself standing at the emptier part of the gym doing nothing. Since everyone was finishing up, I decided to head to the locker room. I changed and emptied my locker. By the time I walked out of the locker room, everyone was still in their gym clothes in a circle with the teacher in the center. I was about 30 feet away from them when they gave thanks to the teacher for the day. I decided to bow and say "arigatoo gozaimasu" like everyone else. Since it is extremely rare to find someone disrespectful, it was quite strange that I did it so casually.
To make matters worse, after the teacher looked at me (thankfully, he's really nice), everyone else did as well. All the girls were saying "Stephanie... (blah blah blah)," pointing, and laughing. All of the sudden, I'm like the class clown.
Sidenote:
What is really frustrating is that the word "kawaii" (cute). I don't think I need a bunch of Japanese girls to talk about how "cute" I am. In fact, I only call people "cute" when it's stupidly-cute.
I just hope that I won't do any more stretches that I am incapable of doing (like touching my toes and having someone pushing me down, forcefully).
Most importantly, no more games!
