One of the things that most attracted me to the Rotary Peace Fellowship was the chance to do the Applied Field Experience (AFE) in the summer between academic years.  We can do the AFE in whatever field we want though it can't be in our home country or in Japan.  The idea is to gain real-world experience in international relations and also develop a research-based project that can turn into the foundation of our M.A. thesis.


I knew from the beginning that I wanted to at least apply for a Department of State internship at one of the U.S. embassies abroad.  I had talked to a few other Peace Fellows who had done one and they had a very positive experience.  The other bonuses about doing such an internship now is that you have to be a full-time student to be eligible and also because the internship is unpaid.  While this would ordinarily be a huge roadblock, the benefit of being with Rotary is that the organization funds the AFE entirely so we are able to have the freedom to do whatever project or internship that we want - a pretty incredible opportunity! Other popular internships with fellows are interning at the UN or with an NGO.  

I had talked to several people before applying to an embassy internship because I knew they could be difficult to get.  My coordinator advised me to choose a country that wasn't a popular destination along with one that had a language requirement.  We settled on applying to Angola and Mozambique, two countries in Africa that have a Portuguese language requirement.  The application was due back in October and in early December I had interviews.



I found out last week that I was accepted at both embassies and ended up choosing Mozambique.  The internship is ten weeks from late June to late August during which I'll be working with the Public Affairs section of the embassy. This means that I get to focus on community outreach, English language education and international education/academic advising with students who are interested in studying abroad in the U.S.  I'm really excited and am already looking at ways to brush up on my Portuguese before leaving in June.

Though I was accepted, the actual process of making such an internship happen is far from over.  First, I have to be cleared in a federal background check which can take up to six months.  Though I'm not worried about passing, I'm worried about not getting cleared in time to start which is common for some interns who have traveled or lived in other countries quite a bit.  Getting a visa to Mozambique as an American in Tokyo can also be a bit tricky and I've already looked into that process.  Besides the piles of notarized and officially translated documents needed, Mozambique requires four consecutive blank pages in your passport, which I currently don't have.

Luckily, Sean noticed at the last minute that the U.S. embassy in Tokyo is still offering add-on visa pages to your passport, but only until December 31 of 2015 because of a new policy.  We managed to snag one of the last appointments for this and are headed there tomorrow with fingers crossed.  While Sean and I are really excited to receive quite a few visitors this year and next, I'm guess that visitors in Mozambique might not be so prolific.

ICU, unlike most Japanese universities, is divided into trimesters starting in September and going until the middle of June with the month of March off.  Before the holiday vacation, we had two weeks of classes which was just about enough to get a taste of what's to come.  This term I'm taking Japanese II, Anthropology of Social Problems, Social Stratification and Computing for Researchers.  I'm still teaching English at another university though thankfully, that contract is up at the end of January.  I'm also still TA'ing for a linguistics class and working with the the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through a Virtual Foreign Service Internship.  Though the schedule is busy, I'm really enjoying the life of teaching, studying and research. I have absolutely no idea how anyone manages this with a family, however, as the demands to be successful in academia are rigorous and oftentimes seem impossible even as a married person without kids.

Christmas Eve lunch in between teaching English classes at Meisei University

In Japanese, our class size dropped from ten students in JI to eight students now in JII.  It's the same students that we were with last trimester and by now we're a tightly knit community.  JII is a big jump from JI and the class moves much faster.  We have a different instructor who is excellent (did her PhD at OSU in the department of Asian languages) but is extremely difficult.  This class involves much more long readings, in-class short essay writing, projects and speeches.  In addition to our four hours of class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we also get one individual 20 minute appointment once a week one-on-one with the professor which is extremely valuable and very helpful.  I also have a weekly meeting with the same tutor I had last term. The professor consistently tells me that I need to work on my kanji recognition and production.  "Pay attention to balance, spacing, angle and flow" she tells me.  I feel like explaining it to her that if I could manage any one of those characteristics in any part of my life, much less all of them together, then perhaps my kanji would churn out gracefully.  That, or, I need hours more practice.

Loving the warm weather and taking advantage of it by sunning on the roof

So far my favorite class is Anthropology of Social Problems.  The professor is Japanese but did her doctorate at Penn and is married to an American.  This gives her a very unique and interesting perspective about what it means to be Japanese and some of the cultural differences that the Americans in the class are navigating.  Some of the things we've talked about so far are gender roles in Japan and Japanese family dynamics - it's been fascinating!  In the second 90 minutes of the class period she focuses on survey and questionnaire writing which is something that we'll get to try out on our own and then present on our own pilot study.

A close second favorite is Social Stratification that focuses on inequality in communities through themes such as poverty, gender and race.  The professor is from Michigan, incidentally, and is very easy for me to relate to.  He often uses examples from Michigan communities (Calvinism and Dutch culture to name two) and I find myself thinking "yes, of course!" as he describes how certain ideologies shape our lifestyle and upbringing.  He specializes in the Japanese "untouchable" classes and tries to give examples on Japan whenever he can.

Sean is cooking up a storm this break and I'm loving it! He made a day-after-Christmas Thanksgiving feast though the only turkey we could find was turkey spam

My least favorite class is Computing for Researchers.  I took the class along with another fellow because we both want to know how to use the open-source program called "R" to do some statistical analyses on our quantitative research data.  Though the class was described as open to beginners, it's way over my head as I have zero programming knowledge.  Instead of explaining how to use some basic language to give commands, the professor enjoys making us copy and paste elaborate coding sequences into the main screen to show off "What R can really do."  That being said, I just purchased the book "R for Everyone" and am hoping it can help me limp through the rest of the term on my own and at least learn the basics.

I am loving and cherishing every minutes of winter break (thus the increased blogging) and have a list a mile long of things I need and want to do.  It feels peaceful here not only because classes aren't in session and no one is around but also because I have the space and time to think about a new semester, a new year and a new start.  I hope that you have time to reflect about the old and the new as well.  Thanks for reading!

Visiting the crazy crowded German Christmas Market

Christmas abroad is never the same as when I'm home and this year was no different.  After one rushed and stressful first week of winter term classes and then teaching all day at Meisei University on Christmas Eve, I hurried home to catch most of the ICU campus Christmas Eve service.  Sean had opted to eat the cafeteria special dinner of turkey, roast beef, salad and bread for only 700 yen - what a deal! I grabbed a tuna sandwich while waiting for my last bus and showed up just in time to attempt to sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing in Japanese.  This amounted to me choppily blurting out the Hiragana sounds without any idea as to meaning but enjoying the beauty of the music and the moment nonetheless - a moment which sums up and acts as a metaphor for my entire experience in Japan.  Sometimes I go through the right motions, say the polite Japanese phrases but still haven't learned the layers of meaning that go along with them.  It's been a beautiful and incredible ride so far, however, and I'm truly enjoying the experience, tuna breath and all.


Back at home, after a Christmas beer and obligatory Christmas movie (we'e been watching one of our favorites every night: Home Alone, The Family Stone, Four Christmases, Elf, Christmas Vacation and Love Actually) we crashed with alarms set to get up at a decent time the next morning to prepare for a socially awkward Christmas party we were hosting, ho ho ho.

A special Christmas lunch from my English tutee, Nanako

I love Christmas and was lucky enough to have parents who did a superb job of sharing the Yuletide spirit. I grew up with advent calendars with small presents for each day leading up to the holiday.  My sister and I played parts in Christmas manger scenes in church and one time my tiny brown pony, "Sugarbabe", was chosen to be the holy donkey in a living pageant in a church near the farm.  It was thrilling and magical to ride in the dark dressed as Mary and then sit still, face hidden by robes, as churchgoers came to see.  Mom says that as a kid, I used to want to sleep under the beauty that was our decorated Christmas tree (chosen by our family and then cut by Dad with a saw, of course) and that I used to cry when we had to take it down after Christmas.

I was a kid who truly believed in Santa.  One year, I only told Santa the one gift I really wanted (a stuffed animal pony, obviously) and then was devastated when I didn't find it under the tree.  Now I feel awful when I think about what my parents must have felt and then how they tried to explain how it helps Santa if we're a little more vocal about what we want. Even now, when I hear adults joke about the ruse of Mr. Claus and his reindeer I cringe and think, do we have to talk about it? Can't we all just keep pretending and keep some sort of magic alive?

Blowing out the candles on the Christmas cake

This year Santa delivered goodies via several FedEx packages which were placed under our small tree in our similarly small Japanese apartment.  After a delicious Christmas breakfast of spam and eggs, we blasted Christmas music and tore into them.  Sean always has to take the customs list off of the boxes or otherwise I can't help myself from peeking about what's inside.  Favorite gifts included warm clothes and slippers from Mom and Dad and matching handcrafted his and hers Mt. Fuji mugs from Sean.  After cleaning up a bit, we made meatballs, deviled eggs, mulled wine and cupcakes and trooped downstairs to decorate our dorm's "Social Room" to get ready for the party.

A few weeks back, some of the Rotary fellows had approached us about hosting a Christmas party for students on campus who had no other friends or family around with whom to celebrate.  I thought it was a great idea and after making an online event complete with a detailed explanation of how to play the "White Elephant Game" about ten people arrived on Friday for the potluck lunch and game.  Though the table wasn't filled with my favorite usual delicacies on Christmas Eve, lunch was quite delicious and included Malaysian fish cakes, Thai green curry, rum balls, a vegetable tray with anchovy dip, spinach dip and a Japanese Christmas cake.  Playing the present-stealing game was a big hit and I had to keep emphasizing that the game is more fun if you "aren't nice" and steal what you really want.

Super awkward face of mine during the white elephant game - guess I didn't want that gift?

After saying goodbye to everyone, Sean and I took a Christmas walk, watched a holiday movie and went to bed early. According to him, I was snoring by nine and didn't wake up until twelve hours later - another fantastic Christmas present in and of itself.

Thus, Christmas break and winter term vacation are off to a good start.  I like making new traditions and having different experiences but it makes it a lot harder when the ones back home are so darn good.  That being said, I'll still probably still cry when Sean has to take the tree down because some things never change.

Everybody said that the fall colors in Japan would be breathtaking but I didn't really think they would like any different from Michigan.  But I was wrong.  The autumn colors are incredible! The main difference seems to be the Japanese Red Maples and the yellow Gingko trees - the colors are vibrant and almost seem fluorescent at times.  It's common to see people driving and walking around on campus frequently stop to admire or take pictures of the beautiful trees.  All of the pictures below were taking on campus by one of the Peace Fellows who is a great photographer, Rashmi.















My Japanese tutor pointed out to me that the Japanese kanji for "autumn" has the radical for "tree" and "fire" in the character which got me excited.  I thought it was so romantic to think of the meaning of fall as being the leaves literally ablaze.  However, the full meaning of the kanji is from the Chinese which combines the meaning of "field" with "fire" because years ago, the Chinese burned their fields after harvest in the fall to destroy locust eggs.  Not as pleasing of an image, but still interesting.

Japanese kanji character for "autumn"

I've been told that in the spring when the cherry blossoms come out that it's even more beautiful.  I can't wait to see that!

Class registration day was last Thursday and the first day of the winter term was on Friday.  Registering for classes reminded me once again how contradictory Japan sometimes is in terms of modern technology.  In a country so efficient and convenient in some areas (transportation, unlimited vending machines and 24 hour convenience stores etc.) it's continually surprising to me when I run into situations like registration day.

Many moons ago when I was an undergraduate at Hope College, we were able to do online class registration.  As students, we received an email informing us of our registration window according to the number of credits that we had accumulated.  When our window arrived, we logged in to the campus server, registered for open classes and that was that.

Registration at ICU is an entirely different beast.  For starters, it has to be done in person and on one single day.  If you can't be there to do it, you have to pay a hefty fine and take part in late registration.  There are many steps to the registration process.  First I headed over to the single computer lab on campus to wait in line for an open computer.  After about fifteen minutes I got a computer and had to log in three different times in three separate ways in order to access the registration screen.  I chose my classes, clicked print, then logged out of everything.

Vending machine for certificate stamps

Next I left my computer station and stood in line at the printer.  After about fifteen minutes I reached the printer console and logged in once again to access my document.  After it was printed, I headed off to another building where my adviser's office is located.  After standing in line for another fifteen minutes, I had a ten minute required mini-conference with my adviser who looked at my grades from last semester, looked over my class selection for the upcoming term and signed the paper.  I signed the paper as well and then left the office, vacating the space for the next student.

With paper and ID in hand, I headed to the second-to-last stop of the day where I waited in another line to turn in the signed paper.  Once I reached the start of the line, I handed in the paper, showed my ID and walked to the bookstore for the final stop of the day.  ICU has a campus bookstore that has school supplies and some course textbooks, but for some reason, a few books are only available for purchase on registration day.  Such was the case for my Japanese textbooks.



At this stop, I walked upstairs in the administration building to wait in line to purchase "certificate stamps" for the price of my books.  Then I took the stickers that the machine spit out back downstairs to the cashiers and attendants to receive a receipt and my Japanese books.

The ridiculousness of this process is heightened by the fact that at ICU, there is no limit on class size.  Thus, students are rushing around and standing in line to sign up for classes that any number of people can sign up for.  Sadly, to drop or add a class or make any changes requires a similar amount of work and we have a one week window to do it.  I already know I'm going to drop a class and just the thought of going through all that again is enough to bring on a mild anxiety attack.  When is the vending machine for the entire registration process going to come out?

Books in hand - success!

Since we didn't have the cash for a vacation this break, we decided to do one "big" activity together in Tokyo.  Sean suggested that we do a sushi class and after some research we decided on the sushi class that a small cooking school in Tokyo offers.  The class was from 11-2 and there were six people including us - a couple from New Zealand and a mother and daughter from Singapore.


The class was great mostly because of the teacher who was not only adorable and friendly, but very informative.  She started off by explaining a little about the history and the different types of sushi and then gave us a workshop demonstration about how to make our own miso soup from scratch.



Then we started in on preparing the rice which involved mixing in exact amounts of vinegar, sugar and salt - we used small scales to do this.  We had to mix everything together while the rice was still hot and while Sean mixed, I had to use a fan to cool the rice down rapidly so that it would stay "shiny" and thus create a better presentation at the end.  To prepare each bit of rice for the fish, we measured out 19-20 grams and then molded it in a special way in our hands.  This part was the trickiest and I never really got the hang of it.  After that, we wrapped all of our rice bits in plastic wrap so they wouldn't dry out.



The second part of the class involved making traditional sushi rolls which was a lot of fun.  First we spread out rice on a piece of seaweed which was on top of a bamboo mat.  Then we added toppings (fish, cucumber and egg) and rolled everything together.  Again, this called for a bit of technique that was harder than it appeared when our teacher did it.  After that, we used very sharp knives to cut the rolls into pieces.

Finally, we put everything together and arranged it on a plate along with miso soup, soy sauce, wasabi, ginger and sake.  We each got to try nine different types of sushi including three types of tuna, squid, salmon and some others that I don't remember the names.  It was a great lunch and so much food that I couldn't finish everything.  We had a great time and would definitely go back to attend the other class that she offers - how to do a bento box.

Readying the tree for the bike ride home

Fresh holly all over the place

To be honest, I don't care that much about holiday decorating but Sean is a huge fan.  Couple that with the fact that he is currently jobless and we have ended up with a very festive-looking apartment, to put it mildly.  Christmas Tree Purchase discussions started in early November and ended up with Sean picking out a smallish artificial tree which he, by some miracle, was able to transport home on his bike.  There are Christmas lights on our headboard, fresh holly in vases, Michael Bublé Christmas album on repeat and not an Ebenezer Scrooge to be found.  We've even found some interesting Christmas beer to sample which is helpful for those of us who have to cope with the extra jolly holiday fanatic types.  Did I mention that you're always welcome to come over for some extra Glogg?

Christmas beer

"Breakdance Santa" urges you to get into the holiday spirit with shouts of "Let's all out" and "It's dope!"