Hey All,
This week is pretty busy and it's flying by fast. Yesterday was the big orientation day - I attended the general meeting, took a placement test, consulted with faculty, paid my tuition bills, and a bunch of other stuff. Haley and I went to the convenience store on campus to check it out, and to get dinner.
I got one of those instant ramen things that are pretty good. Basically, each meal has been about 300 yen, which is not bad at all. We got some melon pan too, and it was really good. At the cafeteria today, we are going to get ramen! even though that means you actually have to talk to the serving lady to tell her what you want. I think I've worked up enough courage to do that. It'll be an adventure, my first real ramen. Exciting!
After orientation, Haley and I were both pretty tired, so we just went straight back to the dorm at around 4. On the way back there's a clothes store, and we went in there.The store is like a TJ Maxx or something, but it has this little section that's devoted to miscellaneous kids stuff. I saw tons of Pokemon. DBZ, and surprisingly, Keroro Gunsou merchandise. Appears that stuff is big here. We saw some cheap slippers, only like 300 yen or so. AFter wandering around a bit, we went back to the room. We watched the final (FINAL) episode of KKM, which was very good, and then i made my instant ramen stuff. I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out the Japanese TV schedule, and I determined that Bleach would air on TV Tokyo at 7:26 PM (not 7:30, not even 7:25, but 7:26). So, I flipped thru some channels, and found it!
Some of you reading this may not understand how big a deal this is for me. But I have been watching Bleach for about two years now, and to see it actually on TV, actually airing, not having to wait and watch it later, it was just amazing. Commercials are funny too, and I never get to see those. Of course it was just in raw Japanese, no subtitles, and it was hard to understand. But i picked up the key plot points. Tomorrow, I will try to catch another of my favorite animes, Naruto, same time and channel.
But just being down in the common room watching TV allowed me to meet some more of the international students that came. I hadn't really explored my dorm yet. The kitchen is quite expansive, and there's a big lounge too with two TVs. I just stayed the rest of the night in the room, there's really not alot in the dorms' immediate surroundings to explore. But Haley just went to Hirakata City today to go to the bank, and she says there's more stuff there, which is exciting. We'll go soon, now that Haley has money and the brunt of Orientation week is over. Tomorrow there's a school-sponsored trip to Kyoto, which'll be great in really getting to know the area.
Guess what! We found our first example of Engrish in the convenishop. It's a cute little folder with a whale on it. (For those of you who don't know, Engrish is mispelled or mistaken English that is used for effect by Japanese people who don't bother to hire a translator). Here's a pic of Haley holding it:
I'm sure many, many more examples will follow. We have vowed to be avid Engrish hunters, and even submit an example to Engrish.com.
Guess what #2! I just got my homestay info in my mailbox! Here's the specs: a Dad, a Mom and a little sister Mayu, who's in elementary school. They live 45 mins from campus, and I can take the bus. They have a pet goldfish and a cat. My room size will be 6 tatami mats, which is about....110 sq ft. I have no visual conception of how big that is, but I bet it's not too big. That's ok. I'm really excited to meet them on Sunday and go to their house.
Ok that's all for now. More information as events warrant.
-Kim
Hey All,
My flight was pretty uneventful. I met Haley at four in the morning at the Portland Airport, and we boarded our flight. (Oh btw, guess who I saw at the airport, sitting right across from me - my math professor from last semester! (Otto, the one who gave me a bad grade in DiffEq)) So we pretty much slept on that flight from Maine to Detroit, and then hung around in the airport from 9 - 12 waiting for the connecting flight. I met up with Sam, whom I haven't seen in months, and her boyfriend Jake. We were pretty excited to all be going together. The plane ride itself was long, but not entirely boring. We were generally angered that we didn't get the plane where there are individual video monitors in the seat in front of you, and so we only saw where we were flying over for like, the first hour, and after that they just showed stupid movies. Haley and I watched KKM (anime) on my laptop for a while. Airplane food is not good, but the novelty of it makes it good, at least to me. Then we got off, went through a very minimal amount of customs, and met our pickup guy. There we were!
Long ride, like an hour and a half, to campus. I really really wanted to fall asleep but I resisted the temptation. I was told I was living in dorm #4, and lugged my stuff (quite alot of it) to the building. I was greeted by both Japanese and Americans who clearly wanted to me nice to me, but I was in absolutely no mood to be social so I said little to nothing and just let them lead me to my room. I'm only staying in the dorm for the rest of the week until we go to our homestays. In this interim, they cram us in already fully occupied rooms. I had to squeeze in amongst the two other girls who are living in there. The room is pretty small, all tatami mat with a little desk section in the back. We sleep in the floor on those mats, which aren't bad but are hard on my back (I'm just not used to them). So I crashed and slept late into the next morning.
Next day, I got up and decided to walk to campus. What a long walk! From living at Colby, where all buildlings are 5 mins max away from each other, this was insane. It took a half hour to get there! But on the way I got to look at my surroundings more closely. It's part rural, part industrial area. We pass a Komatsu (maker of construction equipment) plant on our way to the university. There's shops and houses, minor construction going on, and lots (LOTS) of bikes and mopeds. This is the only country where you'll see some granny zipping along on a moped. I got a little lost, and must have looked it, because some Japanese guard laughed at me as I passed, and a Russian exchange student came up to me and asked me if I needed help. I had her lead me to campus, and the international building. I thought I wouldn't see Japanese students, but here they were - but they won't be around for long. They're taking their final exams right now, so by next week the campus will be deserted. The most striking thing about these young Japanese is what they wear. Each and every girl looks like she came out of a fashion magazine, and no less for the boys. I feel so unkempt and uncool walking among them, sticking out like a sore thumb in more way than one. Even the guys are very well-kept, often putting as much effort into fashion and hairstyles as the girls. And there are very few exceptions to this rule. Its such a far cry from what you see on an American campus, where everyone walks around in hoodies and jeans, and showers only once in a while. I saw the grand total of ONE Japanese girl who was wearing a sweatshirt. It's a very interesting cultural difference. And intimidating too.
I attended the session on how to set up a bank account with Haley. It's very very unnecessarily difficult to do it. You need to sign forms in triplicate, matching your address and name exactly how they appear in your passport, including caps or commas. The reason is, Japanese bankers wont' be able to read our address or names. They'll just be able to tell whether one picture looks like another - whether the image of our address on our passport looks like the image of what we write on the form. Therefore, we need to copy it exactly. I got it at the first try; Haley had to redo a form. But we wont' even be able to access our bank accounts for two weeks, and Haley had to change over some Traveler's checks. So we walked around looking for a bank that would do it. Two hours of walking, and no luck. I understood enough the ladies were telling us that there was no bank in the area that would do it; we'd have to find a bigger one. We'll do it later this week. Then Haley and I went back to my room and watched some more KKM and chatted with my roommates, who also like anime, as we discovered.
Today orientations starts in full swing, and I've got to go now and get ready for it. I'll update later with more events, and pictures when I take them. Cya!
