First day of classes.

Today was my first day of classes. Unfortunately, my schedule is pretty bad.. every single day. Here's my tentative schedule.. it may change later.

Monday
9:00 - Reading and Writing Japanese
10:00 - Spoken Japanese
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4:00 pm - Sexuality and Culture in Japan


Tuesday
10:00 - Spoken Japanese

Wednesday
10:00 - Reading and Writing Japanese
11:00 - Spoken Japanese
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4:00 pm - Manga and Anime


Thursday
9:00 - Spoken Japanese
10:00 - Reading and Writing Japanese
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4:00 pm - Sexuality and Culture in Japan

Friday
10:00 - Spoken Japanese
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4:00 - Manga and Anime


So, it really sucks that all of my days have a super long break in the middle, from 4 to 5 hours. But at least I live close enough to campus that I can easily return home in that break.


Picture time!!

I haven't really been taking pictures, been more distracted by settling in and everything, so here's the first batch. My living situation! (Probably boring for most of you, but I know mommy and daddy want to see.)

My dorm room. Our futons are unrolled and everything. They can also be folded to a small size and used as a fluffy seat. We get lazy and leave them unfolded. This room's not usually this messy. (My side of the room is the right, with the purse on the bed.)

LET'S GO TO THE BATHROOM!

You can't walk into the bathroom with your house slippers, silly. Kick off your slippers and slip on these 'toilet' slippers. They're officially approved for bathroom use. When you leave, of course, take these slippers off and put on your house slippers.

The magical toilet! It's a regular-looking toilet, except with this little "attachment" on the side. You can choose such awesome things as "Oshiri spray" = "Butt spray", Bidet, and Flushing Sound (japanese people are shy and don't want people to hear them pee, I guess). The toilet seat is automatically heated all the time, which is awesome.

I'm going to be taking more pictures and posting them in clumps, as they're related.

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Today I wandered around with a friend to find a small japanese restaurant. We were the only customers, and we had some delicious tempuradonburi (tempura fried shrimp, fish, and veggies on top of a bowl of rice). It was a bit more costly than cafeteria food, but we got to talk with the owner. He spoke very, very little english, so we got to practice a lot of Japanese with him. He was a funny guy, and it was really nice to get some exposure to Japanese. I think I'll return there soon, maybe just to have something to drink and talk to the owner. He seemed really happy to practice the words he knew in english (January, February, snow, go, famous, mother, father) and he asked us to come back soon to talk with him again.


I had my first fun experience as a gaijin the other day. Japanese people are generally really polite, and look away from me when they see me. It gets a little bizarre to be 'ignored' so thoroughly-- I could do just about anything while walking down the street and nobody would dare look at me. So, I find myself really entertained by children. They don't yet understand societal 'politeness' like adults do.


I was waiting at a crosswalk with a friend when a group of three little girls (really young, probably two were 5 and the other was 4 or 3) and they were being a bit loud and playful until they looked up and saw that we were foreigners. They went quiet and stared at us, whispering to eachother. It was pretty funny. Other kids have pointed, their parents quickly correcting them.


Wednesday I meet my Speaking Partner. This is more of an informal program where you're matched up with someone you can practice Japanese with, and you can meet with them as often as you want. If you don't get along, you can just stop meeting. Hopefully we can become friends!


On Thursday, I meet with my Home Visit family. It's like a homestay program, but I only go stay with them for a few weekends a month--- whenever they invite me over, basically. I haven't met them yet, but from their little introduction letter to me, they seem like fun. They have 3 golden retreivers and one poodle! I love dogs so I'm really excited. I'm going to teach their dogs english.


I bought a used bike the other day, for about 50 dollars. Japanese bikes are pretty hard to ride.. the wheels are really slim so you need good balance to keep from being wobbly. I only ride it to class when I'm feeling confident. The sidewalks are huge here, so it's a safe ride, but I'm so wobbly I've managed to get shaky and nearly crash into bushes and whatnot. I'm going to keep practicing though.


One more bit of news before I call it quits: I feel like I'm eating a lot, though I still seem to have lost some weight. I only know because I was able to put on some pants that got really tight due to holiday weight. They're still a bit tight, but definitely looser. Good sign!

Okay. That's all. More pictures to come soon, of the neighborhood I live in and the walk to campus.