Hooray! My first blog entry (is long overdue)!

Please pretend that this first entry was posted a week earlier and you will save me some embarrassment of having to explain why I just started it even though I'm entering my third week here.  It's been a busy two weeks, but I'll try to relate the most important/interesting parts, consolidating the first week in this blog entry.

This blog is dedicated solely to my short-term stay in Kyoto, Japan.  For those of you who read my blog, Yoroshiku Kisetsu (http://meronichigo.blogspot.com/), that was about my study abroad experience in Chiba, Japan.

See how one blue dot is more left than the other blue dot?  I am in the left blue dot now.  If you squint real hard, you might see me..

I am currently taking summer Japanese classes at Doshisha University.  In comparison to Chiba, it is nearly the same experience, but there are many more foreigners than before.  As a result, you see things like this…

It would appear as though I missed the job fair (harumph)

Other than that, on the trip I’m with there are about 29 other Americans.  Half of us are living in apartments and half us of are homestaying.  Currently I’m homestaying, but this will halfway through.

I’ve enjoyed my experience so far.  It’s pretty much been like this:

Thursday: Go to hotel in D.C.

Friday: Orientation

Saturday: Jet over to Japan

Sunday: Stay in a hotel (that I’ve actually stayed at before)

Monday: Go to school, get more oriented, take a placement test, get even more oriented, meet host family, go live with host family for one month~

And since then, I have had not a second to spare.  Except for reading blogs and watching dramas when I have no energy to be doing "should" things like studying and job searching...

My host family has 5 people; Parents, a brother (older) and twin sisters (younger); AND a shiba inu!

She wants my breakfast.  It's hard to resist that face.

 

Apparently the older brother heard of this recruitment for host families for this program and one of the sisters was eager to do it and even sacrificed her room!  It is a super pink room, which is amusing because she dresses very cordially although she seems to have a passion for American football.
She also likes animals, which I think is very agreeable.

Two days after arrival I had my first day of classes.  They were pretty straightforward.  I placed into the advanced level and there are six people in our class.  Classes remind me a lot of the ones at Chiba, so I'm beginning to think that most Japanese courses in Japan are structured this way.  Although some of the content is overlapping, it might as well be new material, since I haven't reviewed it in a year.

Every week we also have to meet with our assigned tutors for at least three hours.  Mine is studying English and is involved in an art club.  She is really chill and helpful.  We will probably go to an art museum in the near future.

The first Wednesday we went to Osaka to visit the consulate there and again I received a recruitment speech to join the foreign service.  I was almost sold, but somehow spending two years studying a language I'm not familiar with and having to cram a bunch of history and politics in order to do so does not exactly seem like my cup of tea.

Afterwords, our group broke off  to get dinner at a mall in Osaka.  About 8 of us wandered around until we found a place to eat that wasn’t to crowded.  At last, a table with 8 seats and a kind manager was to be found in a ramen restaurant in the station!  We were quite lucky!

The first Saturday one of the host sisters and I went into Kyoto to visit my favorite Kinkakuji

and Kiyomizu dera

Kiyomizu dera has some pretty amusing legends (ie. “If you make a wish, jump off this cliff and survive, your wish will come true!” And “if you touch this rock and walk with your eyes closed until you reach the other rock and then touch that one, you will have true love or something.  If you need help getting to that rock, be prepared to need a lot of advice” or something to that effect.)

We had a filling lunch at a cafe on the way to Kiyomizu, so when we went to this well-known open market, it was very hard not to feel queasy.  All kinds of seafood smells assailed me at first!  There was also lots of pickled produce, candy, snacks and so on.  Afterwards we got some donuts in a café with a view of Kyoto tower! (lol) Donuts in Japan are not fried, and more resemble cake.

Voila octopus LOLlies!

crabs.. I hope they find a good home

After that we got home and went out to eat (again! But with the family this time) to a kaiten sushi restaurant.  (Apologies as I completely forgot to take pictures this time, but I want to preserve some semblance of doubt that I am a shameless tourist)

The following day was again spent meandering around various temples and shrines (Sen-in, Heian jinguu) whose pictures I haven't gotten around to uploading yet.  My host family kindly dropped me off at my future apartment, where a curry party was being held.  I went mainly to see what kind of accommodations they had, and as it turns out, they have some pretty nice accommodations!  There is a washing machine in the apartment!  In addition to kitchen ware!  And a television... oh my I will be so spoiled.  And lonely without cockroaches... heh heh heh.  But I sure can wait, as I have no desire to leave my host family right away.  The 40-minute commute to school and back in a sardine can is no match for delicious meals!

Biwa: Fruit, instrument, and lake I live near.

Unfortunately, living far away does have its setbacks, as I must wake earlier to get to my 9AM classes on time.  So enjoy your 11AM, knowing that it is 12AM here and I am finally setting aside important sleeping time to put together this blog post.  Enjoy this post, it may be your last! (for awhile)