My dorm room - futon beds right, my luggage in the left cabinet.

The past couple days were a bit busy. Sunday night I met a girl named Malia (spelled I have no idea how). She is from somewhere in the United States, her mother is a general contractor, and she came here early to ride around the subways and be a tourist with her mom.  Like most people here, she is very friendly. Maybe more than most. We made our way to the school for pre-orientation and a campus tour. On the way down the long back-road to the school we talked with some other students from the dorms. I've met a number of people so far, so Malia is just a sample of one of several that I've been acquainted with over the past few days.

Long side road from the back gate.

Book for Brynn on Valentine Chocolates

As I still had a nasty headache from dehydration, jet lag, and sinus combined, I instantly forgot how to find my way anywhere after the tour and bumbled around making appointments and trying to get things paid and turned in. Fortunately I met Sae for lunch. We ate at the cafeteria and I had pork cutlet on rice. Like much of the food in Japan, it was tasty, but pricey. Even getting the small bowl it was 250￥(about $3.30), and the cafeteria is one of the cheapest around, I hear. She helped me bumble around campus and get my fees paid, and to my computer registration appointment (which I had signed up for the time of 14:00, but misread it as 4 o'clock and came late. However, they were very kind and still met with me for the set-up anyways). And then we went on a tour of the super markets over south-west of the school where I bought some breakfast foods, superglue for my broken Bose, nail polish remover (called enamel remover here), haichu (so tastey! had to try the soda flavors), tampons (uncommon to use here), and headache medicine (expensive! but i found a fairly cheap option with acetaminophen in it). I also grabbed a Valentine's Chocolate Recipe book for Brynn, but I'm still wondering how to get it to her, or if I should send it because it's all in Japanese. It was only ￥100 ($1.25). The whole way we talked both Japanese and English (more English, because my speaking skills are much more limited than hers). I would constantly ask her how to say things, and a lot of time she would say “エー英語を忘れちゃった!”(Eeh, I forgot English!) or something to that effect. She also invited me to a たこ焼きパーティ(takoyaki party) and told me to bring friends, as all of hers spoke mostly Japanese. I brought her back to my dorm and showed her my souvenirs, giving her some macaroni and cheese as well as some m&ms (which she'd never tried before, apparently). Afterwards she went home, and I crashed after spending until around 9:30pm looking through my Genki books to review for my placement test I had today and eating more ramen for dinner at 7.

神社(shrine) near the dorms

Vending machines are everywhere.

This morning I woke up and lingered around in bed, then got up, folded up my bed again (it's a futon) and got ready. I saw Isa (an exchange student from Portugal who speaks Spanish, English, and some Japanese) who told me she would wait downstairs for me as she also had the test at 9:30am. So, I quickly ate my メロンパン(melon bread, and yes it is bread flavored like melon) and aloe flavored yogurt while getting told by another student that it is a difficult as shit test, and don't expect much. So, after that, Isa and I walked to the school together (it's around a 30 minute walk) and took the test. I believe I did pretty well, according to their system (it's complicated) and what other students told me of their education and test experience. After that I ran into Betsy Howd, the only other person I know coming from my school who was also in my Japanese class. We ran a few errands and had lunch at the cafeteria where I tried their ramen. Next time I need to be more adventurous. Afterwards we did more school stuff; she was concerned about getting her lost baggage, I was concerned about getting my insurance information to the school so they wouldn't cancel my registration. It seems like both of our problems were solved later, though.

The dorm from the outside.

A playground near the school.

We went by the convenistore (yes, that is what it is called) for a phone, but the line was long, so I went home to skype with my mom at a decent hour for her to try to sort out insurance stuff. After a few hours I attempted to return to campus for a phone and to try and sort of both, but neither worked out 100%. Luckily I met with three guys who knew how to get to the phone store, as the stand they had on campus had closed at 5 (it was around 5:20 when I got there). One of them I had met the day before on our way to the school, and so they invited me to eat at McDonald's with them. Believe me, it's different, and much tastier than the US McDonald's. I had a Teriaki Burger, which revolted about 2 hours later when I was back at my dorm. Before that Gary (a fraternity guy from Michigan) escorted me to SoftBank so we could both get phones. I ended up talking with these guys quite a bit about a number of things, which I've found myself doing with most people over the last few days. After exchanging numbers I went back to my dorm in time to get stomach upset and have to decline an offer from Gary and his other pals to go out. Lucky for me, I just spent the time looking over e-mail, facebook, blogging, and low and behold seeing my roommate pop in around 10pm. She had had some flight complications, transferring from Taipei. Hideko Pippilani is from India, but generally attends school in Orange County California. Hopefully tomorrow I can help her get her stuff sorted out while not forgetting to finalize my own insurance paperwork with the Language Lab.

Erickson on my bed while I was packing

Yesterday I boarded a flight from Vancouver that took me to Seattle, then called and texted some of my favorite people and rushed off on a big boeing airplane to Osaka - KIX. The flight was thin of people, maybe 2-4 people a row. I lay down in the back in a row of open seats and slept for four hours, then watched a couple movies and read Redwall - thanks again, Erickson.

After getting off the plane, taking a shuttle to the main terminal, and then meeting some other international students coming to Kansai Gaidai, I went through customs and got my baggage with them. We met up with the pickup service, which escorted us via limousine bus to our Seminar Houses. Along the way we were able to see some city area including many Pachinko parlors, as well as dockside marina driving ranges with bits of range with golf holes floating out in the water. It was very interesting to see everything so small, and everyone driving on a different side of the road.

We were escorted to our houses, and after getting our luggage and taking our shoes off in the entry way we were escorted to our rooms. After trying to figure out how to use the Internet on my laptop for awhile I gave up and went to bed, as it was around 4-5am back at Anacortes, and I was getting pretty tired. I pulled out my futon and hopefully arranged it correctly. It was surprisingly comfortable, but still I slept restlessly due to monthly feminine problems, a small headache, and being in Japan.

The distress from not being able to contact anyone straight from my computer bothered me until a bit after waking up and brushing my teeth and what not. I met several students, some from around America, another from Portugal, and another from Hungary. After agreeing to meet later for going down to Sanko (a local market) for lunch, I got on here, e-mailed my mother and best friend, chatted with another best friend, and read Redwall while eating some fruit leather and drinking milktea from the vending machine. I ate store sushi for lunch after going down to the market to get a bowl, cup, chopsticks, and some food (ramen, eggs, sushi, and jug of milktea). After talking more with some exchange students in the lounge and kitchen area I decided to come back down here to do some personal computer things; check to see if anyone was online now, since it's around 9 or 10 PM over there now.

Pachinko place

Now I have to attend to orientation duties, like going over paperwork, filling out forms, and possibly studying for the Japanese language proficiency test. D: Wish me luck!