STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 2

SEPTEMBER 8

Today I did some more laundry. My shirts are a bit wrinkle-prone, so I went out to buy an ironing board from LABI. I couldn’t find an ironing board though…

   Here’s the view from my apartment balcony!

SEPTEMBER 9

Monday, the day many of has have somewhat dreaded. The day we are placed in out classes. The day we meet a reputably strict teacher: Mrs. Yamamoto. I, along with four other new exchange students, was placed in B class, upper intermediate. I’m not too worried because even if it is a little difficult I have others to study with. I can’t say I’m excited for classes to start, but I want to be around more Japanese people, improve my Japanese, make friends and join a circle. It appears as though the dance circle at AIDAI is known as BPM, Black People Movement. If I can’t join them, then maybe tennis or soccer!

After finishing our duties at AIDAI, we met up with Junko, and Tatsuya, and then we went to go see an Ikebana (flower arrangement) Exhibition at Nagoya Station. She had a few coupons that would have got most of our group in for free, but when we arrived the vendors showered us with more coupons. In the end, we had more than enough for all of us to view the exhibit for free - they said it was because the event was ending that day. In any case, the Ikebana was amazing! I had only seen traditional displays before, but many of the arrangements were huge in comparison, very modern and unique. On the way out of the exhibit we happened to meet a woman who taught Tea Ceremony, Flower Arrangement and Cooking to Japanese and foreigners at her house. I’m not sure if I’ll have time to visit her, but I would love to learn how to cook.

(An up-close snapshot of one of my favorite ikebana pieces.

Speaking of food, tonight we ate yakiniku!!!! And the best thing was that all of the meat that came was beef, except for the last dish. It was delicious, I love yakiniku. Dessert was ice cream monaka; also delicious. I’d say that’s a near perfect meal.

By the time we got home it was dark, but my energy just kicked in. A few of us adventured west of our apartment until we found a large supermarket, Aoki Super. It had two floors dividing up its goods, and it was fairly cheap. Unfortunately, I was only caring 300 yen, so I only bought custard crème bread. We shared snacks on the walk back to our apartment, and surprisingly it was still only 9pm. I finished the night with an episode of Shabekuri 007, and called it a night. There you have it, my first full week on my own in Japan. So far so good.

SEPTEMBER 10

Paid rent for the semester… good-bye money. Again, we are living in an apartment building, not a dorm, but it was provided by the school and most, if not all, of the exchange students live between the two buildings. We received a small helping from the school for the rent, but it still cost us 216,000 yen for 6 months. Maybe that’s not so bad because we are near the heart of a big city- I mean, the main station is a 15 minute walk away after all.

On the other hand, I also picked up a pocket Wifi today. The service will cost about $40 a month, and since you could only pay for it with a credit card, I had to use my account in the States. But that payment will be taken out later. The actual device itself? It only cost 1 yen! That was a small relief.

Lastly, as far as the club/circle information goes, it looks like tennis and futsal occur at the same time, so it’s one or the other. Even though I brought my tennis racket, I am leaning more toward futsal. No news on BPM yet.

SEPTEMBER 11

Today we went to the Nagoya Port Aquarium!!! The subway there was only 580 yen round trip, and the ticket was 2400 yen for the main aquarium, and three other attractions. I knew from the posters that there was an orca in the aquarium, but I had no idea that place was so huge!

There was three orcas (one was a baby), and a ton of dolphins, not just bottle-nose ones either. We watched the dolphin show in the splash zone and got a little wet. I would really love to see the orca show and the illuminations around the port.  We also checked out the Port’s Museum, as well as the docked “Fuji”, an Antartic research vessel. Our last stop was the Viewing Deck that looked over the port (all included in our ticket). There was just a ton to look at, so I definitely want to go back one day.

SEPTEMBER 12

For lunch we checked out a nearby Indian restaurant, a recommendation of the Thai exchange student. The lunch set was a bowl or curry (today was chicken and mushroom), with a salad and drink, and naan. All you can eat naan. I’m starting to love this place. My ice chai was not what I expected, but the curry and naan are sooo good.

Following an amazing lunch, the group of us decided to go to Karaoke for 3 hours (only 500 yen in the afternoon). Now, I’m not a singer, so I was kind of nervous about it. It would have been only my second time going to Karaoke ever. And again, I can’t sing.

But, surprisingly, it was more fun than I thought - especially if I sing songs in my vocal range, haha! Back-up is always good too. Looks like the Backstreet Boys are going to be a staple of my future Karaoke jams.

When we left Karaoke it was SUPER OBSCENELY HOT. Like, you will burn and/or melt just by stepping outside. So, we just bought some crepes and waited out the heat in the air-conditioned shopping mall.

SEPTEMBER 13

Another business day. This time we all had to go file paperwork at the City Office for our Resident Cards, health insurance set-up, etc. I was one of the first done, so I could have gone back home. Instead I bought a few snacks for lunch and waited for the others.

Part of that was a mistake.

One of my friends had told me that the cheese isn’t the same in Japan. I had to find out for myself so I bought a cheese stick from the convenient store, thinking it might taste like a mozzarella stick. No. It tasted like plastic with a side of an attempt to give it artificial flavoring. Never again. Thankfully I also bought a vanilla coke (though I was quickly reminded why I don’t drink sodas - too much carbonation), some tuna-onion bread (very good) and Green Apple flavored Haichu (<gummy candies similar to Starburst).

Once the paperwork was all filed we made plans to go to an Izakaya (for eats and drinks), to celebrate one of our last nights before school started. We stayed there for a few hours, just talking, eating some, and everyone else was drinking. It was nice to hang out with all of the exchange students in one place, but as I was at the far end of the table, I could only talk to a few people. The Germans are great to talk with, and they are also strong drinkers, so the drinks just kept coming. It was a very interesting experience.

SEPTEMBER 14

They say there is another typhoon coming, so I bought some cheap rain boots for about 1050 yen. Just in case. The weather pretty much held out today, not a spec of rain. In the evening I met up with Joy and the others to play billiards, which I now know that I am horrible at. Most of the time my shot with the cue would barely strike the ball, resulting in several unfortunate and pointless turns. It was also kind of expensive, almost 2000 yen for two hours.