More Orientation

4/3 - 4/8

Ok so Tuesday wasn't all that exciting. There was more all day orientation that started at 9 and went pretty much until 3 or so in the afternoon. We went over rules for the gym, more rules about homestays, etc... and I had lunch with my Japanese Partners. There are two of them (one boy named Hama and one girl named Momo) and they are volunteers that help exchange students make a smooth transition into Japanese society. We will meet once a week to practice Japanese and they are there to help me do whatever I need help with. Tuesday for instance, they helped me buy a 6 month train pass that I use to get to school everyday. It cost about 90 dollars but I can only use it to get to my station to the school's. I can't use it to go anywhere else unfortunately; just those two stops.
The next day was more orientation (a library tour and some more guest speakers). The afternoon was nice however because all of the exchange students and their Japanese partners all went bowling and to dinner. There were about 50 of us total and we all had a blast. I got a chance to practice Japanese with my partners while at the same time doing a fun activity. We ate at a family style restaurant that night and I had a Japanese hamburger and some kara-age (fried chicken, but not the KFC kind you might be thinking of). After that, I went home around 8 with another exchange student that lives near me. His name is Yum Sangho and he is a Korean exchange student. It's wierd because we have so much in common. We use the same train station, we have the same camera, we have the same MP3 player with pretty much the same kind of music, we're both Koreans studying in Japan, etc... He's a really nice guy and is pretty fluent in Japanese. For those who didn't know, Korean and Japanese have the same sentence structure so transitioning isn't as hard to do as it is from English. They just switch their words a little are ready to have a Japanese conversation. Anyways, I left it out of the last entry but I talk with my homestay parents a ton. I didn't mention that I did that after coming home, but everyday I do. We talk for at least a few hours (everything in Japanese of course) but I understand most of it. I tell them how my day was and Papa explains things from the newspaper to me. Mama comes home later though (around 7) and so she misses out some, but I make sure to talk to her as well. I can understand decently what they are saying but when it comes to speaking, it still takes me a while to think. I am definately getting better however and will hopefully get pretty good by the end of my 9 months. I am excited to see how much progress I've made in just a week and can't wait to look back when this is all done to see how far I've actually comee!
Okay, so Thursday and Friday were pretty exciting. These days were still considered orientation but we went on a small fieldtrip. We took a bus for an hour to this little resort called "Happiness Village." It was a beautiful getaway hotel that was aparently known for its onsen (hotspring). So after eating a delicious dinner and watching the movie, "Howl's Moving Castle" we all jumped into the onsen. It was so hot that I could barely stand it, but I lasted a good 4 minutes at least :) The whole uhh... naked thing was kinda wierd, but whatever... I won't comment anymore on that. Let's just say that for a guy who is used to privacy, this was a big step out of the "comfort zone." Anyways, continuing on with the story, we all went to Himeji Castle the next day. We set out early, about 8 or 9 in the morning and got the castle about an hour later. The timing of my trip couldn't have been any better. All the cherry blossoms in Japan are in bloom, the rainy season has just ended, I mean right now, Japan is just gorgeous as you can see from the pictures I have posted. There was also a festival going on across the street where there where tons of little kiosks with vendors selling all kinds of various goods. Food, products, you name it. I ended up checking the place out after viewing Himeji Castle (I have already seen this castle because I went during last year's summer vacation). There was heaps of interesting things one could buy from these vendors and in the end, I wound up buying some flavored mochi for my host family. We ate it the same night and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.
As I write this, the day is Saturday and I have just gotten back from Sannomiya. Sannomiya is a shopping district close to Kobe and it is about 30 minutes away from my house by train. I met Dawn and Lexi there (both of them are Pacific Students as well) and another one of my friends. This other friend, Kenji, was one of Yumi's friends I made through her. Yumi is a Japanese exchange student from Kansai Gakiun (the college I am going to right now) and she is now attending Pacific. We met in America, became friends, and she introduced me to some of her friends in Japan. Yumi is still in America but will be coming back to Japan in May. So the four of us spent the day wandering around Sannomiya. In contrast to Takarazuka (the place where I am living), Sannomiya is more of a big city. It looks like what most Americans think a Japanese busy city would look like: tons of people, tall buildings, and many lost foreigners... I had to change trains and if it weren't for Dawn, I probably would have gotten lost.
Anyways, these past few days have been a blast and have gone by fast and life continues to get even more interesting as the days quickly pass. Tomorrow, the exchange students and our Japanese Partners will partake in something called Hanami. Literally this term means, "Flower-Look" and so you can pretty much guess what we're doing tomorrow. You are supposedely also supposed to drink Sake while viewing and enjoying the Sakura (Cherry blossoms) also. Umm... I am old enough to drink in Japan (drinking age = 20) but we will see what happens tomorrow. I don't think it would be good to have about 50 drunk college students stumbling around Japan... so we might only do the "looking" part of Hanami. As for me, if we drink, "yes mom, I will be careful etc... I don't want to embarrass myself or not be able to find my way home and have to call my hostfamily." ...That would be bad... but yessss.... no matter what, the Hanami will be wonderful I know. Ok, it's time to go study more Japanese... Hope everything's going well at home with everyone. I'll update again soon when I have time and show you guys my school schedule. Until then... "bai bai" as they say in Japanese :)

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