Concert and Party

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Second day of orientation at Waseda yesterday. It's a little overwhelming. There are forms for EVERYTHING! Due dates, sign here, take this here...I figured out that the best way to keep track of it all is with the calendar in my ipod that I never used before. It's pretty useful. We had a short homestay orientation today. Out of about 150 SILS kids, only 19 are doing homestay. I met some good people also doing homestays and I hope they'll make up a circle of American friends in Japan. They all speak better than I can and are serious about learning the language. It's what I should be looking for if they aren't Japanese.

After orientation the family and neighbors (40 in total) rented out a massive suite at a hotel in Minato-ku for a caberet performance. There were two singers, one very famous, a classical violin player, a piano player, and magician, all from around Setagaya. My host mother was the hostess for the night and it was a potluck party. So much food! Homemade sushi! I couldn't believe the area this hotel was in. There is a monorail to Minato-ku called the Yurikomome. It's like riding a monorail through a combination of Los Vegas and Disneyworld. Everything is big and bright. This hotel would have put Vegas to shame too. Japanese sure know how to party. I had a great time, I just wish I could understand more of what was going on and what everyone was saying, especially at the end when there was a sing along to some song everyone knew. Here's something interesting. Americans rent out a hotel room, have a party, then leave their garbage. Japanese rent out a hotel room, finish, clean it, sort the garbage, move the chairs back where they were, and leave the whole room the way they found it.

I'm going to make my camera part of my person know. It's going right with the wallet and passport. I never know what I'm going to run into.

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