http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Alvin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Alvin en-us Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:45:18 +0000 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:45:18 +0000 Despite my impending departure into what may as well be another planet I am not in the least bit nervous. I have never lived outside of the southern United States. Certainly I've travele all over the US but I have never stayed in most of those places for any length of time. One would think then that I would be at least slightly nervous about living with a family that I know nothing about i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1105.html After a long long flight on the amazing Boeing 777 and a 90 minute charter bus trip to Hirakata City from Kansai International Airport in Osaka I am finally in Japan.nbsp I arrived at the school at around 530pm Osaka time.nbsp The plane ride was long but at least it was on a 777.nbsp We got about 4 meals and there were TV screens on the back of each chair.nbsp When I arrived it was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1115.html I'm up at 5am again after almost collapsing onto my bed as a result of fatigue. Yesterday was fairly busy. I finally went to the actual Kansai Gaidai campus. The dorms are in a slightly different location than the school itself. When I first arrived I thought that the dorms were the school. I must admit that I was thinking It looked slightly differently in the brochure. Fortunately the actua http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1125.html Irsquom an American Irsquom not used to walking quite this much. It takes approximately 20 minutes perhaps longer to reach the Kansai Gaidai campus from the dormitories. I have to go and come with others because I have no sense of direction and havenrsquot learned the way yet. I got lost twice yesterday while trying to find my way back. Fortunately Japan is very safe so Irsquom not t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1130.html Yesterday was very enjoyable if tiring. After doing some more administrative duties we went on an optional tour of Osaka. We were broken up into small groups and paired with Japanese students who took us where we wanted to go. In general it seems that in Japan everyone travels by train and subway. It can be quite expensive and it was confusing for me but if one is used to it I can easi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1136.html I started off the day sans breakfast by walking in extremely humid weather in semiformal attire. That was not pleasant. However the daywasa good one.The opening ceremonies were about what I expected. Most of the international students at Kansai Gaidai are from the United States about 23 with the others being from other scattered countries. I don't have any pictures from the open http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1138.html Last weekend was a threeday one so I went to Kyoto with a friend. Another person was supposed to join us but she couldn't come. Despite that it was an incredible experience. I love Kyoto. Unfortunately I left the pictures on my computer which I don't have at the moment but I'll uplod them tomorrow. Additionally my friend has some more pictures that he's going to share with me. I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1414.html Friday there was the opening ceremony and a luncheon afterwards.nbsp I've include Mike's pictures of the event.Saturday I moved in with my homestay family. This was probably the part of the process that caused me the most anxiety. Fortunately however they are extremely nice. Japanese houses are small by American standards. They are very narrow but tall. The stairs leading up to my room are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1161.html nbspnbspnbsp I took no pictures yesterday though I was tempted to take some of what I ate.nbsp My homestay family prepared fish but not the type of fish to which I am accustomed.nbsp The fish was cooked whole with the skin head and all.nbsp Eating things like this will take some adjustment on my part but it tasted pretty good.nbspJapanese people apparently eat quite a bit of ca http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1177.html nbspnbspnbsp Today I had an interview with my Japanese professor.nbsp I was attempting to convince him that I am capable of handling Japanese II.nbsp He said that my Japanese was pretty amazing for someone who studied alone for a year but that he thinks I would benefit from having a more solid foundation.nbsp Still I'm going to sit in on a couple of Japanese II classes and see how http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1200.html Not much noteworthy has happened in the last few days but I took some evening pictures of the school and the walk from school. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1206.html A couple of nights ago the otousan father of my host family was looking at my hair and interestingly complementing it. He vaguely communicated that he thought that his was poofy but mine was weivu an attempt to say wavy in English. I found it amusing.There's another typhoon taifuu coming. This country certainly is prone to natural disasters but the people here are accustomed to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1239.html Yesterday classes were canceled again because the second typhoon taifuu came through. I took some pictures on the way as I walked home as well as some pictures from various angles from my room. The clouds can be seen approaching. As a direct result of this instead of taking the placement test yesterday I will take it tomorrow which fortunately for me gives me more time to study. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1262.html Fortunately my placement test score doubled in two weeks so I'm now in Japanese II. This came with a lot of hard studying and I'm still trying to learn hundreds of words per week. This language is so hard for a brain accustomed to communicating in English. Last Thursday I ate breakfast at makudonarudo McDonald's. The extent to which they have mangled that word is amazing. The food http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1309.html I'm studying Japanese. To anyone who is reading this I must apologize for the mundane entries as of late. Fortunately some fairly interesting events are approaching. Sometime this week whether tomorrow Thursday or Friday I cannot recall about 10000 Japanese students will be returning from their summer vacation. Additionally next Friday I shall travel to Tokyo. I've been so t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1320.html CDRWs are notoriously unreliable and that's one of the reasons my Kyoto pictures aren't up yet. I'm going to have to get a USB flash drive. Tonight though I'm going to Tokyo by bus to the Tokyo Game Show which means that by the next time I make an entry I'll have an obscene number of pictures. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1447.html After 2 weeks I've finally found a moment to upload some pictures from my Kyoto trip. Kyoto is beautiful. Hirakata City isn't exactly the most beautiful area of Japan but Kyoto is a much nicer place. Eventually I'll post some pictures from Tokyo and the Tokyo Game Show. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1493.html Better late than never I suppose. I took some 150 or so pictures on my Tokyo Trip so I'm only uploading a few for now. Tokyo I think lives up to the hype. It's a huge city with plenty of attractions. The Tokyo Game Show itself for me was everything that I expected and quite enjoyable. Being completely surrounded by videogames is quite enjoyable for me. I also got quite a bit of free http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-1547.html I think that Land of the Rising Cloud is more suitable than Land of the Rising Sun considering the sheer amount of rain and the large number of typhoons inflicting their wet and windy rage upon this country. I have made a few observations about Japan that I think are somewhat amusing.1 Japan is one giant cartoon. Disclaimer to the easily offended That is a joke. But really it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-1766.html This festival one of the three main ones in Kyoto was rather interesting. However I think that the Japanese people enjoyed it quite a bit more than I did. I only stayed for the beginning. I think that it's more enjoyable for Japanese people in part because their culture is related to the festival. I couldn't figure out what was so exciting about carrying torches personally. They were cha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-1828.html