A couple of nights ago, the otou-san (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 it. There are no tornadoes in Japan, but they make up for it. Last night, apparently the country moved by about half a centimeter as earthquakes struck twice. I do miss spacious, modern, hea [View Full Entry]

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Not much noteworthy has happened in the last few days, but I took some evening pictures of the school and the walk from school. [View Full Entry]

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    Today, I had an interview with my Japanese professor.  I was attempting to convince him that I am capable of handling Japanese II.  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.  Still, I'm going to sit in on a couple of Japanese II classes and see how it goes.  I haven't been anywhere notworthy recently -- except for the cult that someone took me to, but I'll write about that later -- so I'll try to take some pictures [View Full Entry]

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    I took no pictures yesterday, though I was tempted to take some of what I ate.  My homestay family prepared fish, but not the type of fish to which I am accustomed.  The fish was cooked whole, with the skin, head, and all.  Eating things like this will take some adjustment on my part, but it tasted pretty good. Japanese people apparently eat quite a bit of cabbage in their salads, instead of lettuce.  I don't like any green vegetables that I'm aware of, so I just choke it down.  An interesting study showed that a certain type of cancer existe [View Full Entry]

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Friday, there was the opening ceremony and a luncheon afterwards.  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 incredibly steep. My room, however, is about the same size as my room at home, though slightly smaller, I think. The family with which I'm staying has hosted homestay students before, but [View Full Entry]

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   I started off the day, sans breakfast, by walking in extremely humid weather in semi-formal attire.  That was not pleasant.  However, the day was a good one.  The opening ceremonies were about what I expected.  Most of the international students at Kansai Gaidai are from the United States (about 2/3), with the others being from other scattered countries.  I don't have any pictures from the opening ceremony, since I didn't bring my camera, but a friend I made on the trip to Kyoto said that he'd e-mail me his pictures of the orientation, as well as from Osaka (yesterday).  I, therefore, shall [View Full Entry]

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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 easily see how it is convenient, given all of the congestion in Japan. Everyone I met was very nice. There were two Americans, including me, there [View Full Entry]

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I’m an American; I’m 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 haven’t learned the way yet. I got lost twice yesterday while trying to find my way back. Fortunately, Japan is very safe, so I’m not terribly worried about that. I still see little kids outside when it’s getting dark. I walked to the campus with a couple of other people, and thus I ate breakfast in the cafeteria. [View Full Entry]

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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 actual campus is quite large. It's also only 2 years old. The Kansai Gaidai campus is extremely modern, very clean, aesthetically pleasing, and well equipped. There is a Seattle’s Best Coffee (sea [View Full Entry]

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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.  I arrived at the school at around 5:30pm, Osaka time.  The plane ride was long, but at least it was on a 777.  We got about 4 meals, and there were TV screens on the back of each chair.  When I arrived, it was cloudy, as it had been raining all day.  Osaka, a the moment, is quite warm and extremely humid.  When I was riding on the charter bus [View Full Entry]

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