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Published: March 23rd 2015
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Wow it has been hard to keep track of everything that I have been doing. Two days ago we biked up to Teramachi, a lovely shopping center that is in Kyoto. The bike ride was about 30 minutes and it consisted on dodging any and everything in the streets. I have learned that there is biking, and then there is biking in Japan. The latter consists of going at varying speeds up and down the street while watching out for pedestrians because they will not be watching out for you. Some will walk in front of you, some other bikes will cross very quickly and cut you off, and occasionally you will see the veering truck either in front of you or chasing behind. It was an interesting ride, but one where you needed to pay attention at all times, so I was unfortunately unable to remember much of the scenery on the way there.
Once I got to Teramachi I was overwhelmed by its size, and maze-like layout. It consists of two parallel streets, however there are many shops that are outside of those areas and they vary in location. There are side alleys that connected the two
streets, but it was very easy to forget your exact location within the whole establishment. We visited a huge arcade while in Teramachi, and I have never seen a place with so many claw machines and functioning arcade games. I watched as many in my group played a Gundam game, while I decided to try my luck at a claw machine. I had 1 unsuccessful attempt and decided that I would rather sink my money into other games. We left the very busy arcade (let me tell you that this was in the afternoon), and went to a nearby game store. I spent a good 20-30 minutes picking through their stock and came out with 4 games for about 20 US dollars. All of the games are in Japanese, but they are ones that will help me grow my skills. Two of the games I already have in English, Animal Crossing Wild World, and Trace Memory (called Another Code in Japan).
We left the store and ate at a little Italian place where I had some Carbonara, or at least an attempt at it. It was quite good, but I wouldn't necessarily say that it was an actual Italian
dish. After being fed we went on a few more stops before biking home. One of those stops was a sticker store; where they sold an array of specially designed stickers. They were very cute, but I decided against buying anything else because I was quite content with my games. We biked back home as the sun was setting and I immediately crashed when I got home. I woke up at 10 pm bewildered as to what happened so I just got ready for bed and slept in the next day.
Yesterday was a relaxing day. I made my first trip to the grocery store without an escort, and I took pictures of the daily route. I am happy to learn that I can officially get to and from the store without getting lost so I know that I am at least partially self-sufficient at this point. I have yet to try cooking here, but stay tuned for that adventure.
In the afternoon I saw that a new student arrived at the House so we had introductions and then a group of us set out to go to the nearby book/manga/game shop. I have a goal of collecting
all of the Japanese volumes of Fruits Basket and this shop has them all for about $1 US Dollar. (For those of you who read manga you know that a volume, even in Japanese can set you back 4-5 dollars). I bought the next couple volumes and then went out to dinner with the members of the party. We ate Ramen and walked home in the cool Kyoto evening. It was very warm the first few days that I was here, however it has gotten cooler as my time here has progressed. Last night we watched Howl's Moving Castle as a group and people started to have disagreements over the best Studio Ghibli film, needless to say I think we are kindred spirits over here.
Today was my birthday, and it was a memorable one if that. I woke up today to go to Ritsumeikan for the first time since my arrival. I got downstairs, put on my shoes and was out the door. While waiting for the group to fully assemble, almost everyone wished me a happy birthday, and the couple who runs I-House (we call them Yoshida mama and papa) even gave me a present. It was
so nice that they wished me a happy birthday even though we just met a week ago, and I didn't tell many people.
We biked to Ritsumeikan, which is about a 15-20 minute bike ride depending on your speed. The only problem is that the ride up there is almost completely uphill. We made it to the school, but the new students were tired because many of us haven't ridden a bike in years. We toured the school briefly and then went out to sushi. This place was one of the coolest restaurant setups that I have seen. It had a sushi conveyor belt where you could get any sushi you could possibly want, and if you didn't find it, you could order it and another conveyor belt would deliver it right to your table. The regular conveyor belt was an ongoing line of sushi that circled the entire restaurant, while the personal order conveyor belt stayed empty unless there were particular orders for different tables.There was also another menu so you could order ramen, udon, or rice. The menu also had other little things. All of these options were delivered by the personal order conveyor belt. The place
was inexpensive but very good. So far the food has been great over here.
We went back to the dorm, and the bike ride was much better. We hung out in the lounge under the kotatsu, which is a heated seating area and table. It was very cold today and none of us were prepared for it. We studied Japanese for awhile and then we just visited. We ordered pizza out and it was pretty good, not as good as in the states, but definitely helped get rid of the pizza craving. Everyone congregated in the lounge at the end of the day, and then I played super smash bros. with several members of the dorm. Overall it has been a fulfilling week and tomorrow I take the Japanese placement test. Hopefully I get into a level that actually reflects my abilities so I won't be in a class that is either too easy or too hard. I have heard that the test is pretty accurate so I am not worrying too much because it will all work out in the end. As for now I am going to sleep because it is way to late over here, but
I needed to get all the thoughts out before I forget the details in these three days.
Night!
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