Spring

So today the weather was beautiful, and I hear it's supposed to be nice all week, and thank god. Although strangely enough, warm weather made me miss Oberlin in the spring, because it's so lovely when everything is green and you can hang out on the grass and all that stuff. I register for classes next week. Oh, Oberlin.

But anyway, Japan. Here's a picture of the front of Kansai Gaidai:


The sign says, basically, "Congratulations, Freshmen!" or new students, or more literally, accepted students (the new school year starts in April in Japan). The big building in the middle is administration, the one on the left is the library, I'm not sure what the one on the right is, but behind it (you can't see it) is where the Center for International Education is, which is where I spend all my time. I just thought it made a nice shot.

Before our Takarazuka adventure, Jess and I ate tonkatsu at a restaurant on the 28th floor in Umeda. We had a lovely view of the Ferris wheel at the department store HEP, which I rode last week but did not publish pictures of in the blog, so we'll play a little catch-up.


Me and Ryoko




You board the Ferris wheel at the 8th floor or something, so you're really high up.




And here's the view from the tonkatsu restaurant.

Aside from the sun, the other thing that comes out in the springtime in Japan is sakura. Jess and I had our own version of 花見 (flower-viewing) in Takarazuka, which I will just commemorate with these photos.


Jess is alive, I promise!






First time I have ever used the macro setting on my camera.



Hopefully I can take some better shots before they all disappear, which I hear happens fast.

そうなんや

I posted all of my pictures to facebook, just in case you didn't see and you do facebook.

I have moved in with my host family, the 森田 (Morita) family. I feel right at home sitting on my laptop in their common room, which has 2 laptops, a desktop, and a TV (as my mother would say, everyone is on their screens). Kansai Gaidai had warned us about the possibility of our host families not having the Internet, so I was relieved when it was so easy for me to get hooked up.

But first, some catching up...

The other day, I went out with my other speaking partner Ai and her friend Yoshiko. We went to a Japanese McDonald's, and the two of them searched on their cell phones for the daily coupons and then showed them to the cashier to get a couple yen off on whatever it was they ordered. We talked about movies, and they were impressed by my Japanese. I encouraged them to try out their English since I felt bad for speaking only in Japanese. But you know, it felt like a pretty good position to be in.

The next day was the tour to Kyoto, where a million Japanese Kansai Gaidai students showed up to take a million international students around Kyoto. It was entirely up to us where to go, which was unclear to the international students. I went with some guys I met on the bus ride from the airport and our Japanese counterparts, 3 girls named Haruka, Mami, and Nana. Haruka is from Kyoto so she knew her way around. We tried to go to some shrines but they were mostly closed. We ended up at this famous dessert shop that Haruka had always wanted to try but had never been able to get into because the line was always so long. It was the mecca of green tea-flavored sweets. This picture is a little blurry but you get the idea...



Afterwards we did some プリクラ which is always a favorite of mine. But then the best part of the day came because I was reunited with Jess.



We met up in a Shakey's, which was all you can eat, and actually pretty good. I won't even bother to go into detail about our meeting (I'm sure you can see the ecstasy written on my face), because surely almost anyone who knows me knows how much I love Jess. But if you don't, Jess is my BFF from Oberlin and we met in Japanese 101 our freshman year. She's studying in Kyoto this year and I hadn't seen her since I took her to the airport in late August (she came to visit me in LA) to fly away to Japan. I spent a lonely semester without her in Oberlin. But now we are reunited. Except she's going to Tokyo for her break, haha. But we'll be reunited for Valentine's Day, I'm sure. Last year, she gave me a pear and a note that said "We make a great PEAR" so I'm not sure how she's going to top that. Maybe by making me homemade chocolates like the rest of the girls in Japan. Maybe I'll do a post about Japanese Valentine's Day when the time comes. But I digress...

And then, on Saturday, I met my host family and moved in with them in 守口市 (Moriguchi City) about a half-hour train ride from the Kansai Gaidai stop (and then plus a little, for walking to and from each station). They're a big family; parents, 3 kids around my age, and a grandmother (おばあちゃん）. My host dad Hiro "studied" abroad in San Diego when he was in college (I say "studied" because he told me that he went to Mexico every weekend and got drunk) and it clearly impacted his life very much. He said they've hosted 30+ students for 15 or so years, since their oldest (Kazuma, who's 21 and works as a sushi chef at a popular local restaurant in addition to attending a university of economics [I can feel my grasp of English grammar slipping]) was very little. So, his English is very good and he's very eager to talk to me in English all the time. I try and pipe in with my Japanese, and while they tell me I'm very good, listening to their daily conversation and the television reminds me that I've still got a ways to go.

Today was very cold, and that was a little sad. I was video chatting with Andy today (!) and said that it wasn't quite long underwear weather, but then when I went outside I realized I was wrong. It's not cold enough to snow, and it won't snow, but it's close.

Tomorrow I start class, and we'll see if I can live up to where I placed and all this general praise. I placed into speaking level 6 and reading/writing level 5, both out of 7. I've been hesitant to brag about it too much since I might be completely out of my league. I have 2 or 3 weeks to prove myself. We'll see what happens. 頑張ります。