(no subject)

Just dropping in to say that Japan is pretty awesome so far! I haven't really gotten the chance to do a lot of sightseeing yet, but just being here is great. After the never-ending plane ride, which was made a bit better by being able to sit next to Greta on the plane, we finally arrived in Tokyo. The better part of this past week was spent in orientation with my study abroad program. We were shown around the Makuhari area and our university, Kanda University. So mostly I've just been able to explore Makuhari so far, but a little later this week I will get to travel to other parts of the Tokyo area.

My internal clock has been thrown off this past week. As a result, I've been going to bed early, around 9 or so, and waking up at about 5 or 6 AM. I also took naps, which is something I hardly ever do. Today seems a bit better, but I'm still kind of tired.

I've discovered that being a foreigner in Japan means that many people will look at you with curiosity, especially if you are in a part of Japan where foreigners are not as common. Wednesday night we where split into groups and shown how to use the Japanese train system. We then took the train to go get dinner. We decided to eat at a little ramen shop. It was quite interesting to see the looks on people's faces when ten of us foreigners showed up at the entrance to the resturant.

My host family is very nice and friendly. There are seven people in the family; parents, grandparents, and three kids. They live in a cozy little Western style house, where I have my own room. We tend to communicate in a mixture of English and Japanese (Japanglish). I tend to talk the most with my host parents and their daughter Chihiro, who is 14. Chihiro is very cute. She seems quite curious about America and likes to ask me about it. The oldest son, Tatsuya, is 16 (the same age as my brother). I get the feeling that he might talk with me more if there wasn't a bit of a language barrier. The youngest son, Ryohei, is 12. He hasn't talked with me that much so far, but I also think that might be because of his age, in addition to the language barrier. I haven't talked to the grandparents as much becuase they somewhat keep to themselves. I also get the impression that they know very little English. They seem friendly when they do talk to me though. I think I'm going to enjoy staying with my host family for these few months.

I've only gotten lost once so far. I was able to navigate the trains alright because my host family had Tatsuya and I ride the train together on Friday, so I wouldn't get lost. (As a sidenote, I was quite amused when we ran into one of Tatsuya's friends and he started joking that Tatsuya was on a date with me. Lol.) I made it to the center for orientation alright. I got a bit lost on the way home though. Navigating the train was fine, but I forgot which way I needed to turn on the way back to the house. I had to call home and ask for help, so my host mother sent Ryohei to find me. Oops. At least I know which way I need to go now.

Yesterday, I went with my host family to the sports festival at the local jr. high. Ryohei and Chihiro were both participating in it. It was really amusing to watch! The kids were split into large teams to compete for 1st place. They had to do all sorts of interesting events that are kind of hard to explain without visuals. I took some pictures of it though and will post them later.

Tomorrow is the start of academic orientation. I get to finalize which classes I am taking. I'm ending this entry now though because it has gotten much longer than I intended. And that's not even all that I have to write about. Lol.

(no subject)

Just dropping in to say that Japan is pretty awesome so far! I haven't really gotten the chance to do a lot of sightseeing yet, but just being here is great. After the never-ending plane ride, which was made a bit better by being able to sit next to Greta on the plane, we finally arrived in Tokyo. The better part of this past week was spent in orientation with my study abroad program. We were shown around the Makuhari area and our university, Kanda University. So mostly I've just been able to explore Makuhari so far, but a little later this week I will get to travel to other parts of the Tokyo area.

My internal clock has been thrown off this past week. As a result, I've been going to bed early, around 9 or so, and waking up at about 5 or 6 AM. I also took naps, which is something I hardly ever do. Today seems a bit better, but I'm still kind of tired.

I've discovered that being a foreigner in Japan means that many people will look at you with curiosity, especially if you are in a part of Japan where foreigners are not as common. Wednesday night we where split into groups and shown how to use the Japanese train system. We then took the train to go get dinner. We decided to eat at a little ramen shop. It was quite interesting to see the looks on people's faces when ten of us foreigners showed up at the entrance to the resturant.

My host family is very nice and friendly. There are seven people in the family; parents, grandparents, and three kids. They live in a cozy little Western style house, where I have my own room. We tend to communicate in a mixture of English and Japanese (Japanglish). I tend to talk the most with my host parents and their daughter Chihiro, who is 14. Chihiro is very cute. She seems quite curious about America and likes to ask me about it. The oldest son, Tatsuya, is 16 (the same age as my brother). I get the feeling that he might talk with me more if there wasn't a bit of a language barrier. The youngest son, Ryohei, is 12. He hasn't talked with me that much so far, but I also think that might be because of his age, in addition to the language barrier. I haven't talked to the grandparents as much becuase they somewhat keep to themselves. I also get the impression that they know very little English. They seem friendly when they do talk to me though. I think I'm going to enjoy staying with my host family for these few months.

I've only gotten lost once so far. I was able to navigate the trains alright because my host family had Tatsuya and I ride the train together on Friday, so I wouldn't get lost. (As a sidenote, I was quite amused when we ran into one of Tatsuya's friends and he started joking that Tatsuya was on a date with me. Lol.) I made it to the center for orientation alright. I got a bit lost on the way home though. Navigating the train was fine, but I forgot which way I needed to turn on the way back to the house. I had to call home and ask for help, so my host mother sent Ryohei to find me. Oops. At least I know which way I need to go now.

Yesterday, I went with my host family to the sports festival at the local jr. high. Ryohei and Chihiro were both participating in it. It was really amusing to watch! The kids were split into large teams to compete for 1st place. They had to do all sorts of interesting events that are kind of hard to explain without visuals. I took some pictures of it though and will post them later.

Tomorrow is the start of academic orientation. I get to finalize which classes I am taking. I'm ending this entry now though because it has gotten much longer than I intended. And that's not even all that I have to write about. Lol.