Orientation Day 3

We were escorted to our dorms/homestays today after having a short seminar on culture and culture shock. This entry will be short because when I got to my dorm room and opened my luggage (that I did not have access to until today), my camera bag was missing.  I called the IES people (study abroad coordinators) to let them know and they are calling the delivery service that delivered my bags but likely it was stolen somewhere between DFW and Narita Airport. So I am kinda bummed right now and not really up to posting anything other than this. I have to get in touch with my travel insurance company to file a claim and just hope for the best. The only silver lining to all this is that I had emptied the memory cards and transferred all the pictures to my hard drive back home. So at least I did not lose any precious memories. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's just a camera...it's not my life, it's not my health, it's nothing but metal and glass and plastic. Sigh...it still sucks though. So much for taking some awesome shots in Japan. This kinda took away from the experience I wanted to feel with moving into a dorm room for the first time. That mixture of excitement and apprehension. But right now I am just sad. ;_;

Orientation Day 2

Originally written 8/29/12

We were expected to head back to the building where we are having our orientation sessions on our own today. It was not as bad as it seemed, though I am really wishing the weather will start to cool down soon. The dry heat I am used to in Texas made me rather weak to humidity. I am soaked with sweat only minutes after I walk out the door. -_- It's especially embarrassing because I am surrounded by people in long sleeve shirts and pants going to the office and they don't look the least bit phased by it. It will be much easier to bundle up.

Orientation consisted of dorm/homestay expectations and rules (basically...don't behave like an American college student), and a short lesson in how to ride the trains and subway. Overwhelming doesn't really come close to how it feels looking at this map. When they explained it, there seemed to be almost a logic to it, but I am sure it'll be different in practice. We rode from the Kaihin Makuhari station to stop at the Shin-Urayasu station to have lunch at the nearby food court and learn how to walk to the campus (about 10 minutes away). I am hoping all this walking will help me to lose a little weight at the very least.

A view of the ocean as we rode the train for the first time.

The ride back was pretty normal. But one thing I'd like to comment on is how wonderfully clean the trains are. Granted, I was in one of the newer ones with the fancy digital map that appears in English as well as Japanese, but we did ride an older one later and there was still no trash and no graffiti of any kind that I could see anywhere. It just seems there is an overall greater respect for things here that you don't really see in America. It saddens me because I think it speaks of the general attitude and nature of the culture.

After the ride, we were free to go back to our hotels and spend the rest of the evening however we wanted. I was so tired from the heat that I went straight back to the room and ended up passing out at around 7 while trying to watch a Japanese quiz show. My hunger for dinner wasn't even enough to wake me.

Though Skylar did get in touch with me finally and we got to talk for a bit, so that was a nice way to end the evening, with or without dinner.

So...what is so crazy about these toilets that I kept mentioning? They had all these buttons that confused that crap out of me the first time I used it at the airport after I landed. There is one to decide how much power you need to flush, one to turn it into a bidet, and another that I haven't quite figured out yet and am afraid to try. Hell, I was afraid to try the bidet. >_>

I then noticed at the hotel that the toilet there felt surprisingly warm when I used it. And for all you dirty people out there, no, no one used this toilet for a long time right before me. This is something girls would notice before guys, but it had seat warmers. My first impression was how novel this was. I hate a cold toilet seat. It is something you are never ready for.

Also, it had a remote! I was thinking that there definitely was a prank hiding in here somewhere.

Ok, so maybe I hyped up the toilet thing since now that I have talked about it and seen how dull it is described outside of my head. Oh well, I still think they're pretty awesome.

Other odd, but interesting things I discovered:

You had to insert your key tag here to turn on the lights and air conditioner in the room. It was strange to me at first but then I realized the cleverness of the idea. It saves so much energy because the lights will always turn off when you leave whether you remember to turn them off or not. We need these if we don't already have them.

My first purchase at the "konbini," convenience store. Haruna recommended this flavor saying it was her favorite. It did kinda taste like pizza, but not really. And the cheese flakes were new to me. >_>

I think I meant to talk about other things but I kinda passed out so that's all I have for now.

Orientation Day 1

At around 11 or so last night I was woken abruptly by a doorbell ring. At first I thought I was dreaming, since I was in a hotel room, and they usually don't have doorbells, but figured it might be best to check the door anyway. Turns out it was my roommate, arriving late due to a delay in her flight. I barely managed to explain to her how to turn on the lights (I will explain this later) before crashing into my bed again.

At around 3, I woke up but managed to fall back asleep and dreamed a small earthquake hit the area. Already fearing the worst I guess. -_- I got out of bed around 7 AM and made proper introductions with my roommate, Hannah. With breakfast coupons in hand, we headed down to the lobby for some food before the orientation started. The breakfast buffet was pretty impressive. It had your usual bacon, sausage, and eggs, but also had miso soup, Japanese omelette, grilled salmon, chicken and vegetable stew, and salads. Their drink machines offered many different types of coffee, juice, and tea.

Orientation was rather typical of orientation and not very exciting so I will spare you all the details. We did take a lunch break at the nice little restaurant called As Domani (I forgot to take pictures) and I had probably the best salad there that I ever tasted. I am not a salad fan, but whatever sauce they put in it made it pretty delicious. (I know what you are thinking, Skylar...) We were also served a thin crust pizza for the appetizer, pasta with cabbage and oysters for the main course, and cake for dessert that reminded me of pound cake, only lighter in sweetness and smoother in texture.

Given a break to do our own exploring, Haruna took Hannah and me back to the mall we went to yesterday and used one of the photo booths. And these were some pretty crazy photo booths. Not only does it take a ton more pictures in one session, it automatically photoshops your face so you look oddly model-like, and lets you write or stamp on silly pictures. It then prints out the pictures, and sends you two of your choice to your phone.

Silly faces.

Afterwards, we met back up with the IES group to do a tour around the area. I think the word tour was slightly misused in this case though, because it was more like a scavenger hunt. We had to find our e-pals at different places within a 3-4 block radius around the hotel and get short lessons on important places to be aware of when wondering around the city on our own.

Called a kouban, or police box. These are found around every few blocks, and crazy enough, the officers are really kind, knowledgeable, and helpful.

This place just made me think of Skylar. Another sign advertised they sold alcohol and cigarettes.

None of the other places were interesting enough to take pictures of (a bank and post office). By that time, I was almost soaked through with sweat from the humidity so Hannah and I settled back in our room. She set up her phone (which is a Japanese android phone) as a wi-fi hotspot so, yay! I can finally get caught up on this blog.

And yes, I wanted to talk about the toilets, but now I am just too tired now and my laptop battery is running low again, so perhaps next time.

Hello, Japan!

Originally written on August 28.

(Note: I had to write this in Word first before I could post it because there is no wireless access at this hotel, and, of course, the one thing I manage to forget is an Ethernet cable.)

(Another note: Because I packed my Nikon camera in a checked suitcase, it ended up getting transported to the school in advance while I stay at the orientation hotel. So til I get access to it again, all pictures will be taken from my phone, so sorry in advance for the lower quality.)

So it seems that my worries were completely unwarranted. But this is how it always goes. I worry to the point of making myself sick, and then nothing goes wrong. Err on the side of caution, I say. Because every time I don’t worry, shit will inevitably hit the fan.

The plane was smooth sailing for the entire 9 and a half hour trip, except the normal bit of turbulence here and there. It was the first time I have travelled internationally since I was too young to remember, so I was shocked to see how big the plane really was. Two floors and at least 50 rows of chairs in the bottom floor alone, each row averaging 10 seats. I would have gotten a picture had I not been a bit rushed to board. I didn’t realize I had spent so much time on my last entry.

Finding my aisle seat, I sat wondering who I would end up next to, and an American couple showed up to claim the seats. Part of me was relieved, that should we end up talking, it would be less awkward. Though, due to my shy nature, it took half the flight before he realized that I spoke English. (I had my headphones on to watch the in-flight movies most of the time, so it was more mouthing and signaling to each other at first.)

While it was awesome that my row ended up being 3 steps away from the bathroom (no waiting in line, just wait til the crowd is done and get up on your own time) and I was in the aisle seat, a part of me wished I was at the window to watch America fade away in the distance and see Tokyo finally emerge on the other side.

And seeing the couple leaning against each other and holding hands made me wish Skylar was with me. If there was only a way that we could have experienced this together.

After I managed to say a few words to my rowmate (I think his name was Kevin…ugh, I am so bad with names), he told me he was travelling to Japan for work. He is some kind of computer specialist for the US embassy. Even had a diplomat passport and everything. Very fancy. He asked to get the Japan transfer should the opportunity present itself, despite the reduction in pay. I can’t blame him, it’s a great chance to see the world. Before this, he took a position in Guyana. He is set to work in Japan for two years. I envy that part, as he will probably end up speaking better than me by the end of it.

On a totally different subject, I was rather impressed that the first in-flight movie was Avengers. Mirror, Mirror was next. And it wasn’t a great movie, but it did have some entertaining moments. The dwarves were pretty funny. I attempted to watch it with the Japanese dub, but only managed the first half hour or so due to a growing headache. Likely I have been awake for so long my brain didn’t want to have to think that hard. Actually, I didn’t get much sleep during the flight partly because of the headache and partly because my legs were spoiled by that lucky chance I had in first class.

I wished my “single serving friends” good luck on their endeavors as we disembarked and I trekked through Narita Airport toward the worst parts of my fears on how things would go during my travels. And as I mentioned at the beginning, everything was rather smooth. Immigration gave me my residence card, customs waved me through without even blinking at my luggage, and I found Haruna (my e-pal) with an IES sign waiting for me at the lobby. We exchanged pleasantries and headed to the meeting point. There, I received my orientation schedule, a warm welcome, and a short break as I tried to catch my breath and stop myself from sweating these huge bullets that came from a mixture of my still raging nerves and the surprisingly warm Tokyo weather. (Warm, but comfortable with a cool breeze. I was just dressed for colder weather. Haruna said it was hot. I told her this was like an early Texas spring.)

We left the airport at the same time as another abroad student (from Hawaii) and his e-pal. On the bus, Haruna noticed my laptop cooler in my bag and was amazed by the fact that our laptops could have their own coolers. I then showed her my kindle and I got a double すごい! (roughly translated to “wow!”) from her and the other e-pal.

The really fancy public bus got to our stop, and I did not realize at first why it was so weird that we entered through the left side of the bus instead of the right. We checked in at the orientation hotel. Haruna seemed very moved by the modest gift I gave her (gift-giving is a traditional custom in Japan and it is common to offer one to your host when you visit) once we reached the hotel room. I got her a photo book of famous Austin tourism sights. She had mentioned liking photography and is studying international tourism so I thought it was fitting.

I took a quick shower to wash off the sweat and we headed out to do some exploring. We ended up in the mall where I encountered an insanely large arcade, and a “shop” consisting only of crane games. There must have been 50 machines in the room. And the prizes you can fish out are pretty nice for crane game prizes.

My first food purchase was, strangely, at a Baskin Robbins, where I found that their ice cream pretty much tastes the same as ours. Haruna thinks ours is better. Maybe she had something better than Baskin Robbins though.

Nom nom!

We agreed to stop for dinner at a cute little place called Ringer Hut. They had these ramen bowls, specifically, “cham-pon,” which Haruna highly recommended. For 550 yen (about $6), I got this huge ass bowl that, when I got full, did not look like I had even eaten anything from it. -_-

Cham-pon for dinner.

We stopped in a convenience store (which turned out to be a 7-eleven) to get me a few snacks should I feel peckish before bedtime. Who’d have thought my first day in Japan would resemble a normal day in America so much? Ice cream, ramen, 7-eleven.

And now, I sit alone in my hotel room (my assigned roommate has not arrived) watching this strange Japanese show where a bunch of Japanese people watch videos of other Japanese people doing really unique, strange, but somehow awesome things. I don’t know what to think of this kind of premise, but find myself drawn to the videos like the Japanese audience. This guy made a chain out of the lead of a pencil, still connected to the pencil! Ok…yeah…I think it’s about time I get some sleep.

Naruto without subtitles?! *flail*

Next time I will try to remember to tell you about how impressed I am with…their toilets. Yeah, their really crazy awesome toilets. Well, laptop needs charging and I haven’t found an outlet in the room yet. So signing off…in, OMG I AM IN JAPAN!

Another view of the city from my balcony.

A glimpse into first class

So technically, I am still in America. But my adventure has already begun, as this is also my first time in San Francisco. Since I won't have time to do any exploring around the city, I figured the best use of my layover would be in fiddling with my phone's wireless hotspot feature knowing nothing of networking and somehow managing to succeed in connecting through a USB tether. Don't give me too much credit, it was a result of my pressing every option I had until it worked while coincidentally having the phone connected to my laptop to charge. And yes, the airport does have free wi-fi but my laptop hates me.

Anyways, let's start with last night...

Just hours before I had managed to settle my nerves enough to go to bed, I get a call from my aunt. For those who are unaware, she graciously helped me to secure my plane ticket using her miles. (Bac Be, if you are reading this, I can't thank you enough for doing this for me.) She tells me there has been a last minute change to my flight. My first reaction: "Oh no, I knew it, everything is going wrong! The flight was cancelled! ;_;"

The split second it took me to respond "Oh?" as calmly as I could felt like an eternity in my mind as I raced through all these outlandishly horrifying images of what happened. It felt even longer before she finally said, "Your seat has been changed to first class."

"Oh...w-what?"

"First class. You're riding in first class on your connecting flight to San Francisco. Is that going to be ok?"

*inside my head* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*to my aunt* "Yeah, that should be fine."

Now I know that it may seen rather insignificant, but I can barely afford to fly within the same state let alone across the country in first class. So this was a pretty exciting thing for me. Yes...I am easily excited.

So for almost 4 hours I got to know what it felt like to be rich. Premier access to all the lines. I got to pass through the exclusive ribbon to get through all the checkpoints. It was like that dream you have where all the lights turn green when you get to them, and there's always this sunny atmosphere following you like you're in heaven, and everyone smiles at you and treats you like royalty.

Then I get to the airplane. First group to board, of course. The best way I can describe it is what went through my mind as I got to my seat.

"Whoa, I am on the second row! Look at those seats, they're huge! So much leg room. Holy crap, it reclines like 45 degrees. The chair has an adjustable pillow attached! Where's the tray table? Is there no tray table? That's odd. Hmmm. It comes out of my arm rest? What?! There's a TV coming out, I can watch a movie??? That's like a whole tray of food. A hot egg, sausage, and croissant breakfast with fresh fruit and cereal! *mind explodes*"

And it kind of went on like that until I fell asleep.

And it looks like my plane is about to board. Tokyo, here I come!

Edit: I meant to also post this picture. I was greeted on my plane by a final American sunrise.

3 days to departure

Welcome to my Japan blog! My first entry here will be short. The title is in reference to the name of the dorm where I will be staying. I have made this blog so that friends and family who do not use Facebook can still read about my experiences and see my photos.

So...three days until my life changes entirely for 4 months. Exciting...but horrifying. Even so close to the day I fly out, with all my things ready to go, I still wonder if I am forgetting something. And is it weird to already feel a little homesick?

One day at a time I guess...

Til next time then, from the other side of the world.