It’s weird saying that I’ve been here for little over a month already. Only eleven more to go. I’ve done so many things in such a short amount of time. I came to Japan, started classes in Japanese, made so many new friends, and have been to so many places here in Japan.
I have a semi-established routines that seems to be working and I’m sticking with it until I finally get everything down. I’m still adjusting my schedule from Stateside to Japan-Time. The fact that I tend to take naps daily probably isn’t helping but it’s keeping me on my toes. Typically I wake up around seven or eight if I’m feeling daring and get ready for school. After a quick walk, or optional bike ride, I arrive at school and begin taking classes. As I am so far behind in my Japanese than everyone else, they have opted to have me in a separate class where I will be assisted by two teachers in studying and completing Genki Books I and II. We plan to go through those textbooks and by next semester I can move to the other classes with the other students. I am however together with the other students in our Kanji and Culture classes. I am so excited about the culture classes. We are learning Chado (pronounced Sa-Doe) - Japanese Tea Ceremony, and Ikebana (pronounce E-K-ba-na) - Japanese Flower Arrangement. I’ll update more on those two in a later post.
I typically stay after classes and work on homework at the Share-house where many of my new friends are living. I spend an hour (or several) working on homework before either eating dinner or going home. We had a Takoyaki party recently. Takoyaki in a small ball made of batter cooked with meat and other savory items inside. It’s really fun because you have to turn the ball to make sure that it’s cooked properly. It’s really delicious and you eat it with sea-weed and fish flakes, mayo and Takoyaki sauce. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.
We had a Karaoke night. It was great to have everyone together. There was lots of singing, a few divas, good food and drinks, and lots of entertainment. Everybody was able to sing at least once but more was definitely encouraged. We had a few Disney and Musical classics, and some of them were even daring enough to go for Japanese and Korean. Maybe I’ll try it next time because we are definitely doing that again.
We went to Goryokaku and the Bay Area and explored many of the main attractions. Goryokaku in spring is absolutely beautiful. The cherry trees are blossoming with sakura and the park is stunning to behold. I’ve never lived near and ocean so being able to take a fifteen minute tram ride to the bay is a new experience. The buildings by the bay are very western in style and very old, which translates to a very beautiful and picturesque area. They also have a Starbucks so I know I’ll be heading down there.
All told, it’s been an amazing and fast-paced month and I can’t wait to keep going.