Orientation

Picture Time (click on them to see full size)



This was the first thing I saw as I rode over the bridge from the airport to Osaka, a huge absinthe green ferris-wheel. It was a good reminder of how colorful Japan is. Seeing that made me feel far more excited than I had been, because I was still a little dazed and nervous when I got off that plane and had to find a hotel all by myself.



The Japanese are very serious about saving energy. In the hotel room you had to put your key in this slot to turn on the power in the room. It took me a while to figure out, so I kept taking the key out after I slid it in, and the lights kept going off. It took me a while to figure out you had to leave the key in the slot. Silly me. My dorm room also has certain switches and buttons you have to push to get the lights and air conditioning to work and you must always turn off all the power in the room when you leave it. Also, you mustn't leave the air conditioning on at night, not only does it waste power but it is also bad for your internal organs to get cold... supposedly. They told us that you can never leave the heat or air conditioning on at our homestay houses.
















These are two of the boys I went to dinner with my first night at the Seminar House 4. My roommate is very social and has dragged me around with her, which is actually awesome. The boy on the left is Chris, he fixed my computer last night, thank goodness (because my language settings weren't on Japanese, etc.). They are both American but can speak Japanese well enough and can read katakana (one of the written alphabets) fairly well. Chris and I shared chicken katsu, which is like a breaded chicken, and then noodles, rice and miso. The next night I went to the bath house with some of the Japanese students and some of the other girls from my dorm. It is called sento, and it has many different hot tubs and a sauna and showers. You go and get naked, then shower and scrub for a good long time, then you can go in the baths. There is also a cold cold tub so you can pour cold water on yourself when you get too hot. Three of my new friends are in the next picture, this is right outside of the bath house after we were al nice and hot and clean. From left to right is Rebecca (from Sweden), my roommate Lizzie (from New Orleans), and Havi (from Chili).




















This is a picture of my room in the seminar house. It is 8 tatami mats large (floors are measured by tatami mats) which is a good sized room. As you can see, it is in a more traditional Japanese style, tatami mat floor and low table. At night we roll out our futons and sleep on the ground. The other picture is the view I get when walking back to the seminar house from school. The brick building on the left with the windows is my seminar house. To the right is a park and a library. It is about a 20 minute walk, but it is not bad at all, the sidewalks here are awesome, but you aren't allowed to cross against the stop lights, even if there aren't any cars coming. Well, I have to go meet my speaking partner now, I'll post about my experiences in Hirakata Station and at Karaoke later.

Love.