Orientation
Date: Dec 21st, 2007 1:43:19 am - Subscribe
Mood: Exhausted
Here is my second update, which will encompass the rest of the second day along with the next few. First off, I don’t have internet at my house, but Ill be on campus a lot so we’ll see how it goes.The second day started off like the rest, loong orientation stuffs followed by an extra long tour of Waseda’s campus by my two volunteer buddies, Haruko-san and Sato-san (Toshiki-san), Sato-san actually did an exchange to OSU so he knows quite a bit of English, but Haruko-san knows next to nothing. She was devastatingly sweet though, and I understood the majority of what she said and was able to communicate relatively well with her.
You want to know why all Japanese are so small and thin? Well, I figured it out. It’s because Tokyo is like Kansas City on a day when god decided men were fish. It’s like 35 degrees (that’s Celsius) here every day. And, the humidity is intense, you wake up to heat and moisture (mushiatsui: they even have a word for the dynamic combo!). And, we walk everywhere. And not just a short walk to the chemist, Im talking at least 2 to 3 miles per outing. The nice thing is that since everyone has to be out in this assy weather no one cares if you you’ve been sweating like a pig ALL day, cause so is the entire populace. However, Tokyo is supposed to get uber cold in the winter, after the rainy season of course (more wetness!), and snow a lot which Ill love til I have to walk those aforementioned 3 miles to campus every day.
So after the tour a bunch of us decided to go to Akihabara, the electronics district. We figured out the trains with a little help from Sato-san and Tsuyuno-san who came with us, and before we knew it we were surrounded by more seizure-inducing lights than is safely conceivable. We went into a monstrosity housing around 8 floors of phones, computer gadgets, games, etc. This is where a few of us bought our Nintendo DS’s and the electronic dictionary game for it. I was going to just get an electronic dictionary (denshi jisho) by itself, but one of the other international students said that the DS’s system was more bang for your buck. He saw a flow chart comparing a $500 casio dictionary and the DS’s game and the DS won hands down. And, it was only around 16,000 yen plus the game, so it was about $190 all in all. It’s incredibly effective.
After our purchasing, we went into another monstrosity with yet another 8 floors of electronics, models and many, many books all dedicated to anime and games. The store was aptly named, Gamerz. Molly, David, Josh, and I made it out unscathed (without buying anything), but the other Josh caved.
We went back to the hotel and gathered in Zach and Josh #1’s room to continue bonding over Asahi and Kirin while we figured out our DS’s. I didn’t drink but Molly sure got better at Japanese after a few. Most of the international students from Oregon are great fun. I especially like Molly, who was my temporary roommate at the hotel, David, Josh #1, Josh, Zach, and James. So many of them have been here before!
Hmmm there’s still so much in my notes to report, but I need to shower cause sweating all day has it’s down sides and sleep follows showering. I NEED to sleep. Every day is one thing after the other full of sweat, walking, incomprehensible Japanese, walking, AMAZING food, and sweat. So, sleep is no longer just a pleasant end to the day, it’s a faceplant into the mattress.
So Ja Ne for now
-Spork
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