Intensity

A lot has been going on and it's hard to get a time to yourself. This is especially bad for me because I'm the kind of person that gets very cranky when around people for too long of a time. I need alone time to recharge. Now that I have moved in with my host family that's a little easier, but I'll get to that.

On Monday I met my host mother and moved in. I've got my own room with a Western style bed. Sometimes I'm not sure whether or not this is a pro or a con, for it is an extremely firm mattress. Though the Japanese style futon does not give your back and hips much support, it sure is cushy. Ah well. It has been brutally hot here except for the last three days where the temperature took a nose dive. I was feeling guilty about the fact that I had the air conditioner on all the time in my room, which you supposed to avoid especially at night, but now I'm bundled up with a sweatshirt on and thick socks. What can you say, it's typhoon season. My host mother and father are very nice. My host mother's mother also lives with us and wants me to call her Obaachan rather than Obaasan. We also have a cat, Miichan, who didn't like me at first but changed his mind once he figured out that I was a highly trained cat-petting adept.

Now that I have my own room, and out of a very small room shared with four other girls, I would really like to just hang out. But I can't. It's very important to connect with your host family early on, especially if you would like to be missing dinner because you're out partying every night later. I've actually found out that my host mom and I have a lot in common and we lot or dislike a lot of the same things. It also helps that she speaks English pretty well. We often switch off between Japanese and English. As I get more confident with my Japanese I'll probably ask her to switch to all Japanese, unless she wants to figure something out in English.

On Friday we got out Japanese cell phones! Actually I got mine Saturday morning because it was going to take a while and I wanted to be home for dinner. There are so many things in Japan that are really clever and creative and inventive that make me wonder why we don't have these things in America. One of them in infrared information sending. I think you might be able to get it on a few phones in America but in Japan it comes standard. Instead of typing out all of your new friend's information in your phone's contact section, you just put your phones next to each other and BEE BOO BOP! Your information went in his/her phone and yours went in theirs. Brilliant! Another thing I like is that there is a stand near the doors of cafes and restaurants where you put your umbrella in a little shoot and it gets put in a plastic bag. Then you pull the bag out and go on with your business. It's so that the water from the wet umbrella doesn't get everywhere. Then when you leave you just throw out the plastic bag in the handy receptacle. This is especially helpful during typhoon season, which it is now.

So I think clothes wise I did OK. I think I'm just going to get another jacket and sweater, because they weren't kidding when they said that layering was important. It goes from hot to cold to hot to cold, all the time. Also, American sweatshirts are really bulky and not at all the style here. And I need to get shoes. The shoes! It's a good thing I'm going to try and get a part time job. I've been going around in my flip flops but it doesn't really work so well. But sometimes its way too hot for sneakers. Most shoes don't fit me but I have discovered that Japanese shoes do! Fantastique! I am such a girl...

I start classes on Tuesday. I don't have any classes on Sunday and Monday, but I do have a class Saturday morning. At Waseda, classes are in hour and a half blocks. I have double Japanese Tuesday and Friday, Tale of Genji and its Readers on Tuesday and Thursday, and double International Journalism and East Asian Diplomacy on Wednesday. I've also got a Japanese elective class Friday night (Kanji Around Town) and my Saturday morning Japanese class. It should be interesting. It'll also be nice to be on a schedule again. Sometimes I don't even know what day it is, let alone what time it is - it's all a blur.

There are so many other things to do! I have to get a seal made so that I can open up a Japanese bank account, I have a Health Check on Friday so that I can use the gym, I have to figure out this whole club/circle thing, etc. Crazy life.