Monday, Monday, (so good to me). I woke up at 7:30 and went down for breakfast of sunny side up eggs and ham, cabbage with mayo, and toast, and orange juice. Japanese Tropicana isn't the same as American. The orange breed has to be different. It's not quite as sugar-y.
I was initially going to eat with chopsticks (and I did eat my salad with them), but I had no idea how to tackle eating an egg with them, so I asked Otou-san for a fork. :P They keep feeding me really big meals which, it's not like I can't eat them, but I also am surprised by the amount they're giving me. Okaa-san was insisting to Otou-san that she was going to boil my bread while putting her hand on the toaster. He was like "I don't know what it's called but it's not boiling" and she was pretty insistent. I just said "oh... Toast?" And they were like "YEAH. TOAST!" It was funny to me. :)
After breakfast, mom walked me to school for the last of my orientations and an advisor meeting that was best summed up by my advisor as a huge waste of time during the first week of school (seeing as any class picking advising should be done by our home institutions). The important thing was that I mostly learned the way to school. Stress on mostly.
After our advisor meetings I met up with Micah, Irene, Anna, Wa, and Khris, who were also meeting with their new Japanese roommate, who invited her friends as well. Anna and I visited the Conbini(ance store) above McDonald's so she could buy an umbrella. Then we went down and almost all of us got McDonald's. I tried the teriyaki burger and it was delicious!
Rather than eat inside, something possessed us all to eat in the circle court area thing outside of one of the cafeterias and McDonald's. It was raining out but we were protected. :^) While we ate a group from co-ed high school came by to tour the school and used the area as cover from rain fora slight break.
We decided we would get up and talk to the high school girls and scare them. (Because foreigners are scary.) We chatted and exchanged names probably none of which anyone remembers, except for Miku, because I'm wearing a hatsune Miku shirt and she commented on it. We also took a big group photo. It was great! I think we kinda made their day. :)
Also while we were sitting Toru, a student who had been an exchange student at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire walked by and Micah talked to him for a while. I hadn't really joined the Japanese Culture society until after his stay was done, but I have heard many good things about him so I'm glad Micah got to catch up!
Around 1:30 I started heading home in the rain. I remembered most of the way, but pulled out my GPS when I got a little confused. I'm pretty sure I would've found my way without it, but it sure helped reassure me in the rain. When I got home Okaa-san said something to the extent of they can pick me up in their car if it's raining, but a 15 minute walk isn't that bad if I have an umbrella, and at this point we don't exactly have a method for communicating or coordinating such a pick up. :P
I went upstairs and ended up taking a nap after that because I was actually quite tired upon coming home. (And to be honest living in a home where you can't be understood is difficult, haha.) When I woke up I played some hearthstone on my phone and Okaa-san brought me orange juice and biscuit snacks. They were yummy. I also noticed the orange juice was Raifu (ライフ/Life) brand orange juice.
Later we sat down and talked for a while. Mostly about the schedule for tomorrow (going to city hall at 9 for residency declaration, and going to be at school by 10 for the Kyoto tour). However we also talked about history and geography of Japan. And, I helped her sort out finding her camera SD card's pictures on her computer. At one point she said something to Otou-san about me that I take as a technological compliment.
We talked about kanji and she told me how there used to be names for the months (in Japanese January is called first month, and February is second month, and so on and so forth). She talked about how the kanji for 一 (one) was a more complicated 壱, and that this was the case for 二 (two/弐) and 三 (three/参) as well. Turns out those complex versions are still used in legal documents today. Even after this, she found a map of Japan and was talking about the regions and islands that Japan had. But I was kind of mentally exhausted so I didn't understand as much. It had something to do with their names in kanji and the region names, I think.
While we were talking, Otou-san came home with some groceries for dinner and started to make dinner. We had potatoes, a vegetable mix, pork, rice with umeboshi (pickled plum) and kelp (konbu?), and miso soup with shimeji mushrooms in it. All this with the same barley tea that we've had lately. It was very delicious!
During and after dinner we watched tv but it didn't particularly leave an impression on me. There was some segment on Trump and another one on Miranda Kerr before the weather.
The weather the last few days has been following projections for Typhoon 10 (of the season) now named "LIONROCK," which sounds more like a band than a typhoon to me. It looks like it won't really hit the Kansai area; which as a reminder is the area encompassing some of south west mainland Japan, including Nara, Hyougo, Osaka, and Kyoto. The latter and former of which I live in between. Forecasts are projecting a sunny day tomorrow for my trip to Kyoto so that is exciting, although I'm sure we'll feel meteorological kickback from the typhoon perhaps in heat from air current rather than directly being hit by rain and whatnot.
After dinner Okaa-san brought my bread over and orange juice and offered me to eat more. I ate only a couple pieces before I was done. She's so nice always trying to make sure I'm not too warm and not too cold, and not hungry. She even told me just now that I can always shower whenever I want, I don't have to worry.
Well then it's 10:30, so I'll probably take her up on her offer. I think I'll post this now and add some pictures in a couple hours (and edit this sentence for all the late comers). I have a busy day tomorrow, and I'm excited! :D Wish me luck!
-The Dry Dana
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