Getting Adjusted

It is Wednesday and I think I am finally over my jet lag. I still wake up early in the mornings because my curtains let in so much light, but I am usually able to go back to sleep, which is a good thing because my days are jam packed. On Monday we got to campus around 9:30am for an orientation session on academics, and we began trying to figure out what classes we are going to take this semester (you mean I actually have to study here???). We took the Japanese placement test in the afternoon, and in between we got to explore the Sophia University "freshman week" activities - mainly the club fair. Now, I thought Wellesley's club fair was bustling, but absolutely nothing compares to this event. The Sophia club fair is two days, from 10am-4pm, and all of the university's 300+ clubs are packed onto the campus's two main roads, with garish signs and tons of flyers. You literally can't walk two feet without having a flyer shoved in your face, and in some places it was so congested that it wasn't possible to walk at all. So crazy. I probably got about 100 pieces of paper, most of which I couldn't read, but I've narrowed down my interest to about four clubs (photography, calligraphy, basketball, and a social club). They begin meeting over the next few weeks so we will see how it goes.

After the placement test (which I finished pretty quickly since I could only do about 10% of it), I had some time to wander around on my own. It was pretty weird to be completely on my own and not around other CIEE students, but I walked around campus soon and then ended up meeting up with a friend in the computer lab. In the afternoon we had an information about keitai (cell phones), which are pretty unique in Japan. Almost everyone exclusively texts -- calling is pretty expensive -- and they mainly use cell phone email addresses, because some phone providers can't text to numbers on other providers. Needless to say, everyone in Japan is attached to their keitai and, as observed in the train station today, even older businessmen have several key chains dangling off the end.

Monday night I came back to the dorm pretty early to finish unpacking. A group of us took a scenic route home, walking down a street lined with sakura that has had some vendors out selling food for a few nights, but that night it was closed because it had been raining. We were disappointed but actually found a place where I got a good serving delicious gyoza and rice for under $5 -- have I mentioned how much I love the white rice here? I do. I have told several Japanese people it is my favorite Japanese food. They are amused, but it is true -- you can't get white rice like this in the US!

Tuesday started with an aftershock at 8:10am that actually woke me up -- which was good because I had overslept. I got ready on time, however, and we went to meet our program staff to go to the city center to register as aliens (the MIB headquarters were closed for the day). It actually took forever -- there were 26 of us trying to register, and from the first to the last person was at least three hours. I was among the first to be able to leave, however, and made my way to campus with some friends. We spent some time wandering around the sakura that are all around campus, and discovered the origins of a mysterious staircase in the hill. In the afternoon we had another orientation session, then we were able to pick up our cell phones! It was nice to be phoneless for a few days, but it was really hard to coordinate meeting up with people (Tokyo is pretty big). Of course, we all spent about an hour playing with our phones and exchanging numbers, and then I went with some people to the basketball club's welcome party. I am looking into being a manager for them, which would be wicked awesome, but it may be too big of a time commitment. Needless to say they were impressed with my basketball knowledge... and height. I was (kindly?) informed that nothing in Japan will fit me. That's okay -- I brought my whole closet anyways.

The basketball party was a lot of fun (and turned out to be free for us - even better) and I made some more Japanese friends. I am actually really happy that I have met so many Japanese students already - they are all so friendly and eager to use English, which is good since I know about five sentences in Japanese. Even with the lengthy party, I was still in bed by midnight, which suits my old lady bedtime habits just fine.

Today (Wednesday) was a great day. This morning we had our (last!) orientation session on campus, and then I met with a Japanese sensei (professor) to discuss my Japanese placement. He was really helpful and I decided to move up half a level from where I was placed, so the first few weeks of class should be interesting. I will remember more of what I have forgotten once classes start though...?? (That's the plan.)

This afternoon we visited a disaster preparedness center in Ikebukuro, which was helpful even though we have been in several small/medium quakes/aftershocks already. We crawled through a room filled with (fake) smoke, experienced a 7.1 earthquake, and got to use a fire extinguisher. I feel like those are all things I should have done in elementary school, but hey now I am prepared! After our session a group of us split off to explore the area. It was absolutely amazing. We stayed until it was dark, so we got to see the streets light up with offers of delicious food and sales. We also went to a "cat petting zoo" -- there were cats in little rooms we could look at through the glass, and also cats running around the complex that you could pet. It was pretty cool, although most of the cats were pretty skittish. We had a delicious simple dinner (I had hot soba noodles) and then took the train back and were home by 9pm! It was nice to have an early night. We also stopped to get some groceries -- I got some yogurt, tangerines, and a box of cereal!!!!!!!! Many of you know how much I love cereal -- needless to say, I was happy. Once we got home I started trying to figure out my classes for tomorrow, which I think I have finally made progress on.

This post has gotten pretty (really) long, but I wanted to have an introspective moment. This is a really interesting time to be in Japan. We have been told that Tokyo is much "darker" than normal -- electricity is at a premium and maximum conservation efforts are being taken. Sophia University normally has about 800 foreign exchange students -- this semester there will be fewer than 100. Everyone is telling us "thank you for coming" or "thank you for being here" -- they recognize that we could have easily decided not to spend this semester in Japan, but we have decided to come and are in it with them for the long haul. Being a (light-haired, tall) foreigner in Japan is already an interesting experience, where most people treat you very well, but now we stand out even more. The majority of foreigners fled Japan after the disaster, so most people are very appreciative for the ones that stayed. It has been interesting interacting with people at this time, and it will be even more interesting to see how this semester plays out. Classes start tomorrow, so it will be really weird to get back into school mode. With that, I should get some sleep before tomorrow! Oyasumi!