4/8/2011

(This post was written on 4/8/2011)

The end of another exhausting day. Well, almost. In a few minutes I'll leave to head to JASSO International House 1 to talk with Meaghan and Kathryn about which classes we are going to take. Most, if not all of our classes will be the same, mostly because they all had to be approved through A&M to begin with. Today was so long it's difficult to describe in mere words. By 4pm, we were all absolutely exhausted.

This morning, I met M & K at their dorm and we walked to the station, rode the train and then switched to the metro. Or something. I'm not real clear on the different lines. We then walked from the station to the Toyonaka Campus, which is where all of our classes will likely be at. We sat through an informative session on the library, and then were taken on a library tour. After that, we were taken on a very thorough tour of the entire Toyonaka campus. I had thought I was supposed to go with one group, and started to follow them, but was gently grabbed by the elbow and guided back to the main group by a woman saying, "Jennifer! I want you to meet the BSP people!" I think she thought I was trying to "escape." Hell, I shouldn't even put "escape" in quotes because that'd be what I was doing, if I tried to get away. All of these meetings and seminars and informative sessions are suggested (which means required), and any attempt to deviate from the proscribed course is curbed.

It's Japan. There are rules.

I think I actually hurt our tour guide's feelings when I said I didn't want to eat lunch where everyone else wanted to. "Do we all have to eat at the same place?" She said no, but I could tell she sort of wanted to say yes. However, she's a student and therefore doesn't wield as much power as the administration. I ended up going with the group if for no other reason than M & K were going there anyway, but there is a restaurant on campus called Don Don that was pretty inexpensive (you could eat for <200 Yen if you were really careful) and that is an absolute steal. I've been eating out since I got here due to a lack of cookware/dishware, and it's expensive and I wanted to get a cheap meal in. At the restaurant I got some kind of egg... thing... They do this things with eggs where scramble them, then cook them out in one big strip, then fold the egg onto itself so it's one neat little pile of eggs, sort of like a folded sheet, if you can imagine. Then they put sauces or mayonnaise or whatever-the-hell on them. It's alright. Takoyaki's alright. I do like okonomiyaki, but I want to try it with some different toppings.

Anyway, after lunch we were invited to have takoyaki and okonomiyaki with the BSP (Brothers and Sisters Program - sort of a very loose association of students who work with the international kids and are international kids themselves, in many cases). But M, K and I still didn't have our alien registration cards, so we politely declined. We also wanted to hit up the Multimedia Center or whatever and use the internet to check our respective myfacespace or whatever accounts. We ended up having to move to the library for a reason I'm not entirely sure of (a guy came into the computer room, said some stuff in Japanese, and everyone else started packing up, so we followed suit). Then we went back to the station, back on the train, back to Mina Senri station where we finally got our Alien Registration temporary papers, which is a relief. We'll need them to get bank accounts.

We also hit up the 100 Yen store to buy some pots, pans, dishes and the likes, then the grocery store for some actual food to cook. By the time we were done there, I was positively exhausted and battling a stomach/headache. We sat for a few minutes to recoup, then trudged back to the dorms - a 15 minute walk with several bags of groceries, and a heavy backpack. At the dorms, I made my first meal in the kitchen. I sort of just made some kind of ghetto stir-fry. Meat is really expensive. Well, good meat is really expensive. I bought zucchini, cabbage, carrots, green onions, mushrooms and bean sprouts and tossed that in a pan with some oil, then augmented it with some shrimp bits and some sort of mystery meat that is likely very thinly sliced beef. I also dropped a raw egg on top for good measure once it was done (the egg cooked from the heat of the food) and added a side of kimchi. That's probably how I'm going to be eating most of the time, because anything too complex is impossible with my crappy dollar store cookware.

Now I'm in the dorm. I'm really tired, but at least not hungry anymore. My feet are sore. My head hurts. I am perpetually dehydrated, thanks to the climate. Soon I will be meeting M & K, but to be honest I just want to go to bed. It's 6:01 pm.