Life in Japan

A picture's worth a thousand words, so let's say this entry is ...a little over five thousand? :)

Rilakkuma slippers.  Worn all around the seminar house (dorm), except on the tatami mats in rooms.

Futon.  They're arranged a little differently now (this was taken during orientation week), but you get the idea.  Rolling out of "bed" is easy and painless.

Bicycle.  In Japanese, 自転車(jitensha).  In Kansai-ben, チャリ(chari).  Not utterly essential, but pretty darn amazingly helpful.  If the USA is a car culture, Japan (at least in Hirakata?) is a bicycle culture.

Cell phone.  In Japanese, 携帯電話 (keitaidenwa), or just keitai for short.  Again, not absolutely essential for life, but exceedingly useful and advantageous for one's social life.  Almost every other 留学生(ryuugakusei, exchange student) has this same, exact phone (in either black of white), but I've finally distinguished mine by adding Kanazawa gold lacquer シール(shiiru, stickers).

Pudding.  プリン (purin) is my favorite dessert here in Japan; it has a flavor and consistency similar to flan and/or creme brulee.  This particular pudding has a special point: 焼きプリン (yakipurin) is browned on top...not sure how much it actually affects the flavor, but I like it a lot.  A lot. ♥

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 @ 9:40 PM

♥ドキドキ♥

明日、授業が始まる…
Classes start tomorrow... ((technically today))

I'm simultaneously excited and sleepy.  Only the afternoon, taught-in-English classes will be held.  Japanese language classes (speaking level 5, yay!) don't start until Tuesday.

We finally did official check-in to the seminar house today!  Grocery shopping, yayyy...except I had to borrow money from friends. ^^;; Going to the bank before classes tomorrow to exchange some traveler's checks, yosh~

My 携帯 (keitai, cell phone) has an amaaazing emoticon selection and texting with it has spoiled me for normal writing.  :(  I want to add kitties and weird faces and other random cutesy stuff to everything I write....

Okay, gonna go pack my backpack!  Posts on orientation week to come later, once I've figured out a decently organized/readable way to write them~

((you know what also makes me feel ドキドキ? (dokidoki, onomatopoeia for rapid/throbbing heartbeat, often indicating nervous excitement)  exchanging text messages (メール, meeru, e-mail) with Japanese girls. >o<♥ 友達作ってた～))


Monday, September 5, 2010 @ 1:50 AM